Split Second

From the bestselling author of Last Man Standing and Absolute Power comes another high-tension thriller guaranteed to get your heart hammering.

Sean King is a former Secret Service agent who, eight years ago, botched the job of protecting a presidential candidate. When he meets Michelle Maxwell, an attractive agent whose political charge has just been kidnapped, the two disgraced operatives uncover an ominous connection between the incidents. They team up, and -- as bodies begin to pile up -- they find themselves racing against the clock to prevent an assassin from striking again along the campaign trail.

A masterful craftsman, Baldacci manipulates his story line with great effectiveness, creating a sense of danger and foreboding and imbuing even secondary characters with enough depth and dimension to rescue them from stereotypes. Conspiracies and mysteries abound in this taut mystery that weaves together action-packed scenarios and solid emotional impact. If Absolute Power elevated Baldacci to the highest ranks of suspense fiction, the compulsively readable Split Second will solidify his position at the top. Tom Piccirilli