Samantha Reid is the Deputy Assistant to the President for Homeland Security. When she hears about a gas line explosion in Oklahoma, she suspects sabotage. She requests a meeting with the head of GeoGlobal Oil & Gas, and is surprised to learn the new Vice President of the company is Tripp Adams, a man she had a crush on when they both attended Princeton.

Samantha realizes that her attraction to Tripp hasn’t faded. Tripp shares that attraction and asks her out to dinner, where they discuss the explosion and catch up on their lives since leaving Princeton. After dinner, Samantha invites Tripp to her apartment for coffee. When Tripp receives a call informing him of yet another explosion, both he and Samantha grow certain it’s deliberate sabotage by some group intent on attacking a major source of U.S.  energy.

As the attacks escalate, Tripp has his company conduct a thorough investigation, while Samantha tries to convince her boss, Gregory Barnes, that satellites should be used as surveillance. Greg refuses, but faced with pressure from the White House, he is forced to let Samantha and her team use all available means to discover the terrorists’ identity.

GeoGlobal’s property in Venezuela is in danger of being confiscated by that country’s President, and Tripp must fly to Caracas to negotiate with the government’s officials to prevent complete loss of the company’s assets there. When Samantha doesn’t hear from Tripp after several days, she calls GeoGlobal and learns that he’s been kidnapped. She uses all her political resources to locate him, to no avail. Determined to save Tripp no matter what, Samantha appeals to Tripp’s old boss, the only man capable of mounting a secret rescue mission—and Samantha is determined to be part of that rescue group.

Final Finesse is a fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat thriller, filled with surprising twists and turns, and just the right touch of romance. Karna Bodman Small’s vast experience as a top White House staffer brings credence to this solid, spellbinding, all too plausible plot. This riveting novel grabbed my interest from the first page and didn’t let go for a minute.  A definite, not-to-be missed read!