Ghost Country

At the start of Lee's dramatic sequel to Breach, gun men hit the motorcade in which Paige Campbell, who has just met with the U.S. president, is riding through Washington, D.C., and kill everyone but her. Before she's captured, Campbell uses her cellphone to get off a call for help to Bethany Stewart, her colleague in the shadowy outfit known as Tangent. Stewart, in turn, recruits Travis Chase, who was once briefly involved in a Tangent operation, and reveals to him the existence of an "entity" resembling a dark metal cylinder that opens a hole in time. Since the entity has shown a horrific future for humanity, Chase and Stewart, who suspects the president was behind the motorcade attack, must scramble to save their friend and forestall devastation in the years to come. Lee imaginatively blends a Baldacci-like political tale of betrayals and assassination with time travel in a thoughtful science-fictional thriller. (Jan.)