They all died from overdoses of the date-rape drug GHB, also known as G or liquid ecstasy.
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Sometimes known as "liquid ecstasy," or just "G," it's a central-nervous system depressant that produces an intoxicating euphoria.
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After initially denying that she or the pimp gave Zamperoni drugs, she later admitted that the pimp gave him liquid ecstasy and would not let her call police when Zamperoni was bleeding from the nose and mouth and would not wake up, according to the complaint.
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Also recovered in the operation were synthetic materials, various drug paraphernalia and a manual on making illegal drugs such as methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu, D-lysergic acid diethylamide and gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) or liquid ecstasy.
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If taken undiluted by mouth, GBL can cause esophageal and gastro-intestinal irritation. It is possible for oral ingestion of GBL to cause nausea and other similar problems, possibly more so than with GHB. GHB has biphasic effects, a euphoric effect at low doses (the reason for the term liquid ecstasy), and a sedative effect at higher doses. As a result of this sedation it can cause unconsciousness.
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The other woman is Jan Davis, daughter of Kentucky Senator Todd Davis, who is revealed to have funded his campaign earlier on the condition that Oliver marries his daughter. Leslie asks Davis to introduce her to one of his friends, a magnate named Henry Chambers, who has recently divorced and lives in Arizona. Oliver soon becomes governor through the help of Senator Davis and his political manager, Peter Tager. A few more deaths occur and are linked to the use of liquid Ecstasy.
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GHB has been used as a club drug, apparently starting in the 1990s, as small doses of GHB can act as a euphoriant and are believed to be aphrodisiac. Slang terms for GHB include liquid ecstasy, lollipops, liquid X or liquid E due to its tendency to produce euphoria and sociability and its use in the dance party scene. By 2009 this use had diminished, possibly due to efforts to control distribution of GHB and its analogs, or to the narrow range of dosing and adverse effects of confusion, dizziness, blurred vision, hot/cold flushes, profuse sweating, vomiting, and loss of consciousness when overdosed. The downward trend was still apparent in 2012.
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The novel begins with an introduction to Leslie Stewart, one of the protagonists of the book, from her childhood to her current occupation as an advertising executive in Lexington, Kentucky. Her firm picks up a new client named Oliver Russell, who is running for governor of Kentucky against the incumbent governor. He does not have much money for a significant campaign and so Leslie donates money to his campaign without informing anyone, while also handling his campaign for no cost, though the campaign is rather small-scale. Oliver and Leslie also go out on a series of dates, after one of which Oliver offers to give her a drug known as liquid Ecstasy, saying that it is an aphrodisiac.
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The death is soon linked to him by several pieces of evidence, including a blackmail note from a clerk for the hotel and the lack of an alibi presented by Oliver. A cover-up ensues, and two witnesses and a reporter from the Washington Tribune are killed, causing Dana to take on the story. Leslie forces a story detailing the murders and the fact that a warrant has been taken out against the President to the front page of the paper, but it is then unveiled that Peter Trager is, in fact, behind the liquid Ecstasy deaths, as well as the cover-up of the young woman's murder. Oliver is revealed to have been hiding an affair with the wife of the Italian Ambassador, explaining his lack of an alibi.
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