End Game by David Baldacci – a Review

End Game by David Baldacci – a Review

 

End GameAmazon / B&N / Kobo / BAM / Book Depository

Description:
Will Robie and Jessica Reel are two of the most lethal people alive. They’re the ones the government calls in when the utmost secrecy is required to take out those who plot violence and mass destruction against the United States. And through every mission, one man has always had their backs: their handler, code-named Blue Man.

But now, Blue Man is missing.

Last seen in rural Colorado, Blue Man had taken a rare vacation to go fly fishing in his hometown when he disappeared off the grid. With no communications since, the team can’t help but fear the worst.

Sent to investigate, Robie and Reel arrive in the small town of Grand to discover that it has its own share of problems. A stagnant local economy and a woefully understaffed police force have made this small community a magnet for crime, drugs, and a growing number of militant fringe groups.

But lying in wait in Grand is an even more insidious and sweeping threat, one that may shake the very foundations of America. And when Robie and Reel find themselves up against an adversary with superior firepower and a home-court advantage, they’ll be lucky if they make it out alive, with or without Blue Man…

 

Review:

End Game by David Baldacci is the 5th book in his Will Robie series, and another of one his fantastic suspense thrillers.  End Game picks up a few months after The Guilty left off.  Will Robie returns from a successful mission stopping a terrorist attack in London, and he is asked to go to Colorado to find his missing superior, Blue Man (Roger Walton).  Jessica Reel, also returns from a dangerous mission in Iraq, which left her somewhat disturbed, as she lost most of her team.  When we last saw Will and Jessica, it seemed like they would finally take the next step and become a couple.  But Will, despite his unanswered attempts to contact Jessica, has not seen her for 6 months.  Now they are both assigned to work together to find Blue Man.

When they arrive in Grand, Colorado (Roger Walton’s hometown), they not only discover that Walton was in town, but has vanished; tey also discover that a number of other people have also vanished.  Robie and Reel will work with the understaffed police, sheriff (Molloy) and deputy.  What they will also find is that the area has a number of right wing compounds such as Kings Apostles and White Supremacist groups.  Will and Jessica are not your normal government agents, and this book just proves that they are the best lethal assassins, and despite each horrific situation they find themselves in, they will find a way to turn the tables and survive. Will they find Blue Man alive? Will they survive against all the powerful enemies they must face?

What follows is a tense, suspenseful, edge of your seat thriller, with nonstop action from the first page to the end.   I could not put this book down, as there were also so many surprising twists and turns; I did not want to miss a thing.  To tell too much more would be spoilers, and I do not want to ruin this for you. End Game is an amazing story that will leave you breathless.  Will Robie and Jessica Reel are such an awesome team; even if they are hardened killers, we can’t help but marvel at them.  I love them together

Once again, David Baldacci gives us another fabulous thriller in End Game, which is something we have all come to expect from him.  He is a masterful storyteller, with in depth wonderful characters, and he holds you at the edge of your seat from beginning to end. If you think you know what will happen, trust me, you will never see what is coming, as Baldacci continually pulls surprises and twists. You need to read this series, but then again you should be reading everything by David Baldacci.

Reviewed by Barb

 

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The Guilty by David Baldacci – a Review

The Guilty by David Baldacci – a Review

 

The GuiltyAmazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / BAM / The Book Depository

Description:
Will Robie is the government’s most professional, disciplined, and lethal assassin. He infiltrates the most hostile countries in the world, defeats our enemies’ advanced security measures, and eliminates threats before they ever reach our shores.

But now, his skills have left him. Sent overseas on a critical assignment, he fails, unable to pull the trigger. Absent his talents, Robie is a man without a mission, and without a purpose.

To recover what he has lost, Robie must confront what he has tried to forget for over twenty years: his own past.

THE GUILTY

Will Robie escaped his small Gulf Coast hometown of Cantrell, Mississippi after high school, severing all personal ties, and never looked back. Not once. Not until the unimaginable occurs. His father, Dan Robie, has been arrested and charged with murder.

Father and son haven’t spoken or seen each other since the day Robie left town. In that time, Dan Robie-a local attorney and pillar of the community-has been elected town judge. Despite this, most of Cantrell is aligned against Dan. His guilt is assumed.

To make matters worse, Dan has refused to do anything to defend himself. When Robie tries to help, his father responds only with anger and defiance. Could Dan really be guilty?

With the equally formidable Jessica Reel at his side, Robie ignores his father’s wishes and begins his own desperate investigation into the case. But Robie is now a stranger to his hometown, an outsider, a man who has forsaken his past and his family. His attempts to save his father are met with distrust and skepticism . . . and violence.

Unlike the missions Robie undertook in the service of his country, where his target was clearly defined, digging into his father’s case only reveals more questions. Robie is drawn into the hidden underside of Cantrell, where he must face the unexpected and possibly deadly consequences of the long-ago choices made by father and son. And this time, there may be no escape for either of them.

