Book ~ "The Innocent" (2012) David Baldacci

From Goodreads ~ America has enemies, ruthless people that the police, the FBI, even the military can't stop. That's when the U.S. government calls on Will Robie, a stone cold hitman who never questions orders and always nails his target.But Will Robie may have just made the first - and last - mistake of his career ...

It begins with a hit gone wrong. Robie is dispatched to eliminate a target unusually close to home in Washington, DC. But something about this mission doesn't seem right to Robie and he does the unthinkable. He refuses to kill. Now, Robie becomes a target himself and must escape from his own people.

Fleeing the scene, Robie crosses paths with a wayward teenage girl, a fourteen-year-old runaway from a foster home. But she isn't an ordinary runaway - her parents were murdered and her own life is in danger. Against all of his professional habits, Robie rescues her and finds he can't walk away. He needs to help her.

Even worse, the more Robie learns about the girl, the more he's convinced she is at the center of a vast cover-up, one that may explain her parents' deaths and stretch to unimaginable levels of power.

Now, Robie may have to step out of the shadows in order to save this girl's life ... and perhaps his own.

I'm not usually into hitmen or political stories but I like David Baldacci so that's why I read this book. I enjoyed it.

Robie is a hitman who has no problem killing people when they are a threat to the United States. But when it comes to killing a woman and her child while they are sleeping, he hesitates. A sniper on a nearby rooftop kills them which leads Robie to go on the run and he meets Julie, who is on the run after seeing her parents get murdered. Then together. along with Special Agent Vance of the FBI, they try to figure out what's going on. As cold as Robie is (he is a hitman after all), he has a conflict internally because of his responsibility for Julie ... he's not used to having to take care of anyone but himself.

There are lots of twists and turns in this book. The story is fanciful and you have to leave your sense of believe at the door and enjoy the ride.

I thought the ending was good. It pulled everything together fairly satisfactorily and I was surprised at who was instigating everything.

Book ~ "The Camel Club" (2006) David Baldacci

From Amazon ~ The Camel Club, a four-man group of Washington, D.C., misfits (their leader has taken the ironic pseudonym "Oliver Stone") gathers every week to discuss political conspiracies they believe exist and what actions they might take. One night, while meeting on Roosevelt Island in the middle of the Potomac River, club members witness the murder of Secret Service employee Patrick Johnson, thus thrusting the wacky crew into the middle of a bigger conspiracy than they could ever have imagined. There are scores of characters and subplots to keep track of while the story veers back and forth between venues and villains, forcing readers to remain alert yet patient while awaiting the high-concept payoff. When it finally appears, it's a doozy: kidnappers who harm no one and are reasonable people with a legitimate gripe bring the U.S. to the verge of nuking Damascus. Baldacci maintains interest during the long buildup by supplying fascinating historical facts, amusing characters, high-tech spy lore and the backstories of his super agents, both good and evil.

This is the first in the Camel Club series. I read the third book, Stone Cold, in November and enjoyed it.

For the most part, I enjoyed this book. The story was interesting, though convoluted and too detailed.

There are a lot of characters to keep track off. Most disappear way before the end.

One thing that annoyed me was what seemed like hundreds of acronyms of American government agencies that were used ... I couldn't keep them straight so gave up trying to.

Also, there was a lot of useless detailed information. For example, Reuben and Oliver are driving by the Lyndon B. Johnson Memorial and Reuben spent a paragraph or two explaining how it had been originally misnamed. It played no part in the story so who cares? And I didn't need two pages detailing how a missile worked. You are going to fire a missile and it would kill six million people ... that's all I needed to know. Cut out this kind of padding and the book could have been shortened by about 100 pages.

Book ~ "Simple Genius" (2008) David Baldacci

From davidbaldacci.com ~ Former Secret Service agents turned private investigators Sean King and Michelle Maxwell have seen their lives splinter around them. Michelle lies unconscious in a hospital bed after a night of suicidal violence. And Sean is forced to take on a thankless investigation into the murder of a scientist just inside the CIA’s razor-wire fence near Williamsburg, Virginia.

Soon he is uncovering layer after layer of disinformation that shields a stunning world filled with elite mathematicians, physicists, war heroes, spies, and deadly field agents. Amid more murder, a seemingly autistic girl’s extraordinary genius, and a powerful breakthrough in the realm of classified codes, Sean soon learns enough to put his life at risk. Now more than ever, he needs Michelle to help him catch a killer, save an innocent life and solve a stunning mystery that threatens the very soul of the nation.

From Michelle's courageous struggle to defeat her long-buried personal demons to a centuries-old secret that surfaces in the heat of the action, Simple Genius pulses with stunning, high-intensity suspense.

This is the third book these characters are in but you didn't need much background to know what's going on.

I wasn't crazy about this book. There was a lot of time spent going on about quantum computers and what exactly the geniuses were doing at Babbage Town ... it went over my head. Huh?

I found Viggie's "disability" and actions annoying. She has the secrets that will solve the case but can't reveal them because she's been "programmed". Um ... sure.

Overall, it was far fetched and I wasn't buying most of it. And it got confusing with the CIA, FBI, DEA, etc.

I didn't mind Sean and Michelle's characters, though ... I was interested in what was behind Michelle's suicidal actions in the beginning and was happy it was pretty well resolved. I liked her Harley driving shrink, Horatio.

Book ~ "Stone Cold" (2007) David Baldacci

From davidbaldacci.com ~ Oliver Stone and the Camel Club are back in their most dangerous adventure yet, a war on two fronts. Casino king Jerry Bagger is hunting Annabelle Conroy who conned him out of millions. Stone and his colleagues Reuben, Milton, and Caleb marshal all their resources to protect Annabelle.

Yet all their skills may not be enough when a deadly new opponent rips off the veneer of Stone’s own mysterious past: Bagger’s menace pales next to newcomer Harry Finn’s lethality. Passing as a normal family man, Finn has already killed three men, with more targets to come. When Finn sets his bull’s-eye on Stone, his reason will be the greatest shock of all, causing readers to reconsider their views of good and evil. As bodies and institutions topple, the story rockets toward a shattering finale that will leave the survivors of this explosive tale changed forever.

I hadn't read the other two Camel Club books so was a bit lost in some of the past references. But it wasn't enough that I didn't get what was going on. I'd like to go back and read the first two.

It's a suspense novel that would probably appeal more to guys given its story and violence.
I like Baldacci's writing style. It's fast paced and interesting. There are two stories happening at the same time that eventually come to an end.

I liked the characters ... I found them believable. I was cheering for the good guys and hoping the worst for the bad guys.