State of Terror

 State of Terror, is written by one of my favorite authors, Louise Penny.  This time she has collaborated with Hillary Clinton to write a mystery novel that is both political and a statement on the social and political situation that gripped our country and the world in 2021.

Louise Penny is known for writing mystery novels that are more like novels with a threat to someone's life  or a threat to the way of life in society.  She has a distinct and unique style of writing that brings the reader  in and makes you feel like you are there as a character int he plot.  When she writes about Three Pines, a small cold, snowy village hidden behind trees in the  wilderness of Canada you  can  almost smell the pine trees.  You can almost taste the hot cocoa as her main characters gather around the fire at the Inn.

This book started off feeling like a departure from Penny's signature style,  but quickly became a  political intrigue that followed that same writing theme. Her main character seems to  be a take off on Hillary Clinton.  Except that Clinton has a lifetime of experience that prepared her to Secretary of State and this character has been appointed to her position after running a media empire for years.  The tension between the President and Ellen Adams is deep seated.  The  President, it seems, wants Ellen to fail, but she  is a determined and feisty character who pushes forward and is determined to win the day.

When three bombs go off in various European countries Ellen and her assistant and best friend, Betsy Jameson, are off to meet with different world leaders trying to discover who knew what when.  It seems clear  to Ellen  that an  old political enemy is behind the attacks; Bashir Shah, an evil Pakistani arms dealer “intent on creating a hell on earth.”  Ellen Adams even thinks Shah might have killed her husband in revenge for articles her media company published about him.  Her travels send her to Russia, the grand Ayatollah of Iran and even to Florida to visit a previous president at his compound.

The book plays with characters that resemble members of the US government's previous administration including the Secretary of Defense who is trying to undermine Adams.   The Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff and the Secretary of Defense both look really guilty of being behind the crimes and even have a fist fight in the Oval office. 

This book  is quite full of characters.  Sometimes it is hard to keep track of  them all and there are many twisty plot turns. But that is in true form for Penny.  The book is very different than her Armand Gamache series, though her emotional writing style does come through, her prose and style of offering so many  different directions and not following them directly to a conclusion.  Her ability to write about friendship and present philosophical views are all there.  

Then  there is Penny's co author Hillary Clinton.  She brings the political viewpoint to the book. This is her chance to vent about the way things turned out during the presidential election she lost to Trump.  Though his name is not used there are references to him and his followers.  The president, Eric Dunn, in this book is called "Eric the dumb".  To her credit though she also pays tribute to a long time friend Betsy Ebeling, who died recently, in the character of Betsy Jameson.

In t he end it is a fun book to read and could possibly  lead to another political mystery that Ellen Adam and her entourage need to solve.