Sean King was a secret service agent protecting a presidential candidate on the the campaign trail. He had a lapse in concentration that resulted in the death of his protectee. It is now eight years later and he has reestablished himself as an attorney in a small town in Virginia. He is living a very quiet and comfortable life when he hears that another presidential candidate was kidnapped while under the watch of the secret service. Michelle Maxwell was the lead agent assigned to the candidate, John Bruno, at the time of the kidnapping.
Shortly after the kidnapping, Sean discovers one of his employees murdered inside his law office. The story makes the headline news and Michelle immediately recognizes Sean as the disgraced agent she learned about during her secret service training. She feels a connection to him due to their similar circumstances and begins looking into the events surrounding the death of Clyde Ritter, the candidate Sean was protecting on that fateful day.
She eventually contacts Sean and they begin investigating the events pertaining to his murdered employee, Clyde Ritter, and John Bruno. The closer they get to uncovering the truth the worse the personal ramifications become. Before long I was constantly worried that something terrible was going to happen to both Sean and Michelle. The only thing that gave me any sense of reassurance is the fact that I know there are four other books in the series. They must make it out of this alive if there are additional books, right?
The details of the mystery were constantly evolving and were very convoluted. I felt that Baldacci did a remarkable job of weaving all of the clues together throughout the story, which kept me constantly wanting to see what would happen next. The ending was like nothing I had ever read. I will compare it to the grand finale of a fireworks show. I don't want to give it away, so I will just leave it at that.
I really enjoyed the characters King and Maxwell. They are both brilliant detectives and complemented each other perfectly. I can't wait to see how things unfold in the rest of the series. Hopefully they can keep themselves a little further from the action in the future. I also hope their relationship evolves more throughout the series. Baldacci planted the seed that they are attracted to each other, but the circumstances in this book did not leave any room for a personal relationship. There is over a decade between their ages and they have very different personalities...King is a neat freak and Maxwell is a slob. How will this play out as they work together in the future and perhaps on a more personal level? I can't wait to find out.
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