Long Road to Mercy (Atlee Pine, #1)Long Road to Mercy by David Baldacci
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’m going to subtitle this book “The Long Road to the End.” It starts off great. A strong and likeable female protagonist/FBI agent who visits a man in jail to find out where her twin sister, Mercy, is. Convinced the man is the one who abducted and likely killed her. But…that’s not really the story, though of course it haunts Atlee Pine and she has the tats to prove it.
Then we get to a gutted mule in the Colorado basin. Okay, that’s the story. But, wait, there’s more.
I get suspending disbelief. It’s part of reading mystery, thriller, and suspense. But there were times, especially midway through when the story veered into Russian and Korean spies and nuclear weapons, that I almost laughed out loud. A guy can martial arts kick in the passenger window of a moving vehicle, kill the passenger with a chop kick, and get away with it. Ms. Pine is a self-described hermit of sorts, but she has friends who will buy her burner phones, give her cars, and a place to stay when she’s on the run, no questions asked.
Okay, then.
This is the second book by Baldacci I’ve read. I don’t think I’ll try another.
But if you enjoy a convoluted plot with strong female characters and a very light hint of romance, this might be for you. It’s reasonably fast paced until the middle, and again in the last couple of chapters, where the author ties things up neatly (but not in a knot, so kudos there). Just be prepared to suspend all disbelief. You won’t make it through otherwise.

GOODREADS RATING SYSTEM:

5: It was amazing

4: really liked it

3: liked it

2: It was okay

1: didn’t like it

 

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