Annie Whitman's life has become a pendulum again, but this time, it moves toward and away from two men. One of the men has swept her off her feet, and he loves her deeply. But he is a novice with love, susceptible to beginners' mistakes. When he messes up in a newsworthy way, Annie must determine whether he is capable of constancy, and whether love is enough. Jack Stallings is a CIA-groomed killing machine who has always operated on principles of patriotic duty. Now he is discovering what civilian life has to offer, and what it means to develop honest, unfabricated human connections. At the same time, he had gone rogue with a mission of potentially cataclysmic dimensions. Annie's past has caught up with her; her future is unknown. What happens next is up to her-with a little help from her friends and one Southern woman as full of wisdom as she is of good cooking. Fast-paced, provocative, and global-traversing everywhere from Switzerland to the Virgin Islands to the heartland of America-The Achilles Heart unearths the moral responsibilities behind life, love, and truth.