The Hit by David Baldacci

 

Picked up this at a book sale, published in 2013 but new to me.  As always with Baldacci, a hit of a read.  I started to read it in June and finished it in a few evenings..  A 5 *****  

Right away on page 4 an  inspiring quote that  might be worth keeping in mind.  "  They were pretty good.  But pretty good did not cut it when you were up against outstanding."

This is the 2nd book featuring Robie.  Here from Amazon, a brief:     "Master assassin Will Robie must track down a deadly rogue agent, but the attacks conceal a larger threat that could send shockwaves through the U. S. government and around the world in this #1 New York Times bestselling thriller.  

Will Robie is a master of killing.    A highly skilled assassin, Robie is the man the U.S. government calls on to eliminate the worst of the worst--enemies of the state, monsters committed to harming untold numbers of innocent victims.

No one else can match Robie's talents as a hitman...no one, except Jessica Reel. A fellow assassin, equally professional and dangerous, Reel is every bit as lethal as Robie. And now, she's gone rogue, turning her gun sights on other members of their agency.

To stop one of their own, the government looks again to Will Robie. His mission: bring in Reel, dead or alive. Only a killer can catch another killer, they tell him.

But as Robie pursues Reel, he quickly finds that there is more to her betrayal than meets the eye. Her attacks on the agency conceal a larger threat, a threat that could send shockwaves through the U.S. government and around the world."

Here is the intro in the book

The Fallen by David Baldacci

I read this back in July but as with other books have not been posting lately.  However time to get these books moved along to local sale, so here goes.  Anothe winner from Baldacci.  This one is in the Memory Man series which I have not read in order but no matter.  Published 2018, 417 pages. 

Amos Decker is Baldacci's fictional  character, FBI agent with extra ordinary memory due to a football injury.  This occurs in a rust belt small western PA fictitious town, but one that is typical of the rust belt of the area.  From Book Good reads:    ."Amos Decker and his journalist friend Alex Jamison are visiting the home of Alex's sister in Barronville, a small town in western Pennsylvania that has been hit hard economically. When Decker is out on the rear deck of the house talking with Alex's niece, a precocious eight-year-old, he notices flickering lights and then a spark of flame in the window of the house across the way. When he goes to investigate he finds two dead bodies inside and it's not clear how either man died. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. There's something going on in Barronville that might be the canary in the coal mine for the rest of the country.     Faced with a stonewalling local police force, and roadblocks put up by unseen forces, Decker and Jamison must pull out all the stops to solve the case. And even Decker's infallible memory may not be enough to save them. "

Besides being an excellent thriller/mystery/ read there is a great amount of description of the nationwide drug/opiod crisis.  One example,  page 268-269..."Right, back in the 80's we had the crack crisis.  The government's position was just say no and if you didn't you went to prison.  Sop we locked u[p million, mostly men from inner cities.  Then came the 90's and Big Pharma decided that Americans weren't taking enough painkillers.  They sort of made paid the fifth vital sign.  Spent billions on ads, payoffs to the doctors, used legist looking organizations and think tanks to make it all seem aboveboard.  No possibility of addiction, no long term negatives was the mantra everyone was spouting.  Turns out all of that was based on faulty research or no research at all.  It's ironic but a l;ot of opioids were initially given out to combat lower back pain.     What's ironic.. Because opioid's actually are pretty ineffectual with chronic lower back pain........"  

5 stars no doubt*****

Fron flap cover

Back flap cover

            

Camel Club and Wish You Well by David Baldacci

July 1, 2011 from my  other blog, copied here .  The other blog was before I set this one up just for books. 


