If any of you have read my review on The Memory Man, then you already know that I really like David Baldacci. I like his style of writing and I like the male protagonists that he creates. When I heard he had this series, I knew I had to give it a shot. And so… I did:
The United States of America is a powerful nation – with powerful enemies. Sometimes, there doesn’t seem any way to beat their opponents – and that is when the government calls on Will Robie, a hitman who always follows orders and never misses his shot. But when a mission goes awry, Robie becomes a target himself and must escape from his own people. Fleeing the scene, Robie meets a 14-year-old runaway who has just witnessed the brutal murder of her parents. Against his own professional instinct, Robie takes the girl under his wing – but the more he gets to know the girl, the more he begins to realize that their fates may be connected. Robie must uncover the truth to save the girl’s life – and his own. But when you’re a hunted assassin, who can you trust?
When I was initially reading this novel, I really enjoyed it. I love Baldacci’s style of writing and I love his male protagonists; they just seem to embody the strong-but-silent type that have “deep pain in their souls”. The storyline itself was incredibly complex with a whole slew of characters to keep track of. Not only is Will Robie a badass fighter, he is also quite intelligent and a deep thinker; I like that he isn’t just one thing and that his intelligence is based on great observational skills rather than just “being smart”. The female characters in this novel were a great addition and really helped give the story some variety. By the time I had gotten to the middle of the novel, I knew who the “enemy” was – but there were still plenty of surprises that I could never have anticipated. One negative feature that I will mention is that the tying-in of the girl’s story with Robie’s was not done as effectively as I had hoped. It seemed a bit … messy and just thrown together last minute in comparison to the intricate connections of the rest of the story. This was definitely a good read but I definitely liked The Memory Man better. Because of this one negative feature, I am a bit reluctant to continue on with this series; I like clean explanations that make a lot of sense. But either way, this was a really good novel and worth giving a read!
Happy reading ~