“Readers searching for dimensional characters whose inner lives inform a consistently credible narrative,” its reviewer wrote, “won’t find them in this book.”) It makes sense, and that’s what I liked about it.” (The Times gently disagreed. “This is a believable, interesting concept that she is writing about,” she said, referring to a plot that the Times described, in a mixed review, as “a murderous maelstrom of potentially lethal presidential machinations.” She continued, “I mean, this poor woman that gets just, you know, sucked into this scheme, or whatever, that the Supreme Court judge had-and it’s just believable. So Karen read “While Justice Sleeps,” and ended up loving it. All the ‘give-me’s and ‘gotta-have’s.” But she enjoys what she calls “true-killer books”-“You know, Ann Rule, that kind of thing.” What about an author whose politics Karen believes to be Marxist? She said, “I don’t like Stacey’s liberal approach to everything being free, you know. Karen generally accepts her husband’s recommendations. “But it’s good.” Abrams is, he said, “articulate and a gifted storyteller.”

“You’re not going to approve of who wrote this book,” he told his wife, upon emerging from his study. He bought a copy of the novel and finished it in a few days. This got the attention of John, who considered Abrams the politician “overly outspoken and one-sided.” But her new political thriller appeared on the Times best-seller list.

The progressive Democrat, who is expected to run for governor of Georgia next year, has previously written romantic thrillers (“Hidden Sins,” “The Art of Desire”) under the pen name Selena Montgomery, and politically oriented nonfiction books under her own (“Minority Leader,” “Our Time Is Now”). “And, you know, you don’t pay any state income tax.” Other than being readers of books, they are not what one imagines to be the core demo for “While Justice Sleeps,” the newest work of fiction from Stacey Abrams. “Fewer murders,” Karen explained, referring to Ponte Vedra. John Spiegel, a retired banking executive, and his wife, Karen, a retired college-textbook publisher, describe themselves as “lifetime committed Republicans.” They split their time between a manicured Atlanta neighborhood and a waterfront community in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

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