The Edge

I ordered The Edge as soon as I'd finished the first book in the series, The 6:20 Man, last month. The first book kept me guessing and had a hero who wasn't quite who I'd expected him to be. I couldn't really see how the book would turn into a series, given the odd circumstances that had resulted in our hero, Travis Devine, stumbling into the centre of a complex and lethal plot, but I wanted to find out.

I dived into the audiobook of The Edge as soon as it arrived and had finished it by the following day. It was good solid entertainment. The plot had lots of twists. There was lethal violence at regular intervals from the opening scene onwards. The rural coastal Maine small-town setting felt authentic and seemed well-researched and Travis show more Devine continued to surprise me from time to time by demonstrating a level of empathy that somebody like Jack Reacher would never be capable of.

I think the strongest part of the book was the plot. The twists weren't gratuitous. The situation really was complicated. There was a suspect pool of people it was easy to be suspicious of. There were lots of secrets to be uncovered and, at the centre of it all was a beautiful, talented-but-damaged young woman for our hero to protect. The plot's pacing kept the tension high. The disclosures were subtle and partial enough to help me enjoy speculating about who the bad guys were without feeling either spoonfed or tricked.

As with The 6:20 Man, the audiobook version, of The Edge uses one main narrator with others being pulled in t to speak the dialogue of some of the main characters. This gives a lot of the benefits of a 'full cast' performance without either the annoying sound effects and music that are often added and without needing to cut away anything that isn't dialogue.

https://soundcloud.com/hachetteaudio/the-edge-by-david-baldacci

Even so, I didn't enjoy The Edge as much as The 6:20 Man. Some of that may be the typical second book in a series problem of having lost novelty but having not yet gained significant backstory. Some of it was that, in this book, Devine has gone from a man following a path or atonement that gets him involved in a plot for personal reasons to being yet another patriotic action hero who kills people in foreign countries on behalf of a shadowy quasi-legal government agency. This isn't the kind of hero I normally end up with any sympathy with. To me, they usually come across as psychopathic, government-sponsored terrorists who have better weapons and more resources than most.

Devine managed to keep m interest because of his surprising mix of one-man killing machine and sensitive millenial investigator skills. When he's in combat mode he becomes an efficient killer. When he leaves combat mode he feels no remorse. When he's interviewing people he doesn't bully, he de-escalates conflict, he listens carefully and he shows both insight and empathy. I guess this makes him a Millenial killing machine with Emotional Intelligence to match his combat readiness.

Devine's status as an agent of the State means that, from the start of the book, people are out to kill him. Fortunately, Devine is better at killing than they are or the book would have been very short. I felt quite ambivalent about this aspect of the book. Some of it helped the plot but the plot would have been strong without it. Devine as a killing machine changed the tone of the book, making the violence feel gratuitous and making me feel like a voyeur.

This effect was amplified by the way David Baldacci writes his action scenes. The violence is described with clinical accuracy. The focus is on competence, not emotion. This is a killing-is-a-discipline-with-science-behind-it pitch. We focus on how Devine does what he does but not on the bloody mess he leaves behind.

This contrasts with the descriptions of how our hero interacts with the young woman he is attracted to He goes from competent and clinical to awkward and naive. Some of that is charming but not entirely credible. The biggest contrast for me was that the (many) scenes of violence in the book are shown in vivid detail, the one sex scene in the book is a straight fade to black.

One reason the Devine as Killing Machine didn't capture my imagination was the clunky language that David Baldacci uses to describe it. For example, instead of "He shot the man in the head, killing him", we get: "The shot struck him cleanly in the head and the round stayed there after destroying an irreparable amount of the brain's soft brain tissue". Did we need the 'irreparable amount'? The man died. It doesn't get more irreparable than that. Then there's the 'the brains' soft brain tissue." That's one more brain than that sentence needed. This clunkiness woke up my inner-grumpy-old-critic, which always makes it more difficult for me to enjoy a book. show less

"The Edge", by David Baldacci, is the second in the A 6:20 Man series. I thoroughly enjoyed the 1st in the series, and "The Edge" certainly did not disappoint. The novel continues with the exploits of Ex-Army Ranger, Travis Devine. He now works for a "secret" government agency. His next assignment finds him in the small town of Potter, Maine, where CIA operative, Jenny Sikwell, was murdered. Her cell phone and laptop are missing, and the concern is that the information on these devices will end up in the wrong hands. However, as he works undercover in this small town, nothing seems as it should be. One mystery turns into another, and bodies are starting to pile up. Will Travis be able to solve the mulitple mysteries before it's too late?

The return of Travis Devine, the 6:20 Man, in 'The Edge' delivers a gripping thriller set in a small coastal town in Maine. The murder of a CIA operative sparks a riveting narrative, blending espionage with the complexities of tight-knit communities. Devine's analytical mind takes center stage as he navigates through layers of secrets, deception, and hidden agendas. The novel's strength lies in its unpredictable twists and well-drawn characters, creating a suspenseful atmosphere that keeps readers engaged from start to finish. 'The Edge' is a rollercoaster of intrigue, leaving readers eagerly anticipating every revelation.

