Dr. Cameron (Cammy) Talbot has developed a new missile defense system and has computer tested it, but hasn't field tested it yet. Lt. Colonel Hunt Daniels, detailed from the White House and National Security Council to investigate Cammy's patented new breakthrough, finds more than the missile defense system to interest him. But militants from the Kashmir region of India have stolen three missiles and have sent an agent to Washington, D.C. to steal Cammy's work -- or kill her -- to keep the West from getting it. Keeping Cammy alive becomes almost a full-time job for Hunt when they end up in India, testing her new system against the real thing.

CHECKMATE, Ms. Bodman's first novel, is fast-paced, fun, intense and very interesting. Showing the workings of Washington from a new angle, the story is fresh and the characters come alive. Don't miss this great book, or the next installment in Cammy's story, GAMBIT, coming in February 2008.