The Innocent

Putting the Thriller in Techno-Thriller

These days, it seems it's becoming more and more difficult to find a book that truly takes you by surprise. One which takes your expectations and then proceeds to completely blow them out of the water. I'll be completely frank; I absolutely loved The Innocent. David Baldacci set out to create an edge of your seat thriller and completely succeeded in every key area. The story follows Will Robie, an American covert assassin who knows how to get the job done. His life takes a surprising turn for the worse when his next target is actually an innocent victim. Upon refusing, he's targeted by people within his own organization and soon meets up with a fourteen year old girl, Julie, who's on the run for her own reasons. Their fates soon become intertwined as they find themselves in the middle of a grand conspiracy buried deep into the very heart of the American government. I've never heard of David Baldacci until now but his reputation clearly precedes him, the man knows how to make a great thriller. The book has a terrific plot; it's so exquisitely devised in such a manner that you can't help but marvel at the ingenuity that went into its creation. As the story begins to hit its stride early on, the reader soon finds themself consumed in a maelstrom of lies and deception. Seemingly no one can be trusted, and each frequent twist or clue adds even more depth to the overarching narrative. Eventually, everything that you believe is concrete, Baldacci takes and completely shatters into something else. These various revelations and surprises interwoven into the plot will keep you guessing to the very end and clamoring for just one more chapter. It's a story that's easy to comprehend yet so satisfyingly complex in its execution. It's also worth mentioning that Baldacci uses the tried and true `short chapter' format for his prose in order to keep the pace at an all-time high. This writing technique is a rather risky double-edged sword. It can either create the sensation of spee...