I finished reading a few more books to add to my side bar.  Just last night, I turned the last page 435 on one of my go to author's David Baldacci, an excellent story teller, "The Camel Club."  I have not ever had a disappointing read by him and in this book different yet again, I think he must be meeting with another of my favorite authors, Vince Flynn.  The Camel Club published in 2005 introduces Oliver Stone and his friends who exist on the fringes of Washington, DC to seek the truth about the country's business.  This is a mystery, thriller, terrorist, suspenseful novel at it's best.  Until I read this,  my  favorite Baldacci  read years ago was "Wish You Well."  Now it is a toss up.  Somehow I had jumped sequence because I first read the second in this venue,  which is not a series,  with the same four characters, charter members of the club, Oliver, Caleb Shaw, Reuben Rhodes, and Milton Farb but in this they join forces with Alex Ford, a secret service agent against a sinister plot of terrorists and ideologues that threaten the stability of the nation and the world.  I don't want to ruin the story for anyone, but this twister kept me glued to the pages and in today's topsy turvy  world with  repetitive crises in the Mid east, this work of fiction could be predictive.

Oliver, whose true identity is revealed in this book, claims they chose camel because camels have great stamina and never give up, but Reuben, reveals  page 432",, in the  1920's there was another Camel Club and at each meeting the members raised their glasses to oppose Prohibition to the last drop of whiskey."   As always Baldacci writes well and introduces spectacular characters. Besides the four, there are ever so many more characters such as Djamila,  a Muslim nanny, an Iranian posing as an Egyptian undercover of her peaceful job;  two sided  secret service agents who bring the country to the brink of the unthinkable; the ideologue Muslims who have infiltrated and settled into unsuspecting areas of employment waiting their moment; Brennan, the President of the United States, who is from a small town outside Pittsburgh, PA where terror manifest,  North Koreans, Carter Gray  the US Intelligence Czar appointed by the President  (this book was written before we had Czars...) and more officials and agents.  Camel Club is suspenseful and  kept me guessing to identify who are the villains and who are the champions and that suspense kept me reading.   Pg.154...."..he became Oliver Stone, a man of silent protest who watched and paid attention to important things...."  Pg. 40 describing the issues faced today, ..."not a war of professional armored battalions vs. turbanned rabble in the streets toting rifles and RPGs.  And it was not simply  a difference of religions.  It was a  battle against a mind-set of how people should conduct their lives, a battle that had political, social, and cultural facets melded together  into an exceedingly complex mosaic of humanity under enormous strain."    Pg. 69.."ignorance and intolerance, in pairs, never  one without its evil twin."  Pgs 100-101  well describe the history of the Muslim and  mideast turmoils  from the Syrians, Chechniyans, Mindanos, Kuwait, Lebanon,  Afghanistan, Morocco, Kurds, Iraquis, Baathists, Taliban, Mali and Senegal and more.   Baldacci has  summarized the escalation of problems the world faces today.   I fully recommend this thriller and as I said, I hope it is not predictive.    

The Collectors by David Baldacci

I posted this on my other blog in February 2010 and copied it here, one other very good Baldacci novel.  The Camel Club characters in action. 


"The Collectors"  by David Baldacci published in 2006, was my latest Baldacci read, completed on our RV trip west.  How Baldacci twists and melds  divergent plots so that the interwoven interesting characters keep me on the edge of the pages, always amazes me. In this dual different tales, the first centered on deaths in the Library of Congress' antique book section involving librarians and collectors of  famous old antique  books and  the second a very upscale con artist, Amanda Conroy and her troupe of merry men who avenge her con-father's death on one of Atlantic  cities top dogs by bilking him out of  more than $40 million.  It's a fascinating read how these two settings with unique  characters meet and become responsible  for unraveling a plot of selling top US secrets to unfriendlies. Oliver Stone, alias of a man who has been with special forces and intrigue services internationally for America  but who now works as a caretaker in  a cemetery although still maintaining his skills in security and resolution and who with Milton Farb, Reuben Rhodes and Caleb Shaw  forms the Camel club, an informal watchdog organization to keep the US government accountable to the people.  When Caleb, who's a librarian at the  Library of Congress discovers his mentor dead and is named  by the will to assess and oversee sale of the dead man's antique priceless book collection, the Camel Club becomes involved.  It's a must read  for those who like mystery, intrigue and characters, all Baldacci traits.  This novel though has one of those endings that assure purchase of the next novel, as the wronged Atlantic city mobster is left coming after Amanda who has now partnered with the Camels.  Gotta see what happens in that novel which is likely already published by this prolific author.  Baldacci books never disappoint me.

