From the Bookshelf of Around The World…

[close] Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. Catch a tiger by its toe.

It's seared into Atlee Pine's memory: the kidnapper's chilling rhyme as he chose between six-year-old Atlee and her twin sister, Mercy. Mercy was taken. Atlee was spared. She never saw Mercy again.

Three decades after that terrifying night, Atlee Pine works for the FBI. She's the lone agent assigned to the Shattered Rock, Arizona resident agency, which is responsible for protecting the Grand Canyon. So when one of the Grand Canyon's mules is found stabbed to death at the bottom of the canyon-and its rider missing-Pine is called in to investigate. It soon seems clear the lost tourist had something more clandestine than sightseeing in mind. But just as Pine begins to put together clues pointing to a terrifying plot, she's abruptly called off the case. If she disobeys direct orders by continuing to search for the missing man, it will mean the end of her career. But unless Pine keeps working the case and discovers the truth, it could spell the very end of democracy in America as we know it.

I have yet to find a series by this author that didn’t make me want to read more. David Baldacci’s new characters of Atlee Pine and her secretary, Carol Blum are going to be a force to contend with if future books are anything like this one. Atlee is a woman that the bad guys want to think twice about messing with. The only thing that I found a little difficult to make sense of was the past story line in the beginning and the rest of the book in the present since one had absolutely nothing to do with the other. Give this one a try if you liked any of Baldacci’s past series.