I had hoped Hillary Rodham Clinton would be the first woman president, but her collaboration with Louise Penny brought me newfound respect. I have written previously about my love of Penny and all things Three Pines. This book is a little like Tom Clancy meets Three Pines, and in the page-turning political drama, it is clear where Clinton has contributed.

Ellen Adams is a newly appointed Secretary of State by a previous political opponent. Unlike Clinton, Adams had not run for President herself, but had opposed President Williams’ handling of her son’s kidnapping by a Pakistani arms dealer Bashir Shah. Adams, who ran a major media outlet, had excoriated Williams in the press, so her appointment had been a surprise, and Adams assumed, a set up for her to very publicly fail.

The terrorist arms dealer Shah soon reappears in the narrative, when Adams discovers he has been released from house arrest by the Pakistanis at the urging of the previous US President Eric Dunn, a not so veiled stand in for Donald Trump. Dunn’s supporters seem to still be lurking in the administration, and Adams and Williams soon become aligned in their fight against enemies outside and in.

What really sets this story apart is the female characters who are able to outwit foreign terrorists, despots, and political opponents alike though their moxie, wit, and connections with other women. Adams’ constant companion and advisor is her close childhood friend Betsy Jameson, modeled after Clinton’s close friend Betsy Johnson Ebeling, who died of cancer just prior to the writing of this book. Without being too much of a spoiler, it is their intuitive connection in the end which saves the day.

While this book may not be a literary masterpiece it is definitely a page-turner; the kind which had me reading in the bathroom during work hours. On this merit of a good read, I give State of Terror a 4.5👍 out of 5👍.