What
flashes through your mind when you hear the term "Secret Service?"
I'm sure you don't think of the unobtrusive way that the waiter
refills your water glass at your favorite upper-crust restaurant.
No, the Secret Service handles a lot of different things, but the
biggie is the protection of the President of the United States. The
immediate image that pops up is a bunch of big guys in nice suits
and serious sunglasses, all of them flanking POTUS and looking
grimly in different directions. It's not an act; no one wants
another Dallas on their watch. The agents clustered around POTUS
constitute the Fourth Perimeter; there is no fifth. Four is as
close as it gets and no one is supposed to breach that. So what
happens when a former Secret Service agent, someone who has been
there and knows all the precautions and all the preparations,
decides to kill the President? One answer is provided in THE FOURTH
PERIMETER, the latest novel by Tim Green.

Kurt Ford is the ex-Secret Service agent who is driven to breach
the Fourth Perimeter. His motivation is nothing less than heated,
single-minded revenge. Ford, a retired agent turned successful
technology entrepreneur, rules a perfect world with more money than
he could ever reasonably spend, an intelligent and beautiful
wife-to-be who is successful in her own right and an adult son who
is building his own successful career in the Secret Service. Ford's
perfect world is shattered, however, when his son is found dead in
bed, a victim of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. The
official explanation is that young Ford committed suicide, but his
father refuses to believe that and begins a relentless hunt for
justice for his son. When he is told by an unimpeachable source
that his son was murdered at the behest of the President, Ford's
only focus is on bringing the most powerful man in the world to
rough and personal justice.

He begins to meticulously plan his revenge, with his biggest
problem being how to breach the Fourth Perimeter. He finally hits
upon a brilliant scheme: rather than invading it, Ford will build
it around himself. Ford slowly and carefully constructs every
detail of his plan --- meeting the President, executing his plan
and the man, as well as his escape. It seems as if the plan cannot
fail. But a number of pitfalls and surprises await Ford as he
rushes headlong to his fateful, carefully planned meeting with the
President.

Green continues to hone his craft well, bringing together elements
of suspense and thorough research to create readable and enjoyable
novels with tales that are grounded in the real world. He will
continue to bear watching --- and reading.