Tag Archives: Amos Decker

I really enjoyed the first in David Baldacci’s Amos Decker series, so was looking forward to this one. Unfortunately, it wasn’t at the same level – a completely implausible plot, combining industrial espionage with an international spy ring, terrorism and family betrayal.

Memory Man is the first book by David Baldacci to introduce Amos Decker. As a professional American footballer, Decker suffered a massive trauma to the head, changing his mental state forever – he now has hyperthymesia, he never forgets anything. Indeed, he can review any events from his life in full colour, even from before the injury. This, of course, is massively useful for someone whose job is analytical – Decker uses his new skills, becoming a gifted detective in the local police force.

Scroll forwards, and Decker’s life is interrupted by another shocking event – his wife and young daughter are brutally murdered in his home (as well as the wife’s brother – this was glossed over in the book and the plot didn’t seem to require the additional murder). After that, his life goes quickly downhill – he loses his home and job, living out on the streets. Only belatedly, he finds the resolve to get some Private Investigator work to pay for temporary accommodation.

So much for the back story. The plot for this book is that a serial killer is on the loose, massacring students and teachers at a high school and then proceeding to kill an FBI agent assigned to the case. The killer leaves personal messages to Decker, but ironically he cannot remember anything connected to this case that would help to identify the culprit.

I gather there is going to be a series of thrillers featuring Amos Decker and he’s a much more complex and sympathetic character than, say, Agent John Puller in another of Baldacci’s series. If the others are as readable as this one, then they’ll be worth following.