Starting in December 2003, Jim Santos spent years fixing computers, wrangled BlackBerrys, and kept the wheels turning for the United States Senate — which meant he was also, quite literally, the fly on the wall in some of the most powerful (and most poorly password-protected) offices in America.

He listened to Senator Ted Kennedy as they rode an elevator reminiscing about the days when opponents argued all day and grabbed drinks together that night. He tried to explain the laws of physics to a Senator who simply refused to accept them. He found "Senate1234" guarding the login to a U.S. Senator's email server — right around the time the country was losing its mind over someone else's home server. He shared a moment with Joe Biden that had nothing to do with politics and everything to do with being treated like a human being.

Before the Wheels Came Off: A Fly on the Wall in the U.S. Senate is a laugh-out-loud, occasionally jaw-dropping memoir of time spent as an anonymous IT guy inside the marble hallways of American power — back when the dysfunction was still almost charming. Part workplace comedy, part insider history, and part clear-eyed reckoning with how we got from "loose nuts" to a country that can't agree on reality, this is the view from the basement of the Russell Building: unglamorous, unfiltered, and closer to the truth than most of what gets said on the Senate floor.

If you've ever wondered what really goes on behind the doors marked "Senators Only" — this is your invitation in.