A BLOCKBUSTER TALE OF TERRORISM, NAVALACTION, LEGAL INTRIGUE, AND A HISTORICSHOWDOWN ON CAPITOL HILL.

When pirates hijack the world's fastest merchant ship in a ruthless plan to spark all international incdent, the attack provokes a constitutional crisis-- and threatens to split U.S. goverment down the middle.

Jim Dillon, special assistant to the Speaker of the House, discovers a longforgotten clause the Constitution that allows Congress to take military action wihout presidential approval, and his ambitious boss sees an opportunity to humiliate his rival ill the Oval Office. The case moves swiftly toward the Supreme Court while over in tile Pacific, a rogue U.S. Navy battle group races toward a deadly rendezvous with the terrorists.

Flashing between the clash in Washington and the approaching battIe in the Pacific, Balance Of Power blends political battles, legal skirmishes, and naval warfare into action-filled blockbuster- entertainment.

Amazon.com Review
John Stanbridge, the Speaker of the House in James W. Huston's exciting and exceptionally timely first thriller, isn't exactly Newt Gingrich ("He was of average height with dark brown hair that was stiff and unruly. He wore it parted on the side, but the only time his hair looked neat was in the morning when it was still wet") but he is a hawkish, confrontational Republican who can't stand the idea that President Edward Manchester--a Democrat and a pacifist--is Commander in Chief of America's armed forces. So when Indonesian terrorists hijack a new American supercargo vessel and torture the captain and crew on live TV, Stanbridge is delighted to discover a clause in the Constitution that lets Congress go behind the president's unwilling back and authorize military action on its own. This leads to a Constitutional crisis, which lawyer Huston describes crisply, as well as some air and sea military action, on which former jet pilot Huston also brings a lot of personal expertise to bear. There's even a love story, involving top aides of the Speaker and the president, ensuring that Balance of Power will soon be playing at a movie theater near you. --Dick Adler