Divine Justice by David Baldacci

Read this novel in February and will be passing along to Library sale, but another as always excellent Baldacci read.  It is an old one from 2008, 387 pages,  recently acquired at a sale and like all Baldacci can be read out of order, although his one continues with the characters of the Camel Club and Oliver Stone.  This could very well have been written or be applied today.  It high lights coal mining, the lives, hills and folks who live there and  the timely horror of rampant prescription drug abuse, opiods of today.  

From page 150, " There was right and wrong.  Although those lines got blurred all the time.  Justice and injustice too were often all over the place, he knew.  There were no easy answers and whatever road you took, be it the high, low or more likely somewhere in between, half the people  would hate the result and half would applaud.  And the hell of the thing was in a way they'd both be right."

Page 213, " Experience without cynicism was a sure sign your brain had dry rotted and you hadn't bothered to notice.  He went into every high level meeting these days knowing there were at least three agendas and also knowing he'd only be told one of them."  Sounds like bureaucracy and governmental politics of today, some things do no change. 

This is another 5 *****.  A page turner that I read to get a break from another book that I have been struggling to finish and needed a break in reading.  Sometimes I do that, set one aside and  pick up diversion.  Baldacci never disappoints.  

The Whole Truth by David Baldacci

The Whole Truth, fast paced  401 pages, by David Baldacci, one of my go to authors is another book I read earlier in the year but haven't posted here.  It's time to gather books to donate to our local library's monthly  book sale,  and this one which is  a first edition from April 2008 is going despite my fondness for the author.  I am trying to not accumulate more books because I have over flowed the  shelves in the study once again.  According to the inside jacket this is the first international thriller Baldacci has written and with it introduces new characters,  the  protagonist, Shaw, a man without first or other names with a colorful past, who is "reluctantly" following directions of  a secret multinational intelligence agency, traveling the globe to keep it safe. Shades of the New World Order are reflected in this novel.   Nicolas Creed administers the Ares Corporation, the world's largest defense contractor.  Katie James, journalist striving for the story or interview that will place her at the top of her profession.  In a note at the end of the book, the author writes about "perception management" defined by the Department of Defense in its manuals and offered by public relations firms today.  "Apparently if you want to be exceptional at creating the Big Lie, you really need to specialize in it.  Perception managers are not spin doctors because they don't spin facts.  The create facts and then sell them to the world as the truth.  And that to quote Mark Twain who would've had a field day with the PM guys is the difference between the lightning bug and lightning."  Another excellent thriller by Baldacci.  5 *****   

Reads from 2014 and early 2015 Part 1

A stack of books to be donated to the local library book sale has been alongside  my computer and growing since March 2015 when we returned from our snowbird travels south the past winter.  I have been playing catch up with  multiple obligations and activities including financial analyses of our investments, tracking and data entering,  home activities, social, medical appointments, lots of things and now with springtime in full force, the outside beckons, no demands my attention.  So rather than looking at this box of books for months longer, I  will list each here and skip  scanning and reviews for the most part.  I am doing so in two phases as time is limited this morning again.   Once again, all my intentions to blog about my reads takes a backseat to lifestyle shifts and changes and to repeat a phrase that runs freely across my mind, where does all the time go?   I once envisioned retirement as sitting and reading several hours a day, I now spend only a mere hour or so  evenings before going to bed, reading.  I am far too busy with physical activities all day long to sit still and read, plenty of time for that when I become feeble, elderly, or perhaps plain lazy. My lifelong habit and love of reading remains but the stillness it requires doesn't suit me. Nowadays, sitting is dangerous to health, viewed as the new smoking, to be avoided physical activity is preferred.  This suits me fine as I have had 2 speeds all my life, on or off. I was called "Miss Antsy-pants as a child because I could not sit still for long, "what are we going to do now?" was my constant refrain if I was not on the move and in perpetual motion. Now years down the road all my activity was a good thing, healthful, so sitting and reading through the day is just not part of my retirement. Evidence here on this neglected book blog as well as on my other blog a;so neglected with no posting since February.  The shift to Facebook a more convenient outlet, where the whims of my mind are documented with photos and phrases of the moment.   Here is my  reading book list:

