5 stars out of 5
There are way too many reasons I love this series to mention, but - almost lifelong Ohio resident that I am - I'll confirm that one is "Memory Man" Amos Decker's connection to the Buckeye State: Not only did he graduate from THE Ohio State University, but he was signed by my favorite NFL team, the Cleveland Browns. The latter was, alas, a career-ender - on his very first play of his very first professional game, he was injured so badly that he could play no more. That experience did, however, leave him with hyperthymesia, which causes him to remember every detail of every single day (whether he wants to or not) as well as synesthia abilities - associating colors with people and objects.
Now an investigator, he and his FBI colleague Alex Jamison go where they're sent; in this instance, it's remote London, North Dakota, where the rich Bakken oil field has put the fracking industry in boom mode. They're here to investigate the apparent murder of a young woman named Irene Cramer, whose body was dumped in an open area and, inexplicably, had been autopsied. Neither Amos nor Alex has any idea why Irene is important to the FBI powers-that-be, but they do learn that by day she was a teacher at a religious community near the fracking operations (and near a secretive government facility that claims to be watching the skies for possible nuclear invasion). After the sun went down, it appears that Irene supplemented her income as a lady of the night.
Nothing, though, is as it seems; Amos and Alex spend a goodly amount of time looking into all three operations - fracking, the government facility and the religious group - trying to determine who Irene really was, why she was murdered and whether any or all of the three operations are connected in any way. It doesn't take long for the investigation to turn deadly, though, and therein came an exciting surprise - the appearance of three other familiar characters from a different (and another favorite) series. From that point on, the pace picks up fast, making for edge-of-seat action the rest of the way. Yeah, I know it's highly unlikely that an author will kill off a major character in a popular series (this is the sixth Decker installment). That said, from my perspective it's a credit to any author who can make me worry that it really could happen - and I admit to holding my breath more than once in this one. Great job!
Walk the Wire by David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing, April 2020); 433 pp.
5 stars out of 5
The author is one of my all-time favorites (meaning anything he writes, I want to read). And from the start four books ago, his "Memory Man" series was a big hit with me. This one, the fifth, adds another five-star entry.
Detective Amos Decker is a very intriguing character; as a result of a football injury, he developed hyperthymesia, which causes him to remember every detail of every single day (whether he wants to or not) as well as synesthia abilities - associating colors with people and objects. But I have to admit my initial attraction was at a far more human level: He played football at THE Ohio State University (go bucks!!), and the aforementioned football injury that ended his sports career happened on the first play as a member of the Cleveland Browns (yep, my favorite NFL team - needless to say, I live in Ohio).
Earlier in the series, Decker's wife and daughter were murdered (imagine being forced to remember every detail of that for the rest of your life), and in this book, he's returned to Burlington, Ohio, to visit the cemetery as he always does on his daughter Molly's birthday. An aging, tattered and battered man interrupts Decker, who realizes it's Meryl Hawkins, his first arrest for murder back when he was a newbie on the force. Released from prison because of a terminal illness, Hawkins knew of Decker's annual cemetery visits, thanks to information from Decker's former partner, Mary Lancaster. When he gets Decker's reluctant attention, Hawkins insists he was not guilty as charged and pleads with Decker to prove his innocence.
That's not a project Decker wants to undertake, given that it could mean he was instrumental in putting an innocent man behind bars. Besides that, Decker's boss back at the FBI isn't happy that he's thinking of going rogue yet again - and he orders Decker's current partner, Alex Jamison, who's with him in Burlington, back to the office (as an aside, another personal coinkidink: My mother's maiden name was Jamison).
But when evidence turns up that Hawkins might have been wrongly convicted, Decker (and his memories) can't walk away even if it jeopardizes his FBI work. Complicating matters further is that a personal connection means Lancaster, who was willing to help out, is forced to recuse herself from the investigation - leaving Decker pretty much on his own. On the plus side, Jamison contacts Decker's old friend Melvin Mars, who insists on helping despite Decker's protests. The two make a great combination, and that makes for a great story that's both complex and exciting.
For the record, this book stands well on its own, but I have no doubt I enjoyed it more because I'd read its predecessors (which I recommend that others new to the series should do as well, not only for that reason, but simply because they're all so enjoyable). As for me, I say keep 'em coming!
Redemption by David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing, April 2019); 433 pp.
