A plot trick often used in the thriller writing game is to string three or four separate threads together with only the most tenuous connect. It delivers that roller coaster ride that makes thrillers thrill. In The Target featuring Will Robie and Jessica Reel, CIA fixers which is to say at times they kill for America.
The Target opens on Alabama's death row and hurls us to Paris, Pyongyang, rural Alabama, New York City and Nantucket. Robie and Reel prove almost invincible, which is to say they need help at times. We meet their counterpart, a young North Korean assassin, a Tinman-like operative only too well aware she no longer has a heart. Jessica's own awful past is revealed in pages you cannot put down. Weak and delusional leaders in the United States and North Korea make tragic blunders which create a context for all that follows.
After a poor outing with King and Maxwell (King & Maxwell), a book seemingly designed to promote a cable series, it is good to see David Baldacci at his best. Unlike some popular thriller writers, Baldacci writes his own stuff. And like the trial lawyer he was, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. The verdict on the Target is clear. It is a huge win!
The Target opens on Alabama's death row and hurls us to Paris, Pyongyang, rural Alabama, New York City and Nantucket. Robie and Reel prove almost invincible, which is to say they need help at times. We meet their counterpart, a young North Korean assassin, a Tinman-like operative only too well aware she no longer has a heart. Jessica's own awful past is revealed in pages you cannot put down. Weak and delusional leaders in the United States and North Korea make tragic blunders which create a context for all that follows.
After a poor outing with King and Maxwell (King & Maxwell), a book seemingly designed to promote a cable series, it is good to see David Baldacci at his best. Unlike some popular thriller writers, Baldacci writes his own stuff. And like the trial lawyer he was, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. The verdict on the Target is clear. It is a huge win!
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