The Hit by David Baldacci

image from LibraryThing

This was my second vacation read.

Will Robie is back - this book occurs immediately after The Innocent.  The characters are all there - Julie Getty, Nicole Vance (FBI agent) and the Blue Man (Robie's connection inside the CIA).

And there has to be a bad guy - right.  This time the bad guy is a collegue - the second best shooter at the CIA - Jessica Reel.  Reel has decided that it is time for justice and begins killing off a secret group of collaborators.  It just happens that the group includes her handler and the second in command at the CIA.

Robie is put on her trail.  And because he has been slowly growing a brain again, he doesn't blindly follow his orders - he thinks a bit.

This was another great and fast read. It was more predictable and more far-fetched. But, that makes for an interesting story.  Robie and Reel are frenemies.  You see it coming and it doesn't disappoint.  The government machine is the big, bad ogre that they are really both against.  That also is not a surprise. But there is comfort in that formula.

 I enjoyed this one as well!

The Innocent by David Baldacci

image from LibraryThing

Baldacci is the perfect beachside read!  Short, staccato chapters filled with action that moves quickly and holds your attention!  This was the perfect book to kick off my oceanside reading!! If you look between the pages - you might even find a bit of sand! :)

Will Robie is an assassin and a very good one!  He works for the secret side of the CIA and does his job completely and carefully!  And then he stops.  He is in the midst of a hit - and things don't feel right - for the first time he asks questions of himself before he pulls the trigger (flash to Jason Bourne on the boat in the dark!!)  That hesitation puts in action a series of events that takes Robie out of automatic and into actually feeling!  A place he has not visited for a long time.

Robie, being a thorough hitman, always has a backup plan and even a backup for the backup. This night he escapes to a bus that travels between Washington DC and NYC every night - the Outa There bus.  While waiting for the bus to take him away to a safe spot he sees a young girl get on followed by an older man - someone clearly following her.  In an attempt to save this girl from her attacker - Robie is surprised to see Julie (the girl) able to fight him off for a bit, and then they flee off the bus together - moments before the bus explodes into thousands of pieces.  

So, against all of his training and preferences, Robie attempts to take care of Julie - yes this hardened, loner assassin begins to allow a tiny piece of his heart to feel again.  It isn't a sweet sappy moment - but rather a shock to both Robie and the reader's system.  But, it feels right!

This is a story of cold-blooded, ruthless people and the incredible lengths they will take to get what they want.  It is also an intertwined mystery of conspiracy on an unbelievable level.  

I greatly enjoyed the twists and turns and unexpected kindness of human beings!!

Read it!!

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

I have very mixed feelings about this one. I was really looking forward to reading this and wanted it to be the first "I JUST LOVED IT" book of my vacation reading....
and
it just wasn't.

The book is engaging and exciting. But there are so many holes. More than once I felt like I was watching a bad horror movie and yelling at the TV - Don't go in there!!!

Robert Langdon, the main character from Angels and Demons and DaVinci Code, is back. The book opens as he is flying to Washington DC to give a speech for his good friend Peter Solomon. When he arrives at the Capitol Rotunda - there is no speech and no Peter...instead he finds a severed hand, and the head of the CIA. And the book is off and running.

I am usually a reader who just takes the story as it comes. I am not overly critical and completely believe that every book has potential. But, this one really annoyed me. Langdon takes all his cues from cell phone messages from Peter's assistant...never Peter. The CIA director is completely alienating him because national security is at stake, but she is on Langdon's side. And Peter's sister, the brilliant mind scientist, can't seem to remember to use her mind in any situation. There is lots of tight places perfect for Langdon's claustrophobia - which he controls beautifully.

And then there is a mysterious villian who is tattooed from head to toe in blue. Every part of him - except the very top of his head...he is waiting to find the lost word which will open all knowledge to him after he tattoos it there - and he will do that himself after killing and maiming and kidnapping and all other bad stuff.

But, the most disappointing thing about the book is the end, after the end. The basic story is a search for ancient mysteries and knowledge hidden somewhere in Washington DC and guarded by the Masons. Langdon doesn't believe there are actual physical mysteries - but more symbolic. He is wrong...or that's what Brown wants you to think.

So the story basically ends - all is well
...and the book goes on.
I've really liked this technique in some stories. It grounds the characters in a reality when you get to see who they are after the excitement of the event. This isn't that sort of action. INstead this is 20 + pages of preaching and explaining and rambling that were totally not necessary.


So...would I recommend this?

I would.

It is exciting and filled with amazing wonders of our fore fathers and Washington DC.
But, it is way to preachy and too safe. Brown takes no chances here. The threat to national security is more like a threat to national reputation and the bad guy may be horrible to look at but lacks the horror of the albino monk.

Stone Cold by David Baldacci

image from LibraryThing

This is the third Camel Club book and they just get better!!!

I don't want to say too much - because nothing should be given away.

I will say that this picks up the story right after The Collectors.

Loose ends are tied up - new ravelings are discovered and teased open to leave gapping holes in the known past.

The Camel Club is important, but they are not the center of the story - instead Oliver and Annabelle are.

Oliver Stone/John Carr is amazing.

All I can say is BRAVO David Baldacci!!!

Read this one for sure - but not before you have read The Camel Club and The Collectors!!!