Balance of Power (Kerry Kilcannon Series #3) » (Reprint)

Richard North Patterson’s twelve novels include eight consecutive international bestsellers; critics compared his novel Protect and Defend to such novels as Allen Drury’s Advise and Consent and Gore Vidal’s Lincoln. Formerly a trial lawyer, Mr. Patterson served as the SEC’s liaison to the Watergate Special Prosecutor, and is now on the boards of several Washington-based advocacy groups dealing with gun violence, political reform, and reproductive rights. He lives with his wife, Laurie, and their family on Martha’s Vineyard.

An epic story that moves with force, passion, and authority, Balance of Power begins when President Kerry Kilcannon and television journalist Lara Costello at last decide to marry. But the momentous occasion is followed by an unspeakable tragedy a massacre of innocents by gunfire that ignites a high-stakes game of politics and legal maneuvering in the Senate, the courtroom, and across the country, which the charismatic but untested young President is determined to win at any cost. But in the incendiary clash over gun violence and gun rights, the cost to both Kilcannons may be even higher than he imagined.

USA Today

Patterson combines serious contemporary issues -- domestic violence, presidential politics, late-term abortion -- with an accessible writing style that has resulted in seven consecutive international best sellers. — Deirdre Donahue