5 stars out of 5
What can I say about this book besides it's another stellar entry into an already great series? Honestly, not much except that this is the fourth featuring former police detective Amos Decker, who landed a spot on my Top 10 book "heroes" list right from the first. That's partly because he's an Ohio boy (I've been a proud Buckeye State resident most of my life) and a football standout - that is, until he took a nearly deadly hit on his first play as a member of the Cleveland Browns.
He didn't die, obviously, but he did end up with some rather unusual after-effects - most notably being hyperthymesia, or the ability to remember every single moment of every single day and call any one of them up at will. He also acquired synesthia, or the association of colors with people and objects. Particularly in his career as a detective, those rare abilities usually are extremely helpful, but in his personal life, not so much. There's no escaping, for instance, the years-ago horror of the brutal murder of his beloved wife and young daughter. He's also a bit emotionally challenged, in that for the most part he's unable to express his feelings. Those qualities make him a unique character - the biggest reason I'm a big fan.
These days, Amos and his partner Alex Jamison work with the FBI (another "connection" since my late mother's maiden name is Jamison). As this story begins, they are in small-town Baronville (located in northwestern Pennsylvania not far from the Ohio border - another fun coincidence, since I live in northeastern Ohio not far from the Pennsylvania line). They've come to visit Alex's sister Amanda, her husband Frank and their daughter Zoe, who not long ago relocated in Baronville when Frank took a job at a huge new distribution center. Still another coincidence; the area in which I live - just off Interstate 80 - is a hot spot for distribution centers as well.
Amos and Alex are hoping for a few days of down time, but that changes quickly when Amos notices some strange sights and sounds at the house behind the one they're in. Unable to resist checking things out, Amos finds two dead bodies. Poking around results in another serious head injury - one that has mind-altering potential. Further investigation, with help from local cops, reveals other recent murders - far more than would be expected in such a small town. Among the suspects is the hermit-like descendent of the town's founding father, who was a highly successful industrial magnate believed to have caused the town's steep economic decline and, not inconsequentally, the opoid addiction that's running rampant in and around the community.
Amos has to work to win the confidence of the local police, and gaining traction in that area puts him and his partner in the crosshairs of the bad guys. Murders keep piling up, and it's clear that someone is intent on adding Amos and Alex to that stack. Can they find out what's really going on and who's behind it before they become victims as well? Ah, but that's for me to know and other readers to find out. The only thing I'll pass on is that this is another winner - highly recommended!
The Fallen by David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing, April 2018); 433 pp.
5 stars out of 5
I'm not sure how well I'd like Amos Decker - the emotionally flawed "hero" in this, the third installment of a wonderful series - but he fascinates the heck out of me. So much do I hang on his every word and action, in fact, that I stayed up an hour past my bedtime just to finish this book. Yes, folks, it's that good.
Decker appeals to me on many levels, not the least of which is that when he took a huge hit in his debut NFL game, he became an "acquired savant" with hyperthymesia. Besides that, he has synesthia abilities - meaning he is able to associate colors with people and objects. That's enough to hold my attention; but wait, there's more. He's also a native Ohioan (as am I), played football at The Ohio State University (go Bucks!) and his injury came after a hit during his debut game with the Cleveland Browns (from whom, based on this season's NFL draft, I'm expecting good things this fall). Besides that, there's yet another personal association: His FBI partner's last name is Jamison - my late mother's maiden name. How cool is all that?
But back to the nitty gritty. Here, Decker hits the ground running with a hit of another kind: As he's walking toward FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., he spots a man and woman walking toward each other. Nothing wrong with that, he thinks - until the unthinkable happens; the man pulls a gun and shoots the woman, then points it toward himself and pulls the trigger.
And then comes another surprise. Decker and his team had been working solely on cold cases, but suddenly, their world changes as they're relocated from Quantico to the D.C. Field Office and assigned to investigate and solve the shooting (in part as a result of his injuries, Decker intensely dislikes change). Big problem is, even after substantial digging, they can find no connection whatsoever between the killer and his victim, a substitute school teacher and Hospice volunteer. And the man who killed her still seems to be a loving husband, father and successful business owner - with nothing in his past that would provoke him to commit murder, much less suicide. At the same time, Decker's personal life, or what little he has of it, gets complicated as Alex finds the two of them an apartment in a fixer-upper old building in which a former tenant was killed in a drug deal gone bad.
