The Fallen (Amos Decker series Book 4)

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Baldacci is a two-time recipient of the International Thriller Writers’“Thriller Master” award, the highest honor given by the organization. Electrical wiring had gotten mixed with liquid. He had investigated homicides involving arson and the smell was unmistakable. There was a fire in there. As usual Baldacci offers up a complex plot which takes a while to make sense and though there are a lot of players, they’re there for a reason and all bring something to the story. I must admit I was probably less engaged in the plot as I went along – as it seemed a bit convoluted, and kinda prosaic, at the same time. And I don’t mean simple or boring, more I guess that it’s like they say – most crimes or murders come down to just a few motivations. (And I’ll not suggest which this is to avoid any spoilers!) As for Berkshire, she seems to be an enigma. Despite having a modest salary, the teacher owned a multimillion dollar condominium and a very expensive Mercedes. He moved swiftly down the darkened hallway, bouncing off one wall and then its parallel. Something fell to the floor as he brushed against it.

With his football career irreversibly over, he had gone on to become a cop and then a homicide detective in his hometown of Burlington, Ohio. He had been married to a wonderful, lovely woman named Cassandra, or Cassie as he always called her, and they had had a beautiful child named Molly.Summer was over, but the thunderstorms often accompanying the segue into early fall appeared to be fully engaged. Kudos, Mr. Baldacci, for another wonderful book. I know you have plans for new and exciting series in the fall, but I hope you will not forget this series, which has been gaining momentum since its inception. In The Fallen, David Baldacci gives us many new characters to enjoy. However, I'm not going to lie, I missed the rest of the team. From the new characters, I liked John Baron. He had an intriguing personality. He was astute, well spoken and had learned to defend himself. He had a rotten deal just by born into the Baron family. There was accidental death: Your car inadvertently slams into another with death as a result, or you drop a gun and it goes off and the fired bullet strikes a bystander. Someone was dead but it wasn’t murder. Baldacci is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Virginia School of Law.

FBI consultant Alex Jamison decides to use her vacation time to visit her sister Amber, brother-in-law Frank Mitchell, and 6-year-old niece Zoe in the rural town of Baronville, Pennsylvania.

David Baldacci

He cautiously poked first his gun and then his head around the corner. He cleared the space with two long visual passes and straightened. On the first night of their vacation, Amos sees something in the house closest to them. He goes immediately to investigate it. His search yields two dead bodies. When the cops get there, Amos learns this is not the first murder. There are six more unsolved murders. Despite being on vacation, Amos can't walk away for them. He needs to find the truth about the murders. His instinct is telling him they have to be related and that Baronville is hiding many dark secrets. In the center of it all is the Barons and their latest descendant, John Baron. Something sinister is going on in Baronville. The rust belt town has seen four bizarre murders in the space of two weeks. Cryptic clues left at the scenes - obscure Bible verses, odd symbols - have the police stumped. In 2020, Baldacci launched his own podcast, “David Baldacci’s Power of Story,” where he interviews fellow authors and discusses the craft of writing. Next, a car started up from somewhere. It had to be the street over there, he thought. They’d be driving right into the gathering storm.

This is the fourth book in the Memory Man series and while not my favorite it was entertaining and timely. And all this happens in the first two or so hours. I won't say any more, I don't want to spoil this book for someone else. He got to the window where he’d seen the spark. He could now smell it, which confirmed his suspicions. And the dead woman is identified as Anne Berkshire, a substitute teacher at a Catholic school and a volunteer for a local hospice. It was inside the other house, behind one of the windows. He didn’t know if it was reflecting off the glass or what.

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She sighed. “A lot. None of them are as cool as Aunt Alex.” She brightened. “She came to visit because my birthday is almost here. I’m turning nine.” 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.