 

 

Review:

The Guilty by David Baldacci is the 4th book in his Will Robie series. I love this series, but then again, I love most of whatever David Baldacci writes.

The Guilty picks up where Will is on assignment as an elite CIA Assassin, where he accidently kills a child. He cannot get past this horrific memory, and he is no longer sure of himself. Will has not seen his father since he left home over 20 years ago, and now he learns his father has been arrested for murder. He is given time off, and decides to go back home to Mississippi and find out what has happened to his father all those years he was gone.

When Will tries to visit his father, he is turned away. He begins his investigation on what his father has been up to; he is surprised to learn that his father remarried, has a son, and was a judge; this from a man who was always angry and would beat him. Without the help of his father, Will finds himself in the middle of something much larger than a simple murder for revenge. The past will rear its ugly head, with many surprises, and twists that will involve many people.

It is when Jessica Reel, Will’s friend and sometimes partner joins him to help decipher the truth that things get even more exciting. I love to watch Will and Jessica work together in solving crimes, and how easily they dispatch their enemies. They are an unbeatable team. However, as they get closer to the truth, the stakes are high, and the danger escalates.

When his father is out on bail, Will learns more about his father, that will open him up to reveal more of himself.   The last half of the book was a thriller, which I could not put down. Just when I thought I knew who the murderer was, I was blindsided by all the revelations, and twists as we reached the exciting tense action packed climax. Needless to say, I was very surprised at end.

To tell too much more would be spoilers. The Guilty is a top notch mystery, suspense thriller that holds you on the edge of your seat, not to mention when both of their lives will hang by a thread. Will Robie and Jessica Reel are great team (even if they are the toughest and best assassins). I hope Baldacci keeps them together.  

Once again, David Baldacci gives us another fabulous thriller, which we have all come to expect from him, and throughout the book, there was not a dull moment. I suggest you read this series.

Reviewed by Barb

 

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The Target by David Baldacci – a Review

The Target by David Baldacci – a Review

 

The Target

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / The Book Depository

Description:
The President knows it’s a perilous, high-risk assignment. If he gives the order, he has the opportunity to take down a global menace, once and for all. If the mission fails, he would face certain impeachment, and the threats against the nation would multiply. So the president turns to the one team that can pull off the impossible: Will Robie and his partner, Jessica Reel.

Together, Robie and Reel’s talents as assassins are unmatched. But there are some in power who don’t trust the pair. They doubt their willingness to follow orders. And they will do anything to see that the two assassins succeed, but that they do not survive.

As they prepare for their mission, Reel faces a personal crisis that could well lead old enemies right to her doorstep, resurrecting the ghosts of her earlier life and bringing stark danger to all those close to her. And all the while, Robie and Reel are stalked by a new adversary: an unknown and unlikely assassin, a woman who has trained her entire life to kill, and who has her own list of targets–a list that includes Will Robie and Jessica Reel.

 

Review:

The Target by David Baldacci is the third book in his wonderful Will Robie series.  I first became a big fan of Baldacci when reading his awesome Camel Club series, and this series is equally as good.  Baldacci writes political thrillers that are action packed, suspenseful stories, and super heroes/heroines.

The Target is about CIA assassin Will Robie and his female counter part, Jessica Reel, as they are called in to help on a major mission that is backed by the President. In fact, this mission is so secret, only the President, CIA Director and National Security know of this mission. If it fails, the consequences will be disastrous.

In the last book, Robie joined hands with Reel, who had gone rogue, to stop American traitors, putting themselves on the line, with everyone gunning for them.  But they survived, and in the end they both received medals.  The CIA director resents them, and now before they can go on this mission, he puts them through a tense, exhaustive, life threatening training session, to prove that they are still the best.  

But before the mission can begin, everything goes wrong, and the President calls Robie and Reel in to help alleviate a dangerous situation with North Korea.   Robie and Reel are the best at what they do, and both the President & the CIA Director know that they are the only ones who can get them out of this.  To help safe face and prevent a war, they are sent to France to remove the only person who can identify the US as participants in this misfired attempt against the leader of North Korea. 

From the start, we are also given a glimpse at two other backstories.  One a young Korean lady, who came from a concentration camp, with deplorable conditions, and who eventually has become their best assassin.  We see her discover the original plot, then given the assignment for revenge against the Americans.  Along the way, we learn from her memories, the torture she endured to get where she is today, which plays a major part in this exciting race to the finish.

The other story was about an old man on death row, who is considered one of the most dangerous and violent criminals.  He however is dying of cancer, and wants to meet his daughter. We know he is evil, but we have no idea what his real plan is.  

Most of this is early on the book when it sets the stage for an exciting, amazing storyline that has you holding your breath many times.  I do not want to give spoilers, but there is so much action, and even though you know there isn’t a better team than Robie and Reel, we thought so many times this was the end. If you want a thriller, excitement, non-stop action and a story, with so many twists, as well as a hero and heroine that you marvel at; then The Target by David Baldacci is not to be missed.

Reviewed by Barb

 

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