The Innocent

Ah, but who is innocent? Will Robie, protagonist of David Baldacci’s The Innocent surely isn’t, as the first chapters reveal. A paid killer, he does at least seem to be on the side of the good guys. But suddenly he’s on the run, saving an orphaned teenager, who surely must be innocent, falling in love with the innocent girl next door, and trying to catch a murderer before his past catches up with him.

Short sharp sentences set the scene. Quick clear dialog propels the story. Investigation is as fast and furious as the action. Reader suspicions are confirmed or denied just quickly enough to keep the pulse racing and the pages turning. Robie’s intelligent as well as quick, he’s human as well as inhumanly well-trained, and he show more makes for a thoroughly enjoyable conflicted protagonist, happiest on his own, but suddenly faced with the possibilities and problems of having to care.

Suspenseful, fast-flowing, convincing and spare, the Innocent is a thoroughly enjoyable blend of mystery, suspense, action and investigation, and a really good read.

Disclosure: My husband really enjoyed it and I’m very glad he told me to read it. show less

A fast-paced, cleverly plotted read with sympathetic characters. Ignore the snooty reviews on Amazon, this is exactly what you would expect from a 'churn-'em-out' writer like Baldacci, but still definitely worth a read.

Will Robie - my brain alternated between Ro-bie and Robbie while reading - is a government assassin who gets set up when he baulks at killing a mother and her young son. Forming an unlikely alliance with an orphaned Mattie Ross type teen girl, Robie fights to keep them both alive while searching for the truth. Now I won't say that this is the most original story, and I figured out who the traitor was fairly early, but I liked Will and Julie, his young charge/partner in crime, didn't find the dialogue too bad, and got show more swiftly caught up in the action. After ploughing through Jeffrey Deaver's cliche-ridden male fantasies, this was actually quite refreshing. What more can you ask for? show less

What an excellent start to a series!! Will Robie is a government assassin, and he's very good at his job. Suddenly he's the target and is caught up in a very dangerous cat and mouse game. No one is safe after talking to him and the answers are few and far between. Enter a 14 year old girl who seems to also be a target in the same game and the questions multiply. This book kept me guessing with every page, I literally couldn't put it down! Very fast paced, excellently tight writing, great descriptions without being overly verbose, all in all, excellent work. Continuing the series is not even a question, Baldacci is now on my list of must read authors.

In The Innocent, David Baldacci gives us a world class hitman who develops a conscience just as his employers - a subcontractor of the US military - decide to remove him. There are some lines even mercenaries are unwilling to cross and Robie refuses to kill a teenage girl who appears to be an innocent bystander. Instead, Robie takes it upon himself to protect her even when it might cost him everything that he holds dear: his life, his profession, all ties to his life.

Fortunately, David Baldacci is a master of action and suspense, so this implausible story comes alive. Robie while unbelievable is an engaging hero and we find ourselves rooting for him just as he takes on an impossible burden. The young girl is a typical teenager insofar show more as she's moody, difficult, and not fully appreciative of the risks that Robie takes - which helps the story along and endears her to both Robie and readers. Another winner by David Baldacci.

ISBN-10: 0446572993 - Hardcover $27.99
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (April 17, 2012), 432 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley. show less

Meet Will Robie - his job is to kill people. But he is not a criminal - he is an assassin for the government of the United States. And he never asks questions - an order is to be followed. Until he is sent to kill a woman and he finds her with children and an apartment that does not match anything that he expects. He decides not to take the shot until he does some checks and someone takes it for him. And he becomes a fugitive from his own people.

And while he is trying to escape from them, he starts uncovering the truth. If you are reading the book you expect the high level corruption that will be uncovered. The assassin with the golden hard is an old story and there is not much to make it different from similar stories. And yes, show more Baldacci manages to find a way - partially by building both the character of Will Robie (who goes by Robie) as a real person, partially by adding a diverse supporting cast - Julie starts as a victim and proves to be anything but, the special agent assigned to the cases manages to see what Robie sees in the world and the Blue Man ends up being an unexpected ally (despite the name). And of course, it is Baldacci - he manages to add a plot after a plot without making it too complex; he puts inside of a single novel more stories than some other authors use to write a whole series.

It is not a perfect novel. It is not a literary novel. But when you need a thriller, there are worse books to find. And there aren't too many authors working today that has the storytelling talent of Baldacci. Time to read more of the books about Will Robie. show less

What's it About?
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 show more 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.

What Did I Think?
Love this entire series. Good character development for the first novel in the series. There were a lot of characters to follow but in the end each one of them came together nicely. The only character that was a bit harder to understand was the daughter, Julie. She had had a difficult life with her drug using parents but she adored them anyway. She wasn't as believable as a 14 year old. She was just TOO smart and forgiving for a teen. All in all, I would have to say it was an excellent read. show less

Clasic US-centric patriotic crap, though not as bad as some others. What saved the book is that Mr Baldacci can certainly spin a riveting yarn.