There are thrillers and then there are some. This particular genre has seen many worthy writers flaunt their literary prowess intertwined with some novel plots and amazing style of story telling. David Baldacci belongs to the new breed of writers who bring about a feeling of freshness into their works and in the process lends a totally different meaning to this genre.
I was plain sick and tired of reading the Crichtons and Ludlums and was eagerly scouting on the footpaths of Churchgate for a good book to bury my head into over a long weekend. After futilely turning over the flaps of about 30-40 books, the young lad tending the “open-air book store” “Highly Recommended” this book to me. As I settled down with the book, I knew even after reading the first few pages that this was going to be one of the best books I ever came across in a long time…
Luther Whitney is a professional burglar who has transformed simple burglary into a highly sophisticated art. Now into his sixties and in the twilight of his “career”, Luther plans one final break-in which will be the crowning glory, the undisputed jewel of all his heists spanning nearly 40 years. He manages to break into the house but just as he completes his job starts off the trouble. By a strange quirk of destiny, the President of the USA, Alan Richmond, picks that very night to bed the voluptuous young wife of the stinking rich owner of the house in his absence. Trapped behind a one-way mirrored cupboard door, Luther watches in disbelief as the President begins abusing the woman and before he can even realize what’s happening, the president’s two secret service agents blast their way in and shoot the poor woman to death as she tries to defend herself from the Prez.
A major cover up operation is launched by the Gloria Russel, the President’s Chief of Staff by obliterating all traces of the president’s presence in the house on that fateful night. In her hurry, she accidentally drops off an important piece of evidence that if found, could lead to irreparable damage to the President’s career. Being the only other “alien eye-witness”, Luther then finds himself being cornered from all sides – the President’s agents want to silence him forever and so does the grieving husband of the slain woman.
Members will lynch me in public if I so much as dare to tell what happens next. Letting the cat out of the bag at this juncture would be considered a “sin” on my part and I will therefore restrain myself from disclosing the rest of the plot.
The book more than lives up to it’s name. It deals with ordinary people who are unwittingly drawn into the whirlpool of a dangerous game – a game where the stakes are extremely high and the ultimate result is either life or death. It takes a holistic view of the whole political system of the US, with all its trappings of hypocrisy, avarice, undisclosed sexual fantasies and wild political dreams. On one hand is the determination of one old man to avenge the poor woman who was brutally shot for no fault of hers and on the other are the president and his close circle of staff, hell bent on tracking him down