While investigating suspicious fires at the vice president's family business, steve casella runs into a brutal plot spearheaded by corrupt labor leaders and discovers his own family's potential culpability tied to a past in organized crime. steve's girlfriend, edie pauling, teams up to help and is confronted with her brother as the prime suspect in the murder of a young female student. as they dig deeper, the plot spreads to the nation's capital. in a desperate attempt to save her brother's life, edie faces her own mortality. the guarding state is the third book in the amber restrained series. the series chronicles the escapades of two disparate individuals, steve casella and edie pauling, who surmount their differences and form an interminable bond that takes them on a journey to fight the injustices assailing the american dream. together they challenge the seemingly unending barrage of incompetence and corruption that is ignored, facilitated or orchestrated by the almost invincible power structure of an encroaching government. along for the ride is amber, a dog steve has rescued from a fatal house fire. the sometimes disobedient canine companion is a constant source of frustration and amusement, but as part of their team, no one is more capable to assist when times get rough. as the nation and the world gather at the brink, steve and edie desperately try to gain traction against the slippery slope toward ultimate destruction.