4.5⭐️

In the second installment of David Baldacci’s The 6.20 Man series Former U.S. Army Ranger Travis Devine is tasked with solving the mystery behind the murder of a CIA operative Jennifer Silkwell in her hometown in Putnam Maine. Her laptop and phone are missing, which raises national security concerns. Travis’s handler has a close personal connection with Jennifer's family, which also makes it personal. Posing as a special investigator with Homeland Security, Travis collaborates with local law enforcement in finding the killer. But a small town has many secrets and people aren't too welcoming to outsiders and local officials extend their hospitality only up to a point. As Travis investigates the Silkwell family, Jennifer’s show more siblings, and the townspeople, it is evident there is more to Jennifer’s murder than meets the eye. Travis uncovers a possible connection between Jennifer's murder and past crimes (and coverups) committed in the area and soon discovers that there are forces at play that would resort to any measures to keep secrets buried.

When it comes to intricately plotted, action-packed page-turners, David Baldacci seldom disappoints. The Edge is no exception. Baldacci weaves a consistently paced, suspenseful plot with great attention to detail and more than a few suspicious characters and secrets that keep you immersed and guessing up until the very last page. I really liked the protagonist and his approach to crime-solving. There is a relatively large cast of characters in the fold, but at no point is the narrative difficult to follow. There were a few segments in the narrative that were seemingly unrelated to the case, which might have been inserted foreshadowing future events in the series. Overall, The Edge by David Baldacci is an intense absorbing read that I thoroughly enjoyed. The ending indicates a thrilling third installment in the future. Needless to say, I can’t wait!

It should be noted that although The Edge is the second book in a series, it can be read as a standalone.

Many thanks to the publisher for the gifted copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. The Edge was published on November 14, 2023. show less

This is the second novel in Baldacci's The 6:20 Man series. Its protagonist is former Army Ranger Travis Devine who now works for the U.S. Office of Special Projects. His new case leads him to a small town in Maine to investigate the death of CIA Agent Jenny Silkwell. Upon arrival he already notices that there is something wrong in town and that the townspeople do not like strangers like him around. The Silkwell murder investigation by local police shows many inconsistencies and leaves a lot of questions. In his investigation, Devine stumbles upon other mysterious deaths in town that have officially all been ruled accidents or suicides. Devine is lied to, shot at, kidnapped. Will he be able to survive and solve the case? And what will show more he find out along the way?

The novel is a page-turner and has everything that you would expect from good crime fiction. I like the protagonist and his back story as well as the other characters in this novel. As usual, Baldacci delivers. 4 stars. show less

The 6:20 Man is back, dropped by his handlers into a small coastal town in Maine to solve the murder of a CIA agent who knew America’s dirtiest secrets—can Travis Devine uncover the truth before his time runs out?
Travis Devine was a former Army Ranger who finds himself working for a covert government agency hunting down international criminals. We first met and got to know Travis Devine in the first book The 6:20 Man, which I would recommend that you read first so that you have a better understanding of Travis. Now we find him on a co>mmuter train headed to a small town in Maine. He's spent the past couple of years working for Emerson Campbell, and now Campbell has asked Travis to do him a favor.

CIA agent Jennifer Silkwell has been show more found dead in her hometown of Putnam, a small village in Maine. In spite of being located on the coast, the town is suffering from the lack of tourism so you would think that there's not much going on. Travis finds that things are indeed "gong on" but might be covered up... and questions aren't being answered, such as "was she killed because of her job or something from her personal life?". She had told her mother she was going home to take care of some "unfinished business"...but didn't say wat that unfinished business was. Travis finds from the minute he arrived that he isn't the most welcome visitor the small village has ever had. He has to deal with the two local cops who are NOT at all pleased to have him interfering in their case... and the story that he is being told by the person that found the body doesn't make any sense. It quickly becomes obvious that something a lot more sinister is in the works...something that has ties to the past and a ruthlessly vicious event that occurred more than decade ago.

The story moves at a good pace until about the last 20% of the book, when things start to really speed up and you start to run out of suspects. Overall...what could you expect? Afterall, It's David Baldacci. I thought that there were some things that could have used a bit more explanation...but it was a typically enjoyable read by a fantastic author. show less

I enjoy most Baldacci titles and this one was no exception. I did somewhat prefer the first one because I felt Devine had a legitimate reason to be where he was. This one, he's sent because his superior wants the case looked into. The story did grow on me and I finished it in 2 days. I didn't guess the villain--or at least not fully if you take the view that there was more than 1. There's also another arcing villain that we don't know as much about as yet.

There's quite a body count--some that occur before Devine enters the case and some after. There's the sex scene (non-graphic, barely described) between Devine and Alex (f) that seems the norm for this genre. Time will tell if that relationship continues in future books (as hinted at show more the end) or disappears/fizzles. show less