The Innocent by David Baldacci

Will Robie is a U.S. government assassin.  He’s not FBI, CIA, Secret Service, military or any other well known agency.  But if an American enemy, global or domestic is ordered to be taken out, Will Robie is your man.  He is a 40 year old, six foot one, 180 pound killing machine.

 

For years he has successfully carried out every sanctioned assassination without question or remorse.  Then one day he is sent to kill a young single mother living near poverty in Washington DC.  He easily enters the apartment undetected but finds the target asleep with her child.  Seeing this he can’t pull the trigger and a long distance sniper takes out the target and her child from outside the apartment.  Suspecting foul play, Robie heads for his private safe house via an escape route known only to him.  At a deteriorating bus station in DC, Robie saves the life of a 14 year old girl, running from danger herself.  The girl, Julie Getty is wise beyond her years and had escaped from a foster home only to return to her parent’s home and witness their murders.  Her parents had loved her but their addiction to drugs had caused them to seek foster care for her.  The unlikely pair, Robie and Julie reluctantly join forces at the bus station.  Robie somehow feels responsibility for the teenager’s welfare and agrees to help her find her parent’s murderer.

Robie’s lead handler, Blue Man is impressed by Robie’s judgment and loyalty and assigns him to represent their powerful covert agency in the FBI’s investigation of the single mother’s and her child’s murders.  FBI Special Agent Nicole Vance quickly adopts Robie’s theory that at least one traitor is at work within one of the Federal law enforcement agencies.   As evidence unfolds, it becomes apparent that the two dual murders are connected.  Julie’s father and the ex-husband of the dead woman served together in the First Gulf War.  The ex-husband is also found brutally murdered.  The investigators discover other members of the former unit and each one has been interrogated, threatened, and/or murdered by forces unknown.  What secret was thought to be known by Robie and/or Julie and was suspected of being spread?  Whatever the secret why was it worth murder to conceal… and by whom?  Can it somehow be related to Robie’s past?  Robie  feels he has to find answers to these questions to survive.

I’ve read several of Baldacci’s books over the years and tend to run hot and cold on him.  Many times his ideas do not seem that original to me and he’s easy to confuse with other authors.  But The Innocent is creative and compelling… definitely one of his strongest works.  The unlikely pair of lead characters, an assassin and a distrusting teen age girl share a common goal to find the truth.  Each have their own personal code of ethics deemed more important than their lives.  Yet they each have a vulnerability that makes them likable.  You quickly find yourself hoping for their success and safety.  The plot and story line are reasonably believable fiction and the facts are revealed in an active pace with numerous twists to keep you flipping pages.  Well done Mr. Baldacci…more like this please.