Between Daniel Silva y David baldacci they share a large part of the pie of the international thriller genre, that kind of inheritance of the great writers of espionage novels like Tom Clancand, Ian Fleming, Robert Ludlum, or the great Le Carré.
Regardless of the particularities of style, rhythm or any other formal aspect, all these authors share their Anglophone identity. But it is precisely between the United Kingdom first and the United States later, that aspect between diplomatic and pre-war in which the world moved in the 20th century was historically patrimonialized, and which still currently sustains many of the socio-political balances of our world.
However Returning to Baldacci, in his dozens of novels we find a diversity of plots which usually revolve around internal espionage; to intelligence agencies; to interior services. Those entities that look for enemies of the country from within, in charge of disinfecting gaps in the most aseptic way possible.
The United States is one of the paradigms of these CIA-type agencies that extend their work to international embassies but also with internal ramifications. Total control from the remote village of your own country to the farthest mountain of the antipodes.
And of course, the matter goes a long way. A guy like Baldacci dedicated to the legal profession at high levels would find arguments from which to build those plots that exude realism between the artifice of fiction and that, in one way or another, surprise and disturb ...
Lavishing himself in disparate sagas, Baldacci uses fetish characters to offer interesting plots that never leave anyone indifferent, making him one of the biggest bestsellers of his genre today.
Top 3 best books by David Baldacci
The path of forgiveness
In reality there is usually no path that leads to forgiveness. As progress is made, new guilt may arise and almost never a resounding forgiveness that congratulates us with everything. Even less for those whose past experiences, memories and debts extend to the remote lost paradise of childhood; a place as fascinating for everyone as it is paradoxically infernal for a few unlucky ones by destiny.
Atlee Pine lives marked by the terrible experience she lived in her childhood: when she was six years old, a stranger kidnapped her twin sister, Mercy, and no one ever saw her again. Three decades later, Ella Atlee has become an FBI agent with extraordinary abilities, rebellious, brave and self-sufficient.
However, his many qualities do not include mercy or the ability to forgive. His mission is to chase and catch criminals in the Grand Canyon area, which he knows in detail.
When a strange stabbing death occurs in an area frequented by tourists, Atlee is abruptly removed from the case and must decide between following orders or risking her career to try to find out the truth.
The last mile
Baldacci is able to address different plots with final links to those sewers where power develops with its particular modus operandi ... In any country where the death penalty exists, the usual moral dilemmas arise about the ethical fit of this type of finalist justice.
But if to the controversy is added the idea that a just man can pay with his life for what he has not done, the approach reaches moral drifts of an enormous dimension.
Melvin Mars has been sentenced to death for the past murder of his parents two decades ago. But when he barely has hours to travel the famous last mile to his death, another suspect ends up declaring himself the author of the double crime.
Amos Decker, David Baldacci's already mythical detective, may have overlooked the case, but he learned about its peculiarity and investigated a little more. Amos identified with Melvin in terms of his life history and final circumstances.
When a colleague on the FBI team disappears, their focus on Melvín is diverted, but during the search for the teammate a thread connects both cases. What Amos Decker can unravel escapes the foresight of his superiors, motivated by dark intentions that Amos will only have to face, with unforeseeable consequences for him.
An exquisitely woven plot, led by characters with easy empathy and that ends up catching the reader in its lively rhythm and its interesting twists. The theme also complements the whole with its ethical and legal aspect.
All the truth
Perhaps this is the novel that best connects with that international suspense that originated the genre back in the Cold War. Sometimes it seems that the Internet becomes an uncontrollable tool in different countries... and what is worse, between the liberating and democratic appearance, self-interested manipulation appears as a great challenge capable of modifying wills by segmenting information or directly deceiving.
That's what this novel is about. Because the victim Konstantin becomes a viral phenomenon. His accusation of torture towards the Russian state moves public opinion. As we read we discover the most evil intentions of an arms businessman. Stopping it will be a lethal issue for the world.
Other recommended books by David Baldacci…
In the last minute
It all started in a split second, the explosive first installment of the series starring Sean King and Michelle Maxwell. In this sixth part we continue on the tightrope, on the knife's edge. Because Baldacci is a specialist in missions that are challenges of survival or deduction just before everything disappears in the smoke of a lost case. Even more so in that dark world of espionage where appearances always lead us to the wrong ports. Unless you have the instinct and sagacity, sometimes from Sean and at other times from Michelle, to discover the resolution of the plot before we have a heart attack.
Sean King and Michelle Maxwell, our friends and former Secret Service agents already dedicated to private investigation, return in the most surprising, personal and dangerous case of their career. At first it seems like a purely tragic story. Teenager Tyler Wingo receives the painful news that his military father has been killed in action in Afghanistan. But then something extraordinary happens: Tyler receives a message from his father... after his supposed death. Tyler hires Sean and Michelle to unravel the mystery, and their investigations quickly raise deeper and more disturbing questions.
Is it possible that Tyler's father is still alive? What was his true mission? Could Tyler be the next target of a conspiracy?
The researchers realize that they have stumbled upon something more transcendent and dangerous than they could imagine. And as their search for the truth relentlessly leads them to the upper echelons of power and the revelation of a closely guarded secret, Sean and Michelle vow to help and protect Tyler, even if it puts their own lives at risk.
The inocents
Convincing a hit man that his work is for the common good, for a greater good than the victim's own life can be achieved. When the evidence shows the pernicious performance of an American citizen and the material impossibility of officially arresting him is evident, guys like Will Robie spring into action.
The summary justice of the sniper must find sustenance, because to be a hit man for the government, one must be a person with principles within the finalist and Machiavellian conception of the internal affairs of a country.
Only when Will finds out that he can't handle the latest case because the pieces don't fit together at all. Will's frantic flight will always keep him on the razor's edge.
His salvation becomes more and more complicated and his new inquiries confront him with the complete contradiction that he has served institutionalized crime.
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