End Game by David Baldacci
brings back two of his best characters, Will Robie and Jessica
Reel. Baldacci has a knack for creating a male and female
lead that act in a homogeneous manner whether it’s Sean
King and Michelle Maxwell, or his most recent series Memory
Man with Amos Decker and Alexandra (Alex) Jamison. But, probably
the best pair is Robie and Reel, who feed off one another
in a cohesive partnership.
Reel and Robie are not the typical stereotyped characters.
She is sarcastic and is not afraid to get into someone’s
face. He is quiet, sensitive, and will hold back. Sometimes
her abrasive behavior will cause an adverse reaction. For
example, when she tells this to the leader of a neo-Nazi group,
“I can see it probably gets you off.”
It becomes obvious as the story unfolds, that Robie and Reel
care greatly for each other. Robie told her how hard it was
for him to figure her out. The conversation, “I don’t
get you most of the time.” Her response, “What
can I say, Robie. It’s a Mars-Venus thing.”
She is a female sniper working for the US government. Is
it realistic, to have that as Reel’s profession? Baldacci
says, “Yes. They are finding females have better motor
skills than men. This is a skill very much needed for snipers.
They are also able to lie in one position for many hours a
day. I have gone to military bases and fired the rifles so
I have an idea what it requires. I put the descriptions in
the book. Through Jessica people can understand it is not
just falling on the ground, looking through a scope, and firing
the rifle. It is actually a science that involves a lot of
math and physics.”
The first few chapters have Robie on a mission in London
where he must single-handedly take out a Jihadist terrorist
cell and Reel in Iraq providing sniper support for the military.
After the completion of these missions, they are asked to
find their supervisor, The Blue Man, Roger Walton, who has
gone missing in Grand Colorado. Traveling to Walton’s
hometown in Colorado they must use their lethal skills under
a guise of secrecy to find him. They have faced evil overseas
with the Islamic extremists, but now face it on the home front
with Nazi wannabes, motorcycle gangs, and a drug cartel. They
enlist the help of Sherriff Valerie Malloy who knows the local
community, many of whom enjoy the isolated and sparsely populated
town. Unfortunately, the three find themselves up against
adversaries with superior numbers and firepower and no lead
on Blue Man’s whereabouts.
Baldacci wants “people to realize wars could be fought
in many different types of battlefields whether the desert
in Iraq or the urban streets of London or America. These are
two very different kinds of battlefields. Because many citizens
have no direct engagement with the soldiers and their families
they think they could not be harmed. We are never really safe
wherever we are. It is an important cliché, ‘see
something, say something.’ People should not be listening
to their earbuds or staring at their phones oblivious to everyone
around them.”
The Colorado Tourist Bureau will definitely not use it. The
story shows how the state is a magnet for violent groups.
Being a large state with many isolationist and unpopulated
areas it is popular by those who want to avoid mainstream
laws. The geography and undermanned police forces allow for
secretive groups.
Also, in Colorado are hideaways for the super wealthy in
case the world implodes. Reel responds to someone who is touring
the facility, “Isn’t that why you bought your
little insurance policy here? So they could protect you from
the big, bad riffraff banging on the door to get in?”
This story is well worth the two-year wait and readers should
be delighted in Reel and Robie’s return. This novel
has a fast-action story where people realize that there are
terrorists on both the domestic and international front. These
heroes must use all their senses to confront and defeat the
bad guys to keep the good guys safe. |