Title, author, date published, my star rating,  comments:

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid             Bill Bryson   2006    *****  One of the funniest books I have ever read, a partial memoir of the author's times growing up in the middle of the country, Des Moines, Iowa.  Beyond witty it is laugh out loud as his escapades and those of the boys in  a time of life I recall, rival Mark Twain's fictional Huck Finn. 

Masie Dobbs     and    Birds of a Feather        Jacqueline Winspear  2003 and 2004
A  two novel set in one book,  ****   I had read Masie, the first in this London post WWI era female sleuth series.  Because it was in this book I reread it, recalling some  activities but refreshing myself on her establishment as a private detective.  The Masie books are delightful mysteries,.  Nothing mysteriously circular nor  quizzical but easy enjoyable reading. 

Orphan Train                          Christina Bakker Kline           2013            ****    A fictional portrayal of characters in events that actually  occurred between 1854 and  1929 in the US when children were abandoned or given up to orphanages by immigrants or poor  parents, or by life tragedies.  I was interested in this because my genealogical research indicates my late Uncle John's father was adopted from similar circumstances.  It was not an easy life for the book's characters and the resiliency of human spirit can triumph.  

The Christmas Train       David Baldacci        2002   ****     A Baldacci fictional story, rather touching in parts but trite.  Simple reading.  The cross country winter train adventure of Tom Langdon, a mixed up globetrotting journalist. who must take thrain cross country from Washington DC to Los Angeles.  Some good lines as in any Baldacci book  as pg. 3, "being an only child he was truly alone now and that made him introspective:, or pg. 11, "I say that your  family  is where you find it."  pages 121-122, "Oh sure, if you're into the destination only as opposed to the trip itself.....most folk who ride trains could care less where they're going.  For them it's the journey itself and the people they meet along the way.....shouldn't there be room for a  train where you can just sit back, take a breath and be human for a little while?  Just a little while,?  Is that so bad?"        

The Forgotten        David Baldacci                 2012                       *****   Another great well developed thriller by this prolific author  about Army Special Agent John Puller who become key in an investigation into his aunt's death in Paradise Florida along the Gulf Coast, an area  with which we are  very familiar in our winter travels. Typical Baldacci the hints of the tale are set out very early for the astute reader, but only by the end of the book is the hint clearer.  For example, page 5, "They were not rich.  They were not powerful.  They were truly the forgotten.  And their numbers were growing exponentially as the world was settling swiftly into a permanent state of  the rich and thus powerful and then everyone else."    

One Summer by David Baldacci

My choice for a fast reading  interlude as I continue through Condi Rice's technical book.  Here is another  Baldacci gem, published in 2011, 333 pages hardback which I whizzed through in 3 evenings.  It is a good story, aptly named and a great summer read although different from Baldacci's writings of intrigue.  It reminds me a bit of his wonderful early work "Wish You Well" after which he named his foundation to combat illiteracy.  That book is not published any longer but if you find it get it.   One Summer is a story of a family, terminal illness, tragedy, miracles, obstacles and life and people who do all they can for you as well as those who do all they can against you.  I say little about the story line so that I do not spoil it for you. 


