The Guilty

The Guilty by David Baldacci  420 pp.

CIA sniper/assassin Will Robie returns to his small hometown in Mississippi because his estranged father, a lawyer and local judge, has been charged with murder. After over twenty years away he finds many things changed but not his father's animosity towards him. He also discovers the existence of a new stepmother and a three year old half brother. In spite of the hard feelings between him and his father, Robie is determined to find the real killer. Soon Robie's partner from the agency, Jessica Reel, arrives to give assistance. They discover old families in the town that have criminal connections kept secret for decades. The twist at the end that reveals the killer was a bit of a surprise. I had previously suspected, then discounted the character who was the real murderer. Baldacci's Will Robie series is one of my favorites.

The Target

The Target by David Baldacci  420 pp.

CIA agents/assassins Will Robie and Jessica Reel return in this thriller. They are "recuperating" from the events of the previous book but the evil Evan Tucker is still in charge of the CIA. Under the guise of training the agents for a new mission, Robie and Reel are sent to "the burner box", a facility where they undergo extreme physical training and torture at the hands of their own co-agents. Eventually they are sent on a mission to clean up a failed plot by the CIA and the POTUS. This leads to another risky foreign mission after an interlude battling Neo-Nazis. They ultimately end up foiling a plot meant to punish the U.S. for their actions against the country targeted in the original failed mission. This book stretches the imagination to the absolute limit by packing too much into the story. I found the action to be quite predictable also. Even the backstory of Reel's early life and portraying her as more than just a killing machine added little.. In spite of rave reviews, I found this episode disappointing.

The Hit

The Hit by David Baldacci  392 pp.

Will Robie, who was introduced in Baldacci's novel The Innocent, is one of the U.S. Government's top sniper/assassins. When a fellow assassin suddenly begins killing fellow agency members Robie is given the task of hunting her down and killing her. Rogue agent Jessica Reel is a professional who equals Robie in skill and talent so the hunt is a real challenge. Soon it appears that there is more to the killings than just an agent turned enemy. Robie has to figure out if Reel is really committing treason or if there is another reason for her targeting the agency higher ups and others in the federal government. Soon Robie is not sure who to trust. The twists and turns in the story make it a page turner (although I was listening to the audiobook). Robie is a likable character in spite of being a trained killer. This book can be read without having read The Innocent, but the ending leaves open the possibility of the series continuing. And while I enjoyed the audio version, the addition of sound effects was occasionally problematic when listening while driving. On more than one occasion I was looking in my mirrors at the sound of approaching sirens before realizing they were part of the story.