Reviews
Penny and Clinton make a perfect team for State of Terror , a can't-put-it-down thriller in which a U.S. secretary of state new on the job faces a devastating worldwide crisis....an invigorating read that will get your pulse racing and even warm your heart., Consistently entertaining....Penny and Clinton demonstrate a sure hand at international intrigue and narrative pacing....The real key to 'State of Terror,' though, is its secret weapon: female friendship., A Page-Turner Part Sly, Part Sweet....Surprising...The plot is ambitious and apocalyptic.... [and] a high-speed diplomatic race... This is a romp. The authors have a great deal of fun throwing up red herrings.... Political junkies will relish the veiled insults to real-life people....The emotional cast to the writing, the tendency to dangle portents and wait some time before resolving them, the depiction of friendship, the short paragraphs, the philosophical aperçus -- these are all marks of Penny's writing....If Clinton is slyly settling old political scores, she is also, sweetly, celebrating women's support of one another later in life., To say more would rob readers of the pleasures of discovery in this taut thriller, a story made all the more relevant by the U.S.'s recent withdrawal from Afghanistan. Possessed of both head and heart, 'State of Terror's' layering of ethical tradeoffs, political intrigue, high-level espionage and pure evil perfectly melds Clinton's intimate knowledge of the State Department and foreign policy with Penny's mastery of genre mechanics., An utterly thrilling, mesmerizing, whiplash-inducing plot-driven story, 'State of Terror' will make you pull up the bedsheets as you stay up late trying to keep up with Secretary Adams and the team she assembles to crack the case., An inspired pairing. Penny's turn-the-page pacing and Clinton's wealth of insider details mesh perfectly in this fast, entertaining thriller that also has knowing things to say about national--and international--politics. So authentic it feels like eavesdropping., Big, turbocharged, breathtaking...It's one of the best political thrillers I've ever read....A thriller that combines the firsthand, insider knowledge of a former Secretary of State with the writing skills of a master of suspense. Bonus feature: lots of wicked humor....State of Terror keeps up a relentless pace, with more twists and turns and cliffhangers than I could count., The thriller follows the journey of new secretary of state and main character, Ellen Adams.... Secretary Adams must navigate a terrorist plot, nuclear weapons and a Trump-like administration. Along the way, Adams battles sexist comments from her male counterparts but also finds friendship and support in the women around her...'State of Terror' also tackles Washington's misogyny as the main character navigates jabs and sexist comments at the hands of the male antagonists. While the male characters are rude and crass, the women win by outsmarting their counterparts.
Synopsis
AN INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Named one of the most anticipated novels of the season by People , Associated Press, Time , Los Angeles Times , Parade , St. Louis Post-Dispatch , The Guardian , Publishers Weekly , and more. From the #1 bestselling authors Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny comes a novel of unsurpassed thrills and incomparable insider expertise-- State of Terror . 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. State of Terror is a unique and utterly compelling international thriller cowritten by Hillary Rodham Clinton, the 67th secretary of state, and Louise Penny, a multiple award-winning #1 New York Times bestselling novelist., 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...
