It turns out that an entire family was murdered and from there, David Baldacci introduces us to John Puller. He’s a military investigator. Since this family has ties to the military, he is in charge of the investigation and will find out who the murderer was. Samantha Cole, who is chief of police, will assist him in his investigation.
Puller is a complicated man. He’s done his time in Iraq and Afghanistan and he has memories and dreams of people in his unit being killed in action. His father is a legendary commanding officer and his brother, Robert, is in jail for being a traitor. As a result, Puller is a loner and doesn’t seem to get close to anyone.
While on the surface, Puller may seem similar to Jack Reacher from the Lee Child series, Puller being a loner seems to be the only quality that matches up to Reacher. Puller seems to live his life like he was in the army, getting up at the same time. Theer are constant references to the army throughout the novel.
There was some action in the story that I did enjoy but nothing that really kept me on the edge of my seat. Maybe if there was more of a relationship with Samantha Cole and if Puller was less regimented as a character, then I would have enjoyed the story more.
If this was an attempt to compete with Lee Child, I would say that Reacher has the upper hand for now. I just felt that there was more suspense in those novels and a better character than what Balducci created in John Puller. I can only give this book three stars as a result.
Ron Hummer
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