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A review by veronica87
The Guilty by David Baldacci
3.0
2.5 stars
Book four in the Will Robie series didn't actually feel like a Will Robie book at all. After suffering a couple of setbacks at his two most recent assignments, Robie decides to take some personal time off. The timing works because he's also just learned that his father, from whom he's been estranged for 20 years, has been arrested for murder back in Mississippi. The story follows him back to his hometown and we finally learn about his origin story, if you will. And I gotta say, I'm not really sure I see how it led Robie to become a lethal government sanctioned assassin. I mean, I totally understand why he'd want to get out of small town life and away from a turbulent relationship with his father but he had other, better choices available to him so I'm not sure why he didn't go that route. (Jessica Reel's backstory was a lot more compelling.)
Anyway, the story basically involves Robie playing detective in order to find out what really happened to result in the deaths of two people. The problem is, playing detective is not Robie's strong suit. Thankfully his recent partner, Jessica Reel, shows up about midway through the story. She and Robie make a good team and they're really the only good thing about this installment. While there are a few action sequences and gun fights that result in quite a few dead bad guys - which is, after all, part of the reason one reads books about assassins in the first place - it's not enough to rescue our two main characters from a mostly boring plot that only gets more convoluted and unbelievable with every chapter. Robie and Reel make too many absurd leaps of logic and then, worst of all, the guilty person gives a lengthy monologue at the end detailing their whole diabolical plan. Really?
Add all that up and throw in the fact that Baldacci's long-time male narrator has apparently retired from the audiobook business resulting in a new narrator taking over the voice of Will Robie and you get my least favorite Will Robie story. I can adjust to the new narrator (the female voice remains the same) but hopefully Robie and Reel will return to form in the next book.
Book four in the Will Robie series didn't actually feel like a Will Robie book at all. After suffering a couple of setbacks at his two most recent assignments, Robie decides to take some personal time off. The timing works because he's also just learned that his father, from whom he's been estranged for 20 years, has been arrested for murder back in Mississippi. The story follows him back to his hometown and we finally learn about his origin story, if you will. And I gotta say, I'm not really sure I see how it led Robie to become a lethal government sanctioned assassin. I mean, I totally understand why he'd want to get out of small town life and away from a turbulent relationship with his father but he had other, better choices available to him
Spoiler
(i.e. a full college scholarship)Anyway, the story basically involves Robie playing detective in order to find out what really happened to result in the deaths of two people. The problem is, playing detective is not Robie's strong suit. Thankfully his recent partner, Jessica Reel, shows up about midway through the story. She and Robie make a good team and they're really the only good thing about this installment. While there are a few action sequences and gun fights that result in quite a few dead bad guys - which is, after all, part of the reason one reads books about assassins in the first place - it's not enough to rescue our two main characters from a mostly boring plot that only gets more convoluted and unbelievable with every chapter. Robie and Reel make too many absurd leaps of logic and then, worst of all, the guilty person gives a lengthy monologue at the end detailing their whole diabolical plan. Really?
Add all that up and throw in the fact that Baldacci's long-time male narrator has apparently retired from the audiobook business resulting in a new narrator taking over the voice of Will Robie and you get my least favorite Will Robie story. I can adjust to the new narrator (the female voice remains the same) but hopefully Robie and Reel will return to form in the next book.