Zero Day

February 27, 2012
Baldacci's latest novel features a new character that is sure to be a hit with longtime fans and newcomers alike: military investigator John Puller. A seasoned combat veteran, Puller journeys to rural West Virginia to investigate a brutal mass murder. There, he teams with a troubled detective who helps him unravel an expansive conspiracy with grave repercussions for the nation. Ron McLarty and Orlagh Cassidy both turn in winning performance, splitting the narration, with the former handling Puller and the latter haunted and beautiful police officer Samantha Cole. McLarty's rendition of Puller is stern, smooth, and composed, while Cassidy's Cole is dark, mysterious, and troubled. Together, the narrators capture the book's suspense and the protagonists' budding romance, hitting all the high points and displaying a great chemistry. A Grand Central Hardcover.

November 1, 2011
In his 22nd, Baldacci (The Sixth Man, 2011, etc.) introduces a soldier/sleuth who fights like Rambo and thinks like Holmes. Mountain-sized and über-brainy, John Puller is about as unconquerable as mere mortals get to be. An ex-warrior--Iraq, Afghanistan and wherever else his country's enemies happened to be entrenched--he's served with unvarying distinction. As a consequence, the fruit salad (Army slang for medals) he pins to his dress uniform tells a glory story already the stuff of legend. These days, however, Warrant Officer Puller fights a somewhat different kind of war--quieter perhaps, but only marginally less dangerous. Employed by the U.S. Army's Criminal Investigations Division, he battles military crime, and he is--it's universally acknowledged--terrific at it. Still, his latest assignment has him scratching his head a bit. In tiny Drake, W.Va., a colonel, his wife and two teenage kids have been murdered, and Puller's been ordered to find out the why and catch the who. A pitiless, carefully staged bloodbath, it's the kind of headline-grabber that ordinarily would have had teams of special agents pell-melling into Drake, yet here's Puller flying solo, offered not much more in terms of guidance than, "play nice with the locals." On the upside, one of the locals turns out to be a smart, remarkably attractive police sergeant named Samantha Cole. Born and Bred in Drake, she's in a position to provide needed insights into her town's power structure and usual suspects list. Four dead bodies on Puller's arrival, a total that almost at once zooms to seven with no real reason to suppose it's reached its limit. What's going on in this small, coal belt community to suddenly transform it into a charnel-house? Another poser for Puller: how to keep from personally adding to the count? Relentlessly formulaic, but Puller is a strong enough protagonist to keep the pages turning.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

November 1, 2011
In his new novel, the best-selling Baldacci introduces a six-foot-three, 232-pound military investigator who speaks French, dislikes being tied to a desk, thinks on his feet, and is highly skilled at getting himself out of tricky situations. Why Baldacci felt the need to create a character who appears to be modeled on Lee Child's Jack Reacherright down to his name, John Pulleris puzzling, but is it a good book? The story is solid but very familiar: a colonel and his family are murdered, and Puller, an investigator in the army's Criminal Investigative Division, is assigned the case. Working with a local cop (female, naturally), Puller is soon tracking a far-reaching conspiracy. The characters, too, are familiar to genre fans and not especially well developed. The dialogue feels bloated and repetitive, as though the author feels the need to hammer home points that should be made more subtly. Baldacci can be an excellent writerparticularly in the Camel Club novelsbut recently he's turned in several subpar performances, of which, unfortunately, this is another. For Reacher-starved readers, the novel might suit, in a pinch, but it's definitely a poor substitute. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Weak books like this one can still generate demand if they're heavily promoted and written by an author with Baldacci's track record. Expect initial interest to be followed by some disappointed readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)