State of Terror

Betsy Jameson is a close friend and trusted confident for Ellen Adams. Even as the whole world seems to turn against the secretary of state, Betsy can provide valuable emotional support which allows Ellen to do her job. The women have been friends since their schooldays and have remained fiercely loyal to one another throughout their lives. Betsy helped Ellen deal with Gil’s kidnapping and bears many of the same grudges which emerged out of the mishandling of the situation. She dislikes President Williams for this exact reason. While Ellen is restrained in what she says, the notoriously foul mouthed Betsy has no compunctions about criticizing powerful men to their faces. Betsy sometimes functions as Ellen’s unbridled id, voicing the thoughts which Ellen is too diplomatic to say aloud. Betsy and Ellen function as two sides of the same coin; though they share many thoughts and emotions, they differ how they project these into the world.

Betsy searches for the traitor in the White House and brings Pete Hamilton onboard to help her. Hamilton does not share Betsy’s political views, but he has his own grievances with the previous administration. After helping to uncover a high-level conspiracy, however, Hamilton is murdered. The murder gives Betsy a personal reason to want to bring down the conspiracy in the White House. She feels personally responsible for Hamilton’s death, but she is asked to stay at home and record events in the Oval Office during the climax of the novel. Despite Betsy’s myriad reasons for wanting to be in the room, she acquiesces to Ellen’s request. Just as Ellen shows her commitment to the cause by putting herself in harm’s way, Betsy reveals her similar level of commitment by allowing herself to be removed from an issue in which she is now personally involved. Betsy is a vital part of Ellen’s success, making her own sacrifices which eventually diverge from those made by her friend.

Gil Bahar is the estranged son of Ellen Adams and a famous journalist. He works in the Middle East, covering the same terrorists who once kidnapped him. Gil was nearly killed by terrorists but escaped and later converted to Islam. The nature of his escape has made him a target those who believe that he now works for his kidnappers. However, Gil’s conversion is sincere.

Gil refuses to use his mother’s famous name while working as a journalist, refuting the charges of nepotism which might be levelled against him, and he refuses to give up his sources to his mother even though doing so might prevent a terrorist attack. Gil is loyal to the ethical codes taught to him by both Islam and his journalistic profession.

Gil and Anahita were once romantically involved. While she held a deep affection for Gil, he maintained an emotional distance which meant that their relationship largely remained physical. While Anahita believes that Gil was never truly interested in her, Gil later reveals that he struggles to form sincere romantic connections with women due to the influence of his father. Over the course of the novel, he develops as a character to the point where he reunites with Anahita and can show genuine, sincere interest in her, a sign of real character growth.

Bashir Shah is the weapons dealer and nuclear scientist who functions as the novel’s chief antagonist. He is a key figure in the plot to plant nuclear bombs in American cities, and he has a personal connection to Ellen Adams. During her media career, Ellen produced a documentary which exposed Shah as a terrorist arms dealer. The documentary led to his house arrest, and he maintained a grudge against her ever since. In the intervening years, Shah has ordered the kidnap and near-execution of Ellen’s son Gil and he may have poisoned her husband (Shah mocks her by sending flowers on the anniversary of her husband’s death). After arranging for his release from house arrest, Shah relishes his involvement in the bomb plot because it allows him to take on Ellen once again. He is ideologically and personally invested in ensuring that Ellen fails.

Shah’s defining characteristic is his arrogance. He is highly intelligent, but he believes himself to be smarter than everyone else. He makes the house of a former President his hiding place, and poses as a waiter to serve dinner to Ellen in Pakistan. He goes so far as to slip her a note containing a vital password because he believes that she will never guess his true intentions. Shah’s extreme arrogance eventually causes him to make a mistake when Ellen correctly interprets the meaning of his note. The same confidence and self-belief which allowed Shah to become one of the world most important arms dealers eventually becomes his own undoing.

Anahita is a hardworking but easily dismissed member of the State Department. She is a key part of almost foiling a terrorist plot in Frankfurt, but she was unable to convince others of the imminent threat in time for meaningful action to be taken. Anahita is frustrated that her superiors will not take her seriously, that intelligence agents assume that she may be a traitor because of her ethnic background, that her family burdens her with so many secrets, and that Gil cannot forge an emotional connection with her. Despite these frustrations, Anahita never stops working to protect others. Like Ellen, she puts herself in harm’s way and sacrifices a great deal to save other people.

Anahita also represents the ways in which families can complicate a situation. Her family have kept the truth from her for a long time, placing her in personal danger of arrest by the United States intelligence services. She has an extended family in Iran who are ideologically opposed to the country she now serves, meaning that Anahita is under constant suspicion. Anahita’s difficulties mirror those faced by Ellen. The secretary of state was treated with contempt because her son survived a terrorist attack; people believe that Ellen may be personally compromised when acting in the interests of the United States. Anahita is similarly burdened by her associations. Yet Anahita responds to this treatment by working even harder to protect people—like Ellen.