"Now is the winter of our discontent" - Richard III, Act 1, Scene 1

In 1485, Richard III seized the English throne and ruled for twenty-six months before his crown rolled in the mud at Bosworth Field. Six centuries later, historians still argue: Was he the monster of Shakespeare's imagination, or a capable king slandered by the victors who killed him?

The evidence supports both readings. It always does.

January 2025. A new president takes office and begins dismantling the administrative state. To his supporters, it's a constitutional restoration-the return of power to elected officials after decades of bureaucratic overreach. To his opponents, it's an authoritarian takeover-the destruction of every check on executive power.

Both sides believe they're saving democracy. Both sides have evidence for their case.

The Exception draws explicit parallels between these two moments in history. Through thirteen voices-a federal judge issuing orders no one obeys, an ICE agent questioning his mission, a true believer watching her faith collapse, a pardoned rioter discovering freedom isn't what he expected-the novel chronicles a year when someone decided the rules no longer applied to him.

This novel doesn't tell you what to think.

It presents both sides at their strongest and lets you decide.