MERCY

4 stars out of 5

For openers, this is a difficult book to review; while FBI agent Atlee Pine grows closer every day to finding her long-lost kidnapped twin sister Mercy - with lots of help from Atlee's older and more sensible administrative assistant, Carol Blum - describing whether or not they succeed in this fourth book in the series (and how and what happens next if she does or does not) would be too revealing.

What I can say is that Atlee has found proof that Mercy escaped those who captured and imprisoned her many years earlier. What became of her after that remains a mystery to Atlee; it's entirely possible that she's no longer alive. Just knowing that she escaped, though, is more than enough incentive for Atlee and Carol to take a leave from the FBI to concentrate even harder on tracking her down.

Needless to say, their journey is fraught with roadblocks, several of which are life-threatening (overdone, IMHO, to the point at which I said, "Whoa, nobody could survive this." But then, I suppose it was a cake walk for Mercy, whose captive years are described in even more horrific detail. Put another way, if explicit barbarian-style torture isn't your cup of tea, you'll want to skip parts of this one. It's also heavier on melodrama than usual, which was a bit of a turn-off for me as well. 

Overall, though, while I won't say this, the fourth book in the series, is my favorite, it was entertaining as always. It certainly brought the series to full circle - wrapping up several loose ends and leaving  me with only the question of what happens next. So hey, I've followed the series from the beginning, so if there are other chapters to follow, count me in!

Mercy by David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing, November 2021); 417 pp.

DAYLIGHT

5 stars out of 5

When it comes to series characters from this author, military investigator John Puller earns top honors as far as I'm concerned - with FBI agent Atlee Pine a fairly close second. Bring them together, and, well, I'm in character heaven. Officially, this is the third in the Pine series, and she's still doing her darndest to find her twin sister, Mercy - who was kidnapped some 30 years earlier and hasn't been seen since. At the moment, Pine is taking a few days away from her remote Arizona base to follow a trail to Georgia, where she learns the name of her sister's kidnapper.

The follow-up puts Atlee and her capable assistant, Carol Blum, in Trenton, N.J.; there, she locates a relative of the kidnapper and hopes he's got some beans to spill. But in a fluke, he runs away - and Pine runs smack dab into Puller, who was there to arrest the same guy in connection with a drug ring. After she explains what she was after, she and Puller pay a visit to the runaway's father, who's in jail - only to have the interview inexplicably cut short. When other avenues of investigation - of both Pine's sister's disappearance and Puller's drug case - are slammed shut, they realize that some kind of cover-up is happening at the highest levels of government. 

Needless to say, that only makes them more determined to ferret out the truth, and Puller enlists help from his very capable Air Force brother, Robert. Only one thing is certain: the two cases share commonalities, which means Pine and Puller jointly commandeer a substantial portion of the book (Puller makes so many appearances, in fact, that it took the ending, which focuses more on Pine, to remind me whose book this really is). But that's a plus for fans of both series, who I expect will enjoy the interaction between two top-dog characters as much as I did.

Most everything gets resolved in the end, but not without plenty of action, losses of life and near misses thereof. What isn't, I presume, will become the premise of the next book - to which I am, of course, looking forward. Just as an aside, though, I will advise those who haven't read the other two Atlee Pine books to start at the beginning; I'm sure I was able to hit the ground running with this one simply because I was familiar with her story. Overall, though, I don't hesitate to call this one another winner.

Daylight by David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing, November 2020); 416 pp.

A MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT

5 stars out of 5

Have I mentioned that I really like this new series? Why yes - yes I did - when I read the first one last year. To that one I gave a resounding 5-star rating, and if anything, I enjoyed this one even more.

Atlee, a tall weightlifter now an FBI agent based in a relatively remote part of Arizona, has been on a 30-year quest to find out what really happened to her twin sister, Mercy. In the night back then, someone came into their bedroom, snatched Mercy and gave Atlee a whack on the head that nearly killed her. So far, her efforts to learn anything more about Mercy have led to dead ends; but now, she's got to ratchet up her search a few notches because she lost her cool on the job by unnecessarily beating up a killer she's just captured (and if she does that again, she'll lose her job as well).

Advised (make that ordered) to take some time off, Atlee and her very capable assistant Carol Blum head to Andersonville, Georgia, and the now-old house from which Mercy was taken all those years ago. Their father is dead - a declared suicide - and their mother inexplicably took off for parts unknown to Atlee. Not long after they arrive, though, a local woman is found dead - murdered, positioned and dressed in a ritualistic fashion. A Georgia FBI guy is called in for the official investigation, but shorthanded, he welcomes Atlee's help. Then, another murder happens with a similar M.O. Could it be there's a serial killer on the loose?

At that point, another FBI guy arrives to help; turns out he and Atlee have a history that wasn't all that pleasant for either of them. As they try to overcome their history and work together on the murder cases, Atlee continues to collect information on what happened to her family (with a little help from the very sympathetic FBI guys). Interviews with local folks who knew the family back then unearth new leads as well as the surprising awareness that not everything Atlee has been told was the absoute truth - some of it not even close.

It all builds to an exciting ending as well as, of course, enough loose ends to get a good start on the next book. And that, hopefully, will not be long in coming.

A Minute to Midnight by David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing, November 2019); 433 pp.

LONG ROAD TO MERCY

5 stars out of 5

A new series from a favorite author? I'm on it! And although I've just finished, I'm already eager  to read the next installment.

That is not to say, however, that FBI Special Agent Atlee Pine totally won me over. I like that she's strong (both mentally and physically) and thus able to handle just about anything that comes her way. That she's carrying around a traumatic childhood - her own almost death and the kidnapping of her twin sister, Mercy - is less intriguing; for me, it simply provides another dimension to the story and, most likely, a recurring theme for the series. As I read, I was reminded of another series character: Jane Hawk, the feisty heroine conceived by another favorite author, Dean Koontz. Both women live and work on the fringes of credibility - both in what they are able to handle physically and in terms of a sometimes hard-to-believe plot. But I'm one of those who go with the flow and accept a story for what it is - a story - and this is a good one.

At age 35, nearly 6 feet in height and an almost-Olympic weightlifter, Atlee has joined the FBI and now happily heads up a remote office near the Grand Canyon National Park. At the beginning, she remains fixated on finding out what happened to Mercy; believing that a prolific serial killer was involved, she visits him in the no-mercy federal prison in which he's expected to spend the rest of his life. But then comes a distraction; one of the mules that transports tourists up and down the steep canyon trails is found dead - gutted with two seemingly meaningless letters cut into its hide. But as she and local park rangers begin to investigate, she's suddenly called off the case in no uncertain terms by folks way above her pay grade. Then, the two park rangers who were helping her are abruptly reassigned. 

When Atlee and her capable secretary, Carol Blum, forge ahead despite orders from on high, they find themselves the targets of some very nasty men. Narrowly escaping death, the two now are certain that something rotten in those canyon walls besides a decaying mule. But rather than concede victory to the higher-ups (and probably more bad guys), the pair decide to go rogue. From this point on anything I write would spoil things for others, so I'll just say they face a number of other close calls before they figure out what's really going on and decide what to do about it.

In my book, it's an adventure well worth reading - highly recommended.

Long Road to Mercy by David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing, November 2018); 417 pp.