David Baldacci's 5th in the Amos Decker series is a brilliant and compulsive thriller with Decker back home in Burlington, Ohio, where his wife, Cassie, daughter, Molly and brother in law, Johnny, died. He is there to commemorate what would have been Molly's 14th birthday. This tragedy has driven Decker's fierce and implacable obsession to fight for justice. After earlier brain injuries, he has been gifted and cursed by hyperthesmia, which means he can forget nothing and synesthesia. At Molly's grave, a man meets him that he doesn't recognise but he knows his name, Meryl Hawkins, now released from prison and dying of cancer. Decker had led the investigation that convicted Hawkins of the murder of Don Richards and his 2 children and David Katz, who had dropped in to see Don. It was Decker's first murder investigation and the evidence against Hawkins appeared ironclad, but Hawkins proclaims his innocence, asking him to look again at the murders. Decker's original cop partner and friend, Mary Lancaster also has doubts about the original conviction.
Decker cannot bear living with the possibility that he helped to destroy the life of an innocent man, as he commits to reworking this cold case. Indications that he is on the right path begin with the stone cold murder of Hawkins. Attempts are made on Decker's life, and in a blood drenched case, every lead he has ends up dying as the bodies start piling up. As Mary is forced to recuse herself when her husband, Earl, turns out to be the alibi of a possible suspect, Blake Natty is appointed to lead the case from the police end, and he and his superior, Pete Childress, are determined that Decker takes no further part in the case and leaves Ohio. Decker is having none of this, relentless in his pursuit of the truth. He is joined and assisted by a familiar face and friend, Melvin Mars, a man who spent 20 years in prison and on death row in Texas, until Decker proved his innocence. Decker finds that old sins cast long shadows as he seeks redemption for his past errors as an inexperienced murder detective.
This is a fast paced, complex and compulsive thriller, well constructed, and packed with suspense and tension. Baldacci is an expert at drawing in the reader and keeping them hooked right up to the tense last pages of the novel. His protagonist, Decker, is an interesting and unusual character, trapped in past traumas with memories that will never fade away, he is slowly and surely being destroyed unless he can learn to shift direction and create stronger personal ties with his friends that roots him in the present rather than the past. This is a highly intense, thrilling and entertaining read with a diverse cast of characters, showcasing Baldacci's considerable skills in writing nail biting thrillers. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Pan Macmillan for an ARC.