SIMPLE GENIUS by David Baldacci
David Baldacci is really turning out the books lately. It seems like only days ago I was reviewing and raving over THE COLLECTORS and now I have a new best seller by him in my hands. It is titled SIMPLE GENIUS and is another winner from Mr. Baldacci. The heroic couple from SPLIT SECOND and HOUR GAME return in this book for another go at murder, mystery and mayhem.
Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are partners in an investigative agency and are very good at what they do. There is a problem though. Michelle has some demons hidden deep in her psyche that are tearing her apart. As the book starts, Michelle goes into a bar and picks a fight with a massive man who almost kills her.
Sean convinces her she needs help and gets her to admit herself into a psychiatric facility where she is treated by Horatio Barnes, a friend of Sean's and a very capable psychiatrist. Meanwhile Sean takes a case to investigate the murder of a man who lived in Babbage Town, Virginia. This town is across the York River from the CIA facility known as Camp Peary.
Sean goes there and is soon up to his ears in strange and eccentric people. Plus shortly after he gets there another murder occurs. Sean is desperate for some backup but Michelle is still in the psychiatric facility. So he stumbles on trying to determine if the government had something to do with the deaths of two men in Babbage Town because maybe they got to close to CIA secrets in the area.
Baldacci's writing in this novel harkens back to the stories he told in ABSOLUTE POWER and TOTAL CONTROL. In other words this is one of his best written and best plotted stories in some time. He is always good but this time he is back in the very good category.
Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are two of his most inventive characters and they are up to full fascination in this story. They are ably joined by Horatio who is an ally and a comic foil for Sean and Michelle's bickering.
The plot of SIMPLE GENIUS is complex but still totally understandable. There might be a lot of geniuses in the story but you don't have to be one to get the full enjoyment of the book.
David Baldacci is one of the best writers of mystery and suspense around today. He shows why he is so respected with this new book SIMPLE GENIUS. It will give you many hours of pure reading pleasure, and it will make you ponder over the plot for hours after you have finished the last page.
SIMPLE GENIUS is published by Warner Books. It contains 420 pages and sells for $26.99.