Redemption

Well, crap. There isn't another one for me to read yet. This book was far better than book #4. I felt like the mystery here made sense for the current times we're in. And, I like where they went with it. Melvin Mars shows up, which was nice since they are friends. I do feel like Amos really treated Jamison like crap though. They are supposed to be friends and he really didn't do that justice.

Detective Amos Decker discovers that a mistake he made as a rookie detective may have led to deadly consequences in this compelling Memory Man thriller by #1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci.
Decker is visiting his hometown of Burlington, Ohio, when he's approached by a man named Meryl Hawkins. Hawkins is a convicted murderer. In fact, he's the very first killer Decker ever put behind bars. But he's innocent, he claims. Now suffering from terminal cancer, it's his dying wish that Decker clear his name.
It's unthinkable. The case was open and shut, with rock solid forensic evidence. But then Hawkins later turns up dead with a bullet in his head, and even Decker begins to have doubts. Is it possible that he really did get it show more wrong, all those years ago?
Decker's determined to uncover the truth, no matter the personal cost. But solving a case this cold may be impossible, especially when it becomes clear that someone doesn't want the old case reopened. Someone who is willing to kill to keep the truth buried, and hide a decades-old secret that may have devastating repercussions. show less

David Baldacci, author; Kyf Brewer and Orlagh Cassidy, narrators
I adore the Amos Decker series! The novels about him are easy to listen to and/or read. The big reveal never comes until the very end, but as the story builds, the mystery is always intriguing and absorbing.
Decker’s family was murdered. His failure to protect them at that time still haunts him, so every year he returns to the town where it happened and visits their graves. When a convicted murderer obtains a compassionate release from a life sentence, because he is terminally ill, and confronts him there, Decker is surprised. The man asked him and his former partner, Mary Lancaster, to prove his innocence, which was highly unusual, since they had been responsible for his show more conviction. When the man is murdered before he has a chance to be questioned further, Decker wonders, had they sent an innocent man to prison for a murder he didn’t commit? He becomes obsessed with finding out if he had made a mistake because he and his partner had been rookies at the time, and it was their first homicide investigation.
As Decker and Lancaster begin in earnest to re-investigate the case, reevaluating the evidence, a many legged spider is revealed. It veers in several directions with possible criminal activity. It is often hard to tell who is guilty and who is innocent, as the various characters emerge, but in the end, many of the threads are knitted together and the place of each character in the mix is explained.
What seemed to be obvious facts to Decker and Lancaster, had turned out to be easy assumptions instead. Had he and his partner as newly minted investigators, jumped to conclusions in order to have a quick, successful conclusion to their investigation? As bodies pile up and tensions build, occasionally the dialogue gets a bit trite, but most often, it is to reveal a clue or two to the reader. The other problem with the novel is that at the end, there are still pieces of the novel that are not resolved, and one wonders if there is going to be another Decker mystery which will take up the hanging threads, sometime in the future. If there is, I will be sure to read it! show less

There are many layers of whodunit. The characters were better written and more interesting and the mystery here made sense for the current times. The tech and situation was up to date. As always, Decker varies from his FBI job and about half way through when you wonder if it's done and there's more book to read; the FBI eventually rolls in on his efforts...like they should have been there in the first place! I liked this one way better than #4.

Decker is visiting his hometown of Burlington, Ohio, when he's approached by a man named Meryl Hawkins. Hawkins is a convicted murderer. In fact, he's the very first killer Decker ever put behind bars. But he's innocent, he claims. Now suffering from terminal cancer, it's his dying wish that Decker clear his name.
It's unthinkable. The case was open and shut, with rock solid forensic evidence. But when Hawkins turns up dead with a bullet in his head, even Decker begins to have doubts. Is it possible that he really did get it wrong, all those years ago?
Decker's determined to uncover the truth, no matter the personal cost. But solving a case this cold may be impossible, especially when it becomes clear that someone doesn't want the old show more case reopened. Someone who is willing to kill to keep the truth buried, and hide a decades-old secret that may have devastating repercussions show less

There are few series or authors that I can use the superlative "spectacular' to describe...but David Baldacci and his Amos Decker character are certainly deserving of that distinction . Each book has brought Amos to the forefront more and more and made him someone you would like to know. Once he met you he would never forget you as that is his blessing or his curse, depending on how you look at it. Baldacci incorporates these wonderful characters into baffling conspiracies....He takes small-town America and captures both the good and the bad elements and blends them into a story that the reader will want to read again and again.

I was so happy to find an Amos Decker book I had missed! And what a story---frightening to see how it ties in so closely to the political situation in this country. I love the way Baldacci can introduce so many overlapping pieces of a beginning problem that just gets more and more complicated---short chapters make the story move along quickly. Because I was reading the book steadily it was easy to keep the characters straight...something I can see caused other readers problems trying to remember who was who.