State of the Union

On a cold January morning, the United States wakes to learn that Soviet-made suitcase nukes, enhanced and hidden in its major cities, are waiting to be detonated by sleeper agents. President Jack Rutledge calls his National Security Council together to consider a first strike on the Russian Federation.

That option is closed off. For more than twenty years, the Russians have been channelling international aid money into a top secret air defense system, and it has just come on-line. Any conventional attack on their country would fail.

With other options used up, the president turns to Scot Harvath, an ex-Navy SEAL and Secret Service agent. Harvath works in a covert section of the Department of Homeland Security, whose mandate is to defend the country against foreign aggressors by any means necessary. The president picks him personally to untangle a carefully planned, tightly timed conspiracy that has already broken the fragile peace between nations.

Harvath's family friend Gary Lawlor, a former Deputy FBI Director, cannot be found and is suspected of betraying his country. The trail leads Harvath into the frozen Russian tundra.

This is an international espionage thriller with a ticking clock, action set pieces and a string of overseas locations. Scot Harvath is the recurring hero of the series. The pace is fast, and the plot keeps its pieces hidden until late.