Ellen Adams is the new Secretary of State in the new Douglas Williams administration. Finally, those four awful years of Eric Dunn are behind us and are, well, done. And they were NOT well done at all, as we all know.

Now Ellen is in a position to help the nation heal. She can do this by re-establishing good relations with the leaderships of other countries. But can she REALLY accomplish anything? She's never held a political or a governmental office in her life. Instead, she was the head of an international media company for many decades. She had often reported on or had sent reporters to cover what was going on with the country. Now she's been tossed into the deep end of the political pool and is being flown to meetings around the world, hither and yon, without a moment to even catch a breath or to take a shower.

And does President Williams expect her to do a good job, anyway? Ellen's not sure why he chose her for it. Unless it was to see her fail. She'd been critical enough of him, over the years. Maybe this was his devious way of paying her back.

Thank goodness the Secretary of State is permitted to have a personal counselor! Betsy Jameson has been Ellen's best friend for as long as they both can remember. Now Betsy gets to accompany Ellen wherever she goes, in order to give her a sane and supportive face to turn to. And Betsy provides a sense of stability, too. Ellen learns that it's difficult enough to figure out who to trust out in the world, let alone know who to trust within the American government system itself. Especially with some staffing holdovers from the Dunn administration. Where are THEIR allegiances: to the country, or to their former boss? For Ellen, it's becoming hard to tell.

Soon enough, though, three terrorist acts take place in three different cities in Europe. They were obviously connected and engineered by the same source. The targets seem to have been individuals who were nuclear physicists, possibly with connections to developing nuclear weapons. What a red flag, indeed! Who could have called for and arranged such killings? What else do they have planned? Could more terror be wreaked in other countries? Like in the United States?

And so, Ellen is whipped up into the frenzy to track down the culprit. Or culprits. She meets with the President and with all kinds of high-ranking officials covering national security and defense. She practically lives on Air Force Three, her private jet, which wings her from Palm Beach to Pakistan and back, with many stops in Europe and the Middle East. (Big surprise.) Ellen's daughter Katherine and son Gil are even brought into the circle, as both are involved in international media and journalism.

We have to keep our wits about us as much as Ellen does, in order to keep track of various dignitaries, departments and procedures. Key characters are Charles Boynton, Ellen's Chief of Staff, who is still not sure he likes Ellen; and Anahita Dahir, a young foreign service officer within the State Department, who may have inside information from Asian sources. Can even THEY be trusted? And can Ellen and President Williams figure everything out before another attack succeeds?

Although authors Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny have been friends for several years, this writing collaboration was first suggested by the publisher. After all, the literary pairing of James Patterson and Bill Clinton has been a successful one. Why not put Louise and Hillary together? The two decided to name their main characters, Ellen Adams and Betsy Jameson, in honor of real-life friends who had recently passed away.

Hillary knows the political territory, at home and away. Louise knows how to write compelling stories about complex characters. They make a good match here. And six chapters from the end, Louise gives a gift to her Armand Gamache readers. You'll have to get to chapter 39 to discover what it is. Thanks for thinking of us, Louise!

A week after State of Terror was released, the FBI conducted raids on several American homes owned by a Russian oligarch. These acts are similar enough to ones in the book to cause us to consider: How fictional IS this novel? This stuff really COULD happen, couldn't it?

Both Louise Penny fans and Hillary Rodham Clinton fans will pick up State of Terror, just because they're fans. But the wider audience here is anyone who likes to follow political intrigue, especially on an international level. And maybe this story should be read by many politicians and members of the military, too. The plot seems all too plausible and possible. And the conclusion leaves enough open ends to suggest that a sequel could show up someday. Let's not pressure the authors to write it anytime soon, though. They're both busy people.