Synopsis
Mason Perry goes by Mace. She's the younger sister of the chief of police of D.C., Beth Perry. Mace was a cop and then a detective working narcotics...until she was kidnapped, and set-up by her abductors to look like a criminal herself. She lost her job, her house, and finally her liberty. She served her time in a West Virgina prison, and began the long struggle to turn her life around.
Back on the outside, Mace tries to find work, but with her criminal record, it's tough going. She runs through a string of jobs and won't accept any help from Beth, who is in a politically delicate situation. Finally, she finds a job with Joshua Altman, a reclusive scientist who wants her to help with his research and also act as his de facto bodyguard. As she starts to learn about the true nature of his work, his need for security quickly becomes clear. Altman has made a discovery that portends nothing less than an almost certain apocalypse for the civilized world. But, at the same time,...
Publishers Weekly
This promising first in a new series from bestseller Baldacci (First Family) introduces Beth Perry, chief of the District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police, and Beth's younger sister, Mace Perry, a former police officer dubbed “the Patty Hearst of the twenty-first century” after she was seized by bandits, drugged and taken along on a series of armed robberies around Washington. Mace, who's just getting out of prison after serving a two-year sentence, is willing to risk everything to clear her name and reclaim her life as a cop by cracking a big case on her own. The rape-murder of a powerful lawyer as well as the killing of a prominent U.S. attorney provide Mace an opportunity to vindicate herself. While Baldacci draws his characters in bright primary colors, and some of the action reaches comic book proportions, he delivers his usual intricate plotting and sets the stage nicely for highly competent Beth and impulsive, streetwise Mace to take on more bad guys. (Oct. 27)