6 reviews for The Innocent
You must be logged in to post a review.
The Innocent
by David Baldacci
Description:
America has enemies – ruthless people that the police, the FBI, even the military can’t stop. That’s when the U.S. government calls on Will Robie, a stone cold hitman who never questions orders and always nails his target. But Will Robie may have just made the first and last mistake of his career… It begins with a hit gone wrong. Robie is dispatched to eliminate a target unusually close to home in Washington, D.C. But something about this mission doesn’t seem right to Robie, and he does the unthinkable. He refuses to kill. Now, Robie becomes a target himself and must escape from his own people. Fleeing the scene, Robie crosses paths with a wayward teenage girl, a fourteen year old runaway from a foster home. But she isn’t an ordinary runaway her parents were murdered, and her own life is in danger. Against all of his professional habits, Robie rescues her and finds he can’t walk away. He needs to help her. Even worse, the more Robie learns about the girl, the more he’s convinced she is at the center of a vast cover-up, one that may explain her parents’ deaths and stretch to unimaginable levels of power. Now, Robie may have to step out of the shadows in order to save this girl’s life… and perhaps his own.
About The Author
Baldacci began writing stories as a child, when his mother gave him a notebook in which to record them. He wrote for more than two decades, penning short stories and later screenplays without much success.
While practicing law, he turned to novel writing, taking three years to write Absolute Power. Published in 1996, it was an international best seller. To date, Baldacci has published 31 best-selling novels for adults as well as five novels for younger readers.
Skryf Review
“Excellent Reading”
Sejal
This is the first time that I have gotten my hands on something written by David Baldacci, and now I regret not having read anything by him before.As is often the case, I try to guess the plot by looking at the jacket. The first one was: a common American who turns against some extremely powerful System to save his daughter. The blurb cleared that misconception. This was the first of many; Baldacci is good at that – flawlessly leading you to believe something without actually saying it, and then doing just the opposite.An assassin with a mission. But whose side is he on?Now Julie is the real star of the story. Not only is she talented beyond her age, she is fearless and sensible as well. She saw her parents die right in front of her eyes and now she is beyond any emotion, suffering or pain. But she knows whom to trust and she trusts Robie. She also makes him feel. Under Julie’s tutelage, Robie discovers a new side of himself. He even develops a semi-crush on a White House Staffer named Annie Lambert, which is really not his natural behavior.The language was simple yet very gripping throughout the book. I consider it a Visual Book instead of just a novel because you will actually see what you read. ‘The Innocent’ is a book that will keep your brain engaged all the time, so make sure you don’t have anything else worth doing when you’re reading it. 😉
Smit
This started out as a pretty thrilling and fun ride and promising for my first experience with a Baldacci tale. But ultimately the trope of someone trained to be killing machine slowly learning to become more human wore a little thin. That and the somewhat sappy role of a female FBI agent and a scrappy teenage girl in this process leads me to rate it modestly.Right away Baldacci sucked my tense attention in pretty good as we follow CIA agent Will Robie through a series of thrilling and crafty assassinations of worthy targets around the world. Back on the home front in D.C., he balks on a domestic hit and becomes wary of some form of treachery within the U.S. powers-that-be. Soon thereafter he has a close call on an event I will not disclose, in the process saving a 14 year old runaway girl, Julie, who may have been a target. Though the rest of the book, Robie bonds with the smart and brave teen and the lady FBI agent while working to figure out a fiendish conspiracy. There is a long gap of paranoid ignorance and an accumulating body count before the puzzle is solved near the climactic close. Fairly satisfying for escapist reading, although in the end the book left me with the same sense of empty calories as I used to get after reading books of the Ludlam Bourne series back in the 80’s.
Kalgi
Wow, that ending was sad or what? It was definitely a bit tragic than I was expecting, and in my opinion, that said volumes to the wonderful writing of David Baldacci. Because, even though after finishing the novel we still don’t know much about our protagonist Will Robie’s mysterious past or how or why he came to be what he was here, other than the fact that he’s a superbly efficient government-sanctioned assassin, Baldacci perfectly fleshed out his character and his morale, and made us absolutely root for the guy from the beginning. And because we deeply cared for him, in the end even after everything perfectly worked out, we feel sad to see him suffering so much. Anyway, the book was simply put, A BLAST. Even in 500+ pages it was a very VERY entertaining and a lightning-fast read! Not for once the tightly-woven plot shagged, not even in the middle. Its more commendable to the storytelling ability of Baldacci as the head-scratching mystery didn’t gave up almost any revelation until there’s only less than a hundred pages to go. But the story grabbed my attention from the very first page and didn’t let go till the very end, with a very satisfying conclusion, so that’s all that matters. Although I personally would’ve preferred slightly more action, I flatout loved all the mindgames! This was my first Baldacci novel, but off course it won’t be the last, as I’ve already started on The Hit, Will Robie’s next adventure. Let’s see where that goes.
aashna
Will Robie is a loner, he’s precise, and he’s a hit man who takes out America’s enemies. In the first 50 pages or so we go along with Robie on a few of his missions but the next one goes horribly wrong and now he’s being hunted by some scary folks. On his escape he teams up with a 14 year old named Julie Getty who’s just left foster care only to witness the murder of her beloved parents. She narrowly escapes the killers. In “The Innocent” Baldacci takes us all over the globe and into international politics including current and past wars. He also explores what makes us human and how things we do can change us.On his quest Robie has the help of some former co-workers and FBI agent Vance but he’s having trouble getting the pieces to fit. Are the bad guys after him or after Julie or both of them? Is this about his past or hers? He keeps looking through his last cases trying to find who and why someone is hunting him, at the same time he tries to figure out why people who knew Julie’s parents keep dying. I know it’s a cliché to call a book a page turner but this one really is. Baldacci drops enough clues to make you feel like you’re in on the hunt but just when one plot point becomes clear another mystery pops up and the story takes off again. I’m not usually a thriller reader but Baldacci might have me hooked after reading “The Innocent”
Kahaan
A great read to a new series !! Will Robie, is a stone cold hit man who never questions orders and always nails his target. There are two story lines going in this book – Will Robie, who was ordered to kill someone-at the last minute realizes that something just isn’t right with this— a mother, with 2 children- he aborts that mission (which you are NOT supposed to do!) – Then the other story line is about a 14 year old girl who is now running away for she witnessed the murder of her mother and father…… Baldacci has an uncanny way of telling both these stories- and you know that they are somehow related – but how? We go on a nice long journey- the ups and downs and the mystery slowly starts to unfold- I will say that this book is just a ‘tad’ but too long- but Baldacci books seem to be more on the longer side than not. Having said that – It was a page turner and I really enjoyed it. I’m very much looking forward to reading the second book in this series….. a sold 4.5 stars plus 1/2 star because – well because he is “Baldacci” !!