Overview
Spencer Graves, a midlevel government economist, is in the middle of a divorce and an angrily contested battle to keep custody of his two children when he is sent on a government sponsored trip to Paris to attend an international conference. While there, he has an affair with a beautiful French woman, but when he returns home, the affair is used to blackmail him with threats that he will lose custody of his children and financial stability, he may end up in jail, and his children may be killed. He bends and then breaks government rules about handling sensitive economic statistics for the apparent financial benefit of stock market investors. However, when his actions send the economy into a recession, Spencer realizes the blackmailer's motion was darker than financial gain. Linda Wooster, a friend, confidante, and eventual lover, encourages him to track down the blackmailer, and the search leads Spencer back to Paris to locate the woman with whom he had the affair. While in France, Spencer concludes the plot was perpetrated by a foreign government that is set on destroying the U.S. economy and affecting the outcome of a U.S. presidential election. Fearing exposure, the foreign government decides to kill him and his former French mistress. Invisible Influence is the story of human weakness and strength, of passion and love, of suffering and terror, and of the struggle between ideas and the need to do what is right. It's an international thriller that combines current political and economic developments with a love story, and it builds to a powerful and surprising climax.
