CNN anchor Jake Tapper talks Canada's vaccine rollout, his new book and the state of U.S. politics

As CNN's senior Washington correspondent, Jake Tapper spends most of his time covering the rapidly changing global pandemic and the state of American politics.

So to escape the daily grind of the 24-hour news cycle, Tapper decided to spend much of his downtime during the pandemic writing his new political thriller novel, The Devil May Dance.

A sequel to his New York Times best-selling novel The Hellfire Club, Tapper's new book deals with a quest to investigate Frank Sinatra and his possible ties to the mob.

He told CBC News Network's  Power & Politics that writing his new novel has been an escape from the grind of the news business. 

"It was nice to be able to leave this world behind and go and hang out with the Rat Pack for a couple hours in my brain," he said.

"And then also I thought it'd be nice for people to read the book and have an escape of their own in the same way I escaped when I was writing it."

'From a place of love'

Tapper was has been active on social media during the pandemic and criticized the Canadian government's handling of the vaccine rollout. 

In several Twitter posts, the CNN anchor targeted the Trudeau government's efforts in procuring the vaccine and its failure to boost domestic vaccine capabilities.

But according to Tapper, the criticism came from his deep connections with Canada.

"I had been hearing from relatives in Canada that the rollout was not going great, that Trudeau and his government have had difficulty securing the vaccines," he said.

"So we covered that and it was from a place of love."

Since then, Canada has surpassed the United States in administering first doses to the vaccines — something the CNN anchor said is good news.

"I want Canadians to be vaccinated and safe. I love Canada, I love Canadians."