When financial analyst Sloane Ryder blows the whistle on an insider-trading scheme involving her boss at an investment banking firm, she also threatens the success of a traitorous plot hatched at the highest levels of government. Sloane gets fired after the corrupt CEO kills himself, but she's soon recruited by a mysterious government agency investigating payoffs to members of the president's inner circle--insiders who seek to thwart the president's China policy by any means possible, including murder.

This fast-paced, well-crafted thriller features the return of several characters from Shelby's earlier novels (Gatekeeper, Days of Drums), including intrepid Secret Servicewomen Holland Tylo and Hollis Fremont and their nemesis, the vicious assassin known as the Handyman. Without giving anything away, let it be said that the final turn in this twisty plot bodes well for Shelby's next book, as well as for the legion of fans who'll enjoy this one. --Jane Adams