The murdered woman becomes more interesting, though, when they discover that her past extends for only about 10 years; prior to that, there's no record of her at all. But then, Defense Intelligence Agency agent Harper Brown shows up - and she's not wanting to share the investigation with Decker and his team. Apparently, the DIA has been digging for dirt on the same people, trying to prevent what they suspect could be an upcoming, and very deadly, terrorist attack.
Needless to say, Decker isn't much into sharing either (and he certainly doesn't trust the DIA agent), so attitudes get rather testy until both sides reluctantly realize they'll get a better outcome by playing nice. Even then, it's a race to the finish with one faction trying to one-up the other; the big question is, can they all get to the bottom of things before something terrible happens?
Also needless to say, that's a question I'm not going to answer - you'll just have to read it for yourself to find out. I'll also emphasize that while this one can be read on its own, I think readers will get more out of it by reading the other two first (The Last Mile, No. 1, and Memory Man, No. 2. They're both excellent as well, so enjoy!
The Fix by David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing, April 2017); 560 pp.
5 stars out of 5
It's for sure no one will ever accuse me of being a compliant little wifey-poo. Still, more often than not when I've got my nose in my Kindle and my husband pops up with, "Honey, do we have more of yesterday's chocolate pudding?" my response is something like, "Let me finish this chapter and I'll go check."
But when my nose is in a book like this one, my mouth sings a different tune: "I can't see in the fridge from my chair, babe. If you find some, how about bringing me a bowl while you're up?"
Oh, yeah - this book is that good.
Actually, it's the second in the author's new series that debuted last year featuring Amos Decker, whose promising NFL football career was derailed by a serious head injury during his first game for the Cleveland Browns ("my" team, BTW). As a result, he not only is able to remember every single detail of every single minute of every single day (a rare condition called hyperthymesia), but he associates many of them with vivid colors (an even more rare synesthia). That first book, Memory Man, was quite good, but this one jumped to the top of my enjoyment meter from the get-go. For the record, it stands on its own just fine, but I suggest starting at the beginning (as I do with any series).
Football, in fact, that is the reason Decker, just picked to be on an FBI special task force, wants to take on a particular case. Melvin Mars, who's been in prison for 20 years after being convicted of murdering his parents, is set to be executed in a few hours. At the eleventh hour, another death-row prisoner confesses to the killing, and Mars gets a reprieve from walking "the last mile" to the chamber. Mars once beat the shoulder pads off of Decker when the latter was playing for The Ohio State University Buckeyes (go Bucks!) Not only that, but Decker's own family was murdered, and years after that, a suspect confessed. The similarities are impossible for Decker to overlook (well, let's be honest - given his condition, it's impossible for Decker to overlook much of anything), and he convinces the reluctant head of the FBI team to take on Mars's case.
The stakes for getting to the truth are high; in one outcome, an innocent man could be executed. In another, a murderer could be set free. The trail begins, of course, with attempts to learn whether the prisoner's last-ditch confession is true and why he waited so long to make it. That's not an easy task since he's dead (choosing to go out, for some inexplicable reason, via the electric chair rather than the now-standard lethal injection). But guided by Decker's unfailing recollections and ability to not only find puzzle pieces but pull them together, team members uncover clues and follow where they lead. When one teamster suddenly disappears - presumed to have been kidnapped - things really start to heat up.
There's no shortage of action and twists (and I'm patting myself on the back for figuring out one of the biggest ones). But the big attraction for me, without question, is Decker himself. I seriously doubt I'd like him much if I met him in person - for openers, his conditions have left him rather devoid of emotions - but watching [reading] how his mind works is absolutely fascinating to me. If I'm forced to say something on the negative side, I'll admit the plot (and outcome) smack a little bit of coming up with an ending and making the details fit after the fact. But hey: As stand-up accordion-toting comedian Judy Tenuta is fond of saying, "It could happen!"
All I know is it sure worked for me. Kudos (and more, please)!
The Last Mile by David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing, April 2016); 432 pp.
There are way too many reasons I love this series to mention, but - almost lifelong Ohio resident that I am - I'll confirm that one is "Memory Man" Amos Decker's connection to the Buckeye State: Not only did he graduate from THE Ohio State University, but he was signed by my favorite NFL team, the Cleveland Browns. The latter was, alas, a career-ender - on his very first play of his very first professional game, he was injured so badly that he could play no more. That experience did, however, leave him with hyperthymesia, which causes him to remember every detail of every single day (whether he wants to or not) as well as synesthia abilities - associating colors with people and objects. 
