Just a few days ago, an opinion piece in The Washington Post lamented the “zone of ambiguity” that authors of espionage thrillers are finding themselves in right now.

Bestselling spy novelist Joseph Finder describes the genre he writes in as “our culture’s early-warning system, a creative space where we can explore threats before they explode into headlines.”

Yet increasingly, Finder said, he and his colleagues find themselves tiptoeing around Russian activity both on the global stage and behind the scenes — “for fear of domestic political backlash” by readers and others here in the United States.

This week’s book

This week’s book

“To Die For” by David Baldacci

Grand Central Publishing — 432 pp — $30

Indeed, the geopolitical landscape does seem to be changing before our eyes, and the book that is the focus of this week’s column tussles with that new reality.

“To Die For” is written by another bestselling author, David Baldacci. Although Baldacci is based on the East Coast, for the latest book in his “6:20 Man” commuter/fixer series, he sends his protagonist, Travis Devine, on a mission to the Pacific Northwest. The author does a creditable job of capturing the Seattle scene, as well as describing a different vibe and environment east of the Cascades.

Devine spent years as an Army Ranger, followed by a stint on Wall Street. Now he combines his talents as an investigator, bodyguard, and occasional assassin who works on the shadowy periphery of the U.S. government.

Devine’s temporary assignment to Seattle involves providing a secure escort for a recently orphaned girl to a high-stakes meeting with her uncle, who is preparing to become her legal guardian.

Betsy Odom is only 12 years old, and she witnessed her parents’ deaths. Local responders reported the cause as drug overdoses, but Betsy claims her parents never used drugs.

The girl has never met her uncle, but Danny Glass is a very wealthy man who travels with heavy “baggage” — and that doesn’t just mean having his own security detail. Glass is currently under investigation by federal authorities for possible dealings with organized crime.

None of this passes the sniff test, as far as Devine is concerned, but when he starts to ask questions, people begin turning up dead.

There’s another complication. Not only does Devine need to protect Betsy, he also needs to keep from being killed himself by someone who’s held a grudge against him for quite some time.

(This is the part that didn’t pass my own sniff test: if Devine is being hunted, why would anyone think it appropriate to assign him to protect a child?)

There’s also a final, more chilling wrinkle to this tale that alludes to the tensions that Baldacci’s fellow author, Finder, was worrying about in that Washington Post piece.

No spoilers here, but let’s just say that “To Die For” piles up a combustible mix of allies, family, friends, foes, patriotism, bedrock principles and more complicated justice.

This is page-turning entertainment, for sure. Baldacci also seems to have done his part to activate the “early-warning system” that his colleague was talking about.