Another one of David Baldacci’s veterans comes to the scene in this first book of “John Puller” series. We see several skills between him and Will Robie common and it’s like Robie given a decent personality this time. John Puller is not an assassin rather he is a military officer and an investigator with a firm will.
The extremity of the missions of this soldier also reminds us about books like The Guilty and The Hit by the same author. The novel begins when Puller is sent to West Virginia in order to solve a case related to the murder of a family. The family was not just killed it was brutally slaughtered and it is clear from the scene that the motive behind all this was personal.
To his bad fate Puller finds himself in the company of a local detective who herself has issues that can’t be resolved. As Puller investigates deeper into the case he notices that the people almost everyone in the locality are not what they seem to be.
There are conspiracies everywhere stopping him from making any further progress in the case.
It seems to him that he is the only one present in the whole state who wants to provide justice to the victims the rest were eager to hide the truth. The complex story with subplots always needs experts in the narration section and the selection of Ron McLarty and Orlagh Cassidy was the right thing to do.
The details are narrated in a calm manner and no haste can be seen in any portion of the novel that makes it easily understandable. Not only this, the thrilling scenes are provided energy as well.