Split Second

Sean King was a Secret Service agent until a split-second lapse let an assassin shoot the presidential candidate he was guarding. Eight years on, he practises law in a small town. Then a body is found in his office.

Michelle Maxwell is also a Secret Service agent, and her career collapses in a similar fashion: the candidate under her protection disappears without a trace. After seeing King on the news, she contacts him. The two end up working together on the disappearance, and the case forces King to reopen the failure that ended his own career.

This is a conspiracy thriller with a quick pace, built from short chapters and frequent shifts between scenes. King and Maxwell uncover a web of political corruption and kidnapping that links their two separate failures to one long-running scheme.

The plot turns often and the pages move fast, even though the book is long. It is the first novel in the King & Maxwell series, which runs to six books and sends the pair on several further investigations. It was published in 2003.