TUESDAY EXCERPTS: “STATE OF TERROR”

Welcome to another Tuesday celebrating bookish events: First Chapter/Intros, now hosted by Socrates Book Reviews; and Teaser Tuesdays hosted by The Purple Booker.

My feature today is my First Book of the Year:  State of Terror, by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny.

Intro:

“Madame Secretary,” said Charles Boynton, hurrying beside his boss as she rushed down Mahogany Row to her office in the State Department. “You have eight minutes to get to the Capitol.”

“It’s ten minutes away,” said Ellen Adams, breaking into a run.  “And I have to shower and change.  Unless…” She stopped and turned to her Chief of Staff. “I can go like this?”

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Teaser:

Gil stood in line at the bus terminal, no longer bothering to hide.  In fact, he wanted her to see him.  To know.  To feel that hot breath.

By now the woman certainly knew he was following her.  But he also knew she could not deviate from her plan.  And neither could he. (p. 62).

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Synopsis:

After a tumultuous period in American politics, a new administration has just been sworn in, and to everyone’s surprise the president chooses a political enemy for the vital position of secretary of state.

There is no love lost between the president of the United States and Ellen Adams, his new secretary of state. But it’s a canny move on the part of the president. With this appointment, he silences one of his harshest critics, since taking the job means Adams must step down as head of her multinational media conglomerate.

As the new president addresses Congress for the first time, with Secretary Adams in attendance, Anahita Dahir, a young foreign service officer (FSO) on the Pakistan desk at the State Department, receives a baffling text from an anonymous source.

Too late, she realizes the message was a hastily coded warning.

What begins as a series of apparent terrorist attacks is revealed to be the beginning of an international chess game involving the volatile and Byzantine politics of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran; the race to develop nuclear weapons in the region; the Russian mob; a burgeoning rogue terrorist organization; and an American government set back on its heels in the international arena.

As the horrifying scale of the threat becomes clear, Secretary Adams and her team realize it has been carefully planned to take advantage of four years of an American government out of touch with international affairs, out of practice with diplomacy, and out of power in the places where it counts the most.

To defeat such an intricate, carefully constructed conspiracy, it will take the skills of a unique team: a passionate young FSO; a dedicated journalist; and a smart, determined, but as yet untested new secretary of state.

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I am loving this book, my First Book of the Year.  Would you keep reading?

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