I’ve been a fan of David Baldacci’s books for years, so when I had the opportunity to receive an advanced eBook copy of The Innocent, I jumped at the chance! I’ve especially loved Baldacci’s The Camel Club Series, but was excited to see that The Innocent introduces a new hero to us: Will Robie – an assassin with a moral code.
Back of the book description:
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 . . .
THE INNOCENT
It begins with a hit gone wrong. Robie is dispatched to eliminate a target unusually close to home in Washington, D.C. 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.
From the beginning, we follow Will Robie on two missions in Edinburgh and Tangier, the details of which are related in a detached, almost clinical, fashion. Through these missions, we learn Robie believes his handlers when they tell him his targets have done something terrible for which they deserve to die. He doesn’t over-analyze his orders, but carries them out with cold finality. That is, until one mission close to home in Washington, D.C. goes horribly wrong and has him second guessing everything he’s been told.
While on the run, Robie steps in to help a young teenager, Julie Getty, who has just witnessed her parents brutal murder and is now a target herself. Together they discover their cases are connected and work together to figure out who is after them and why.
“Robie moved down a short hallway and stopped. In front of him was a wall of firepower that he had drawn on in the past to accomplish his work. It included pistols, rifles, shotguns, and even a surface-to-air missile launcher. It seemed James Bondish, but was actually just the typical stock-in-trade for people in Robie’s field. He took down what he thought he might need and stacked it against one wall.”
I love a good story of political intrigue and The Innocent has plenty of it to go around. As always, if you pay attention to the details, Baldacci gives you plenty of clues along the way to figure who the bad guys are, but the way the final reveal comes about is surprising and keeps things interesting.
Will Robie is a character I would love to see again! Perhaps The Innocent could be the beginning a new series?
Chock full of conspiracies and plenty of thrilling action, this was one 5 Sunshine book I stayed up all night to finish!
Happy Reading!
Kimberly
Book Review Notes:
Title: The Innocent
Author: David Baldacci
Subject: Fiction, Thrillers
Published: 2012
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing/ Imprint: Macmillan
Source: advance eBook copy from Publisher
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