Back cover


Two passages stood out to me:  the first on page 247, "Because life doesn"t work that way.  You can do everything perfectly.  Do everything that you think you're supposed to be doing.  Fulfill every expectation that other people may have.  And you still won"t get the results you think you deserve.  Life is crazy and maddening and often makes no sense.....People who shouldn"t be here are and someone who should be here isn"t.  And there's nothing you can do about it.  You can"t change it. ...It has nothing to do with desire and everything to do with reality which often makes no sense at all.... "

And the second on page 319, " Lizzie and Jack had been meant to be together forever if ever two people were.  Only sometimes life doesn't match what should be.  It just is.  And people have to accept it, no matter how hard it may be....You should respect the past.  You should never forget the past.  But you can"t live there."   An excellent emotion evoking book, another winner by Baldacci.   Four stars ****

Truman and Baldacci

An odd combination, the title, but I have 2 reviews to catch up on after our trip.  While I was hesitant about taking the heavy tome, Truman by David McCullough along I could not imagine starting another book until I finished all 992 pages, 1117 with Acknowledgements, footnote resources, index and photo credits.  I bought this likely out of print, published in 1992 volume at People's Library book sale in May, 2011 in my hometown in PA.  I believe this is  David McCullough's masterpiece.  McCullough who is one of my favorite authors does intense research ala James Michener and writes outstanding historical non-fiction.  His book about building the Panama Canal, "Path Between the Seas" awaits me.  Harry S Truman, is the first President I recall, from my  toddler days.  Harry known as "Give' em hell, Harry" was likely the very last common man to ever be President.  He was never a wealthy man and was a solid and plain as the Missouri homestead.  He was a farmer and went broke in the haberdashery business, entered local politics and was especially fond of railroads and roads and highways.  The book begins in 1841 when the rough and fighting  Kentuckians, Harry's ancestors migrated along with  others westward to Missouri.  There is a wealth  of history between then and Harry's death at age 88 in 1972.  What's the first thing you remember about Harry? is a question I have asked older friends and the answers range from his dropping the bomb on Hiroshima to end WWII, to firing of General Mac Arthur, to his plain spoken ways, to when he seized the steel industry.   Harry detested what he called the "striped pants" of the eastern elitists and big moneyed executives but he had little use for West point stuffed shirts as well.  Harry liked his bourbon and would imbibe freely on his Potomac yachting trips when he could be plain Harry and play poker.  I  had previously  read and reviewed J B  West's "Upstairs at the White House" which  McCullough uses  as a source for  several White house tales.  Dean Acheson called him  the "Captain with the Mighty Heart" referring to his rank as Army Captain in WWI. He remained devoted to his battery of men and they to him.  George Marshall said in 1948 "the integrity of the man will stand thru the ages."  One scene shows him elderly at a winter funeral in Missouri, one of the few mourners ; when the astonished undertaker comments, "Mr President it is so bitterly cold"  Harry replies, "I never forget a friend."   Harry was a man of decisions  and absolute character.  Bess, his beloved  wife outlived him by another 10 years and both are buried  in the courtyard of the Truman library.  He adored Bess and their daughter Margaret.  Harry was  quite the letter writer and I am anxious to visit the Truman library in Independence where so many of his hand written letters to his mother, to his sister, to Bess, to Margaret and many others are on display.  To say I enjoyed this book does not do it justice--I relished each page.  It is a permanent part of our home library.  It was with great pride that I read about a man who surely has rolled about in his coffin to hear of the Democrat party of today, somewhere  after Harry it all disintegrated.  I could really go on and on and on about this book and include quotes from now till kingdom come and still not touch on the swathing epoch that it is.  On a scale of 1 low to 5 high I rate this book a 10*!

After "Truman"  it was time for lighter  reading and so I delved into a quick reading paper back, fiction, "Hell's Corner" by David Baldacci, a contemporary author whom I enjoy from time to time.  He does not write prolifically like the outline authors common today, his  books all have plot and delightful deep characters.  Pay no attention to the price on the cover because I picked this up for 50cents at a local book sale.  Published in 2011, the 572 pages  in paperback, brings more adventures of the Camel Club characters and Oliver Stone aka John Carr former espionage trained assassin who is called back to serve the President.  There are so many twists, characters and wonders in this book typical of Baldacci  that I could not guess the culprit and read in suspense to the end.  This genre is thriller, politically  intriguing mystery.   I rate  it 5 * out of 5 possible with 5 being the top number.