Perhaps this book should have been called Hope Dashed. I really enjoyed the first in this series, and went straight into reading the sequel. Sadly, it felt like this was a book too far – it would have been better to add one more chapter to the previous book: kill master criminal Victoria Steers to avenge his daughter’s death; kill Rhett Temple for having an affair with Nash’s wife – revenge achieved. Instead, we endure a book where the author tries to convince us that, despite all her violence and fearsome reputation in the first book, Victoria is just misunderstood and damaged by tough parenting.
I was hoping that there would be a swift and devastating conclusion to the previous plot, with revenge exacted quite understandably by Nash, giving his cosy life was ruined by Steers and Temple. And then, I imagined Nash continuing as a special agent for the FBI, combining his high intelligence and attention to detail with new lethal skills, learned during his transformation into Dillon Hope.
Instead, the story followed an unlikely redemption arc, which was as long as it was unsatisfying.
⭐⭐
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.
The premise of this book is that the brilliant Robert Puller has been convicted of treason against the USA and is being held in a maximum security military prison. His brother, the gifted investigator John Puller, still believes in him, even when he escapes during a storm. John Puller works with the intrepid Veronica Knox to investigate the escape and to clear his brother’s name. They focus on the witnesses who gave testimony against Robert Puller. If he is innocent, they can’t be, so the investigators have to uncover the truth behind their lies.
