Secrets of State

Sam Trainor is a former Foreign Service officer specializing in South Asia who has been exiled to a private governmental consulting firm. While looking over some reports, he notices a transcript of an odd telephone conversation. The subject? How to drive India and Pakistan to nuclear war. Now with bodies piling up, his daughter kidnapped in India, and his life in danger, Sam must try to outwit, and outlive, a secret organization while also trying to save a country he has come to love. Palmer (The American Mission) is a Foreign Service Officer himself and his experiences and knowledge provide a realistic backdrop to his novel. To add to the realism, Palmer doesn't make his protagonist a James Bond but rather an ordinary man caught up in extraordinary circumstances, which is reflected in Sam's choices and abilities. While the story begins slowly, it's not long before the action ramps up into a cat-and-mouse thriller that will cause the reader to wonder which characters Sam should trust.