Jeff

Not the strongest work, but it was an enjoyable read and a worthwhile continuation of the series.Unfortunately, compared to the brilliance demonstrated in his other books, [a:David Baldacci 9291 David Baldacci https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/authors/1383944009p2/9291.jpg] seems to write himself in corners repeatedly with this book, at which point he usually has to conjure up a solution to the problem then and there, with no previous setup. Basically, there are no chekhov's guns to be found in this book.Also, the sense of discovery, all the clues being presented to the reader, aren't as present as they are in his previous books. Many times the character just comes up with the idea, and then the reader has to read ahead to figure out how said claim was reached.When compared to the other Camel Club books, there was very little focus on the other members of the Camel Club. They were mentioned in name, and had small roles here and there, but, were it a TV show, they would be guest stars. The book really felt more like an Oliver Stone book than a Camel club bookFinally, and this was the biggest sticking point for me, the use of technology as a crutch was a bit out of place for a series that has, at least traditionally, grounded itself. Nanobots to alter the chemical smell of bombs? A pocket-sized door opening laser? I thought I was reading a Camel Club book, not a James Bond or Dick Tracy novel.All in all, it was a good, entertaining read, but doesn't hold muster to the quality of the other books in the series.

Murderbot has become more fleshed out as a character, and we get a bit of a look into its drive and motivation. New "friends" are made, and the overarching mythos and drive of the character itself is explored a bit. But this is really the last time we find out anything about that. MB investigates things from his past, and then finds half of an answer, and thats the end of that plot line.

That said, the smaller, tighter cast, and more focused story did fix cover some of the issues I'd had with the previous book, and I did enjoy reading this one

Continuing the trend from the previous book in the series, this sees our friendly MB taking on new work and contracts, and pulling on one more little thread of its past. Unfortunately, the investigating-the-past plot ends here, without any real resolution, other than revealing that one of the previously known to be shady corporations was actually extremely shady.

MB also makes a new friend, and unlike ART, MB really starts to care about this new friend, which makes the ending of the book a lot more poignant.

Still, I wish there would be more in-depth plots covering MB's history, as I did enjoy Detective MB in the last few books

An enjoyable entry into a larger series. The plot never lagged, and in some areas seemed to jump a bit faster than it really should have. My only other problem was that the characters hadn't really been fleshed out that much. Suffered a little bit of the characters-with-similar-names-and-minimal-identifying-traits thats common in a lot of science fiction, but not as bad as some later entries in the series.

Not Baldacci's best work, but not his worst either.

I came away finding few, if any, of the characters likable. I found most of them to be either mopey or sociopathic, with few “normal” characters. I suppose this is a product of the era this novel was written in, as it was common, but it is offputting.

The plot was a tad pedestrian, and while entertaining, at about the 60% mark, I was hoping the book would wrap up. There was too much prose devoted to ultimately unimportant factors in the book.

And thats really the biggest problem with this book. Its got way too much purple prose. No one ever simply drives to a place, they “Floor their black Mercedes down the rainslick road.”* Nothing is ever just a cold day. I found myself skipping paragraphs, even whole pages, and not losing any of the plot. Couple that with way too much description of law, law practice, and the book just was full of way too much tedium. While this may have been excusable in a Melville book, it isn't here.

I ultimately finished the book, and it did keep me entertained, but it could have been pared down quite a bit and come out a better book

* not an actual quote