The fifth volume in the fast-selling series of high-tech, high-action thrillers created by Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik.

Tom Clancy's Op-Centre, the series of international thrillers centred on the National Crisis Management Centre in Washington, is now firmly established as a bestselling phenomenon - a must for technothriller fans around the world.

The previous volume in the series, Acts of War, was one of the fastest-selling thrillers of 1997. Now that remarkable record is set to continue, with a spectacular new story - Balance of Power.

Spain is a nation poised to suffer its worst internal strife in a thousand years. Certain well-placed Spanish diplomats sense it. Op-Centre's intelligence corroborates it. All the United States and Spain have to do is find a way to avert it.

Before they can, an Op-Centre representative is assassinated in Madrid on her way to a top-secret diplomatic meeting. Now all fears are confirmed. Someone very powerful wants another Spanish civil war - no matter what the cost.