Synopsis

Another in the popular series of Op-Center thrillers, Balance of Power sets the stage in Spain, as tensions between various ethnic factions are pushing the country to the brink of disaster.

As the story unfolds, high-level diplomatic and intelligence teams are working overtime to diffuse the crisis when their efforts are shot down by an assassin's bullet. That's when the real trouble begins: "As intelligence chief Bob Herbert had put it before Martha had left Washington, 'This will make the Spanish Civil War look like a brawl.'"