The Innocent

David Baldacci's books very erratic in terms of quality. For example, I enjoyed Zero Day but I thought that True Blue was appallingly bad. The Innocent has a lot of his trademark characteristics and if you're a fan of his, you will no doubt enjoy it. I thought it started really well, but it falls apart due to an absence of credibility that becomes laughable by the end of the book.

The main character is a Government assassin called Will Robie. The early chapters establish that he's a very efficient and clinical killer. Then he gets an assignment which differs from his usual fare - a US citizen on US soil. When he gets to the target's house, he realizes that it's a Government employee who's a solo mother with two young children. He hesitates - and someone else shoots the target. Realizing that he will also be targeted, he bolts for his pre-planned escape route. Almost immediately, he crosses paths with a teenage girl who is also on the run after witnessing the death of her parents.

Up to this point the story is gripping but almost immediately it takes an unlikely turn. Instead of proceeding with his escape plans, Robie decides to go home, hide Julie the teenager and try to solve the mystery of her parents' deaths for her. At the same time he is obliged to start working with the FBI to solve the murder of the very woman that he was hired to kill. Meanwhile there appears to be somebody on the inside who is setting him up at every turn.

The main character - an assassin called Robie - is an intriguing character, but he veers between being extremely smart and extremely slow on the uptake in a way that doesn't make sense unless it's purely to serve the plot. Julie, the 14 year old girl who's just seen her parents murdered, also doesn't feel even remotely credible. More concerned about keeping up her grades than grieving for her parents and able to make deductions that the grown ups miss.