Counterparts / Gonzalo Lira

FBI agent Margaret Chisholm-a single mother and soccer mom, quiet, competent-is possessed of an unpredictable red rage that awes even her toughest colleagues. CIA agent Nicholas Denton-once a rising star, now considered a "disappointment"-manages to subtly control much of the Agency from his low-level desk. When Sister Marianne, a nun with a past, becomes the target of a fearsome international assassin, Chisholm and Denton are teamed up in an unlikely intra-agency pairing, code name: Counterparts.Just why Sister Marianne has been targeted remains a mystery, but the closer the assassin gets, the clearer it becomes that this is no ordinary hit. Following a trail of bloodshed that leads from within the walls of a rural New Hampshire convent to Washington's Beltway and finally to the streets of Rome, Chisholm and Denton keep close watch over Sister Marianne as the audacious killer zeroes in, cutting a measured swath of terror in his wake. There, in the Eternal City, Chisholm, Denton, and Sister Marianne will learn that nothing is as it seems: allegiances are variable and treachery is as common as votive candles, while only those they've come to distrust can be counted upon.Chockablock with unanticipated twists and turns, Counterparts will leave readers spinning as the action speeds to its satisfyingly fierce end. Gonzalo Lira is a new talent sure to win an immediate following with this bold, fresh debut.