Long Road to Mercy: 1 (Atlee Pine Thriller)

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Aside from reinforcing Atlee's previously demonstrated fighting abilities and her willingness to use them, plus her FBI badge and her gun, to beat guys bigger and stronger than she is, the anecdote had no bearing on the plot/storyline whatsoever. Baldacci introduces a new series here with FBI agent Atlee Pine and the western outdoors locale and accompanying characters are well utilized at the front and back end. Way over the top with a story which would have been better placed as a James Bond plot (and we know how bad the Bond films were before Daniel Craig came along or Sean Connery I might add).

As I read, I was reminded of another series character: Jane Hawk, the feisty heroine conceived by another favorite author, Dean Koontz. She had sat in a group counseling session and had listened as the attendees went around the room discussing their most personal issues.She’s the lone agent assigned to the Shattered Rock, Arizona resident agency, which is responsible for protecting the Grand Canyon. Geo-politics has become the latest craze in the genre, which is on offer here, but there is an interesting way the characters work to hash out the specifics that kept me wanting to know more. But in the end, she will have to confront not only a new monster, but also the old one of her nightmares. Baldacci's plotlines here might sound a trifle far-fetched here, until you look at the gloomy and dangerous state of US politics and the global machinations at play in the world today, at which point it all seems scarily possible. A dead mule, a missing person, smallest FBI office possible with a female agent and awesome secretary, National Park Service Rangers, a Navajo Nation, hunky Sam, mules, mystery with a cave and all this nestled in the Grand Canyon area!

I was excited to start a new series by David Baldacci especially since I love so many of his other books and I had heard Long Road to Mercy had a female protagonist. The action stuff was pretty good but was a bit 'filled out' by the addition of some unnecessary and irrelevant writing. Thirty years later, the only agent assigned to the FBI’s Arizona Resident Agency at Shattered Rock, she is responsible for the protection of the Grand Canyon. HUGE things happened in the book, but that ending was so ridiculously simple that I don’t believe it.I hope David Baldacci's hard at work on Agent Pine's next adventure, because I can't wait to dive into it. Admitting that it’s his first time attempting a female lead, Baldacci does a good job of creating a character that is easy to associate with, and complex enough to be realistic. The rest of the story required a significant suspension of a reader's/listener's credibility particularly in regard to the alleged activities of various branches of USA armed forces, USA Homeland Security and the FBI.

And even thought she wears blouses, skirts, and pumps, she’s got steely determination and fierce loyalty to Atlee. At least four characters that I’ve read that were penned by Baldacci are either: ex Navy SEALS, or ex military, or ex assassin.An epic thriller-fast moving, beautifully imagined, and vividly set in the Grand Canyon and its environs. I was surprised a park ranger could work there for 30 years and still know less than 10% of the region.