I don't usually read books like this but I saw a few interviews with Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny and so I was curious. I found the huge number of characters in the book tricky to follow but once I wrote down the names and could refer back to my list, I was able to follow the story a little better. This story isn't just politics and terrorists. It's also about friendship and family. When you get someone like Ellen as secretary of state, along comes her best friend and her children as well. That is often the case with women and I think it's a good thing. I also learned a bunch of titles in politics that I wasn't previously familiar with (FSO and HLI in particular!)
I was surprised when I would bring up this book with other people, how many people are Louise Penny fans. I just might have to read some more of her books!
Characters:
President Williams
Ellen Sue Adams (Secretary of State)
Scott Cargill - police (dies in Ch 19)
Aram Wani - bomber? (dies in Ch 19)
Aram Wani's wife/child
Anahita - FSO (Foreign Secret Operative) In a relationship with Ellen's son, GIL
Tim T Beacham
Dahirs - Anahita's parents
Zarahara Ahmadi - informant?
Bad Kotzting - Anahita waiting for his msg
Basher Shah - physicist released from prison by previous president
Gil - Ellen's son, Bashir Shah planned for him to be killed on bus, full anme: Gilgamesh
Dr Ahmadi - physicist
Betsy - Ellen's BFF, counselor, is followed
General Whitehead - chair of Joint Chiefs
Dunn - previous president (quite Trumpish!)
Katherine - Ellen's daughter, reporter
Quinn - Ellen's deceased husband
Boynton - works for Ellen
Barb Stenhauser President's Chief of Staff
Pete Hamilton - Dunn's former Press Secretary
President Nasseri - Iran
Akbar - picks up Gil in Pakiston
Grand Ayatollah Khosravi - Supreme leader of Iran, direct descendant of Muhammad
Denise Phelan - Genearl Whitehead's aide de camp
Hamza - helped Gil escape years ago
Mrs Whitehead - professor Martha Tierney, English Literature prof at Georgetown, Donne scholar
FSO = Foreign Service Officer
Goodreads says:
From the #1 bestselling authors Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny comes a novel of unsurpassed thrills and incomparable insider expertise—State of Terror.
State of Terror follows a novice Secretary of State who has joined the administration of her rival, a president inaugurated after four years of American leadership that shrank from the world stage. A series of terrorist attacks throws the global order into disarray, and the secretary is tasked with assembling a team to unravel the deadly conspiracy, a scheme carefully designed to take advantage of an American government dangerously out of touch and out of power in the places where it counts the most.
This high-stakes thriller of international intrigue features behind-the-scenes global drama informed by details only an insider could know.
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