End Game: David Baldacci (Will Robie series, 5)

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After taking and completing rather strenuous jobs in both London and Iraq, government agents/assassins Robie and his partner Jessica Reel are tasked with finding out what happened to their boss, Roger "Blue Man" Walton, when he disappears in his hometown in Eastern Colorado. It's hard to believe that the same person who brilliantly wrote The Innocent actually wrote End Game. There’s a sense early in the book that this might be the final outing for Will and Jess and I wondered if that was going to be the case, which I guess had me reading while on edge a little more than usual.

Our heroes have several clashes with the Neo-Nazi's, always showing their superior skill and intelligence. I hope we don't get stupid relationship drama in the form of the sheriff winding up pregnant with Will's child in the next books, because I do not pick up these action/thriller/suspense novels to get angsty relationship shit in the process!Overall, it’s a very enjoyable journey for the reader to follow their journey and try to solve the mystery before they do. It was like they were a super-villain but not nearly smart, cool, and interesting enough to carry it off.

While Baldacci often bases his novels on contemporary political problems around the world, how he tackles this subject matter is quite disturbing. The last book in the series – The Guilty– had its ups and downs, although it was more good than bad. When this outing begins, Will and Jessica are back in the service of their country when their boss, the Blue Man, goes missing while on vacation in a rural area of Colorado.

He’s met there by his sometimes partner, Jessica Reel, who has just come off her own mission that ended quite poorly.

Will and Jess are government sanctioned assassins, not investigators, but in this story they will have to become investigators too. The relationship between Robie and Reel was weird and the criminal characters were just plain stupid, I felt like I could feel my IQ dropping while reading this book, definitely not one I would recommend.

The town is run by a tiny police force and populated by two distinct organizations: a collective of Neo-Nazis and a New Age group who refer to themselves as the King’s Apostles.

And the mystery surrounding the Blue Man plays out in a personal and revealing manner that adds depth and sincerity to both his character and the series mythology. So there’s that contradiction, which is enjoyable (I mean, cheesy dialog has its moments) but not the norm for these characters. As they delve deeper into the mystery behind Blue Man’s disappearance, they find themselves facing an adversary who has a home and firepower advantage.

I could see things playing out and was impressed with the pace and forward movement, but cannot say that I was kept up late into the night reading or wondering.