The Sixth Man
by David Baldacci
Grand Central Publishing/Hachette 2011
David Baldacci is Master of the Thriller Universe!
Imagine a world in which Government officials are on duty entrusted with the sacred task of protecting us from the evil that is all around. Something inexplicable happens to a good guy lawyer seeking to defend an odd man who has withdrawn inside himself locked away in a maximum security prison in rural Maine. Investigators hired to help him want to find out what happened, even without a source of income.
Our national security has been enhanced by a wondrous new generation of technology, which requires a human being of exceptional intellect to connect the wave of electronic dots arriving from global data feeds. That man is out of action. The technology has brought together formerly disparate intelligence agencies more focused on turf war than national security. It is compromised by the absence of the human dot-connector
Deaths begin in serial fashion. Michelle and Sean, the investigators, struggle with crime scenes littered with loose ends. Their budding emotional attraction is endearing. The Homeland Security Administration Secretary is a rich woman determined to occupy the White House. She obtains authority from the President to clean-up the mess, working with a private intelligence contractor who lost out to the new technology.
Government intelligence operatives are all over the place, as state troopers in Maine try to do their job. Some characters seem to be lambs caught in the clutches of cold killers. Others have contrasting personas.
The Sixth Man is a brilliant weave of sophisticated intrigue, loyalty, love, patriotism, honor, and redemption. These many strands are woven into a cloth of vibrancy, and intrigue.
It takes a bit of foundation work to set the pieces on the battleground. When the combatants are in place, the blistering pace commences.
It is a joy to read the work of a thoroughly skilled storyteller. This is a page turning thrill, which is paced so the reader can savor imagining how the clues found along the road will play out.
A bonus in this wonderful story is the evolution of love, triumph of patriotism, strength of our intelligence services to ferret out evil, and devotion to family.
I loved The Sixth Man and so will you!
Warms, Cym
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