By David Baldacci
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/4 (Goodreads: 4.43)
GENRE: Thriller
PART OF A SERIES? Yes {Amos Decker, #7}
WORTH READING? Yes
SUMMARY:
Amos Decker, known as the Memory Man, is called in to investigate the brutal death of a federal judge and her bodyguard in a gated Florida community. Her distraught son and ex-husband both have solid alibis and it seems like the judge had no alibis. Yet she had a bodyguard… so there must be a reason for this.
Decker is fighting is own personal battles, reeling from the suicide of a close friend and also receiving a letter about his health.
Opening line: “‘Who the hell is this?” barked Amos Decker.'
Opening a book about characters you already ‘know’ provides a sense of warm comfort, of ‘coming home’. I enjoyed reading more about Amos Decker, who I’ve followed for years, through all his ups and downs. I liked watching the relationship develop between Decker and his new partner, Frederica (‘Freddie’) White.
Freddie is a Black female in law enforcement, so is fighting an uphill battle (to paraphrase the character herself). Freddie is a mum who is only able to juggle her demanding career with the help and support of her own mother. Like Decker and Alex Jamison (who was sadly quite absent in this book), she is thoroughly likeable.
I like how Decker talks through his theories for the reader. I also like that for some far-reaching character development (i.e. across all his books), Decker has now received some news from the cognitive institute. This comes into play at various times throughout this tale.
There were a few things I didn’t love in this book. Some dialogue comes across a bit contrived and just doesn’t sound natural. Another bugbear is that most characters are described as ‘trim’, ‘slim’ or ‘fit,’ which I found not only unrealistic, but also a tad irritating. Lastly, I would have appreciated less detail about what characters were wearing… at times, this information struck me as superfluous and irrelevant. Unless it’s pertinent to the storyline in some way, I usually find myself glossing over what a character is wearing and that was definitely the case here.
Overall, this contributed solidly to the Memory Man series. It's a mystery with a great storyline, including the obligatory multiple red herrings (one would expect nothing less for this genre). David Baldacci can always be relied upon to spin a good story and he uses adjectives well – they don’t distract, just enhance. This book, as with all books in the Amos Decker series, has excellent pacing and plenty of action. I'd strongly recommend reading the David Baldacci Memory Man series in order.
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