From the author of "Days of Drums" and co-author (with Robert Ludlum) of the "New York Times" bestselling "The Cassandra Compact" comes a new political thriller that ricochets across the world stage with implacable force. Moving from the desolation of North Korea to the oak-and-leather preserves of Wall Street to the subterranean surveillance headquarters in the Pentagon, "By Dawn's Early Light" traces the journey of Sloane Ryder, a young, straight-shooting financial analyst who gets caught in the undertow of large-scale political maneuverings involving the United States' ever-sensitive relationship with China. While Washington, Wall Street, and Beijing jockey for position in East Asia, Sloane uncovers a plot -- woven by some of the most eminent figures in government -- to murder the first woman president of the United States. As she frantically pieces together a series of strange but seemingly unrelated events, her trail leads her to the Handyman, a merciless killer-for-hire. Suddenly she finds she's playing a deadly game of cat-and-mouse where each move could be her last. "By Dawn's Early Light" is a Roman candle of interlocking conspiracies, Faustian bargains, and shadowy alliances among unlikely parties. A high-wire act of collusion and double-cross, its shocking plot twists will keep readers reeling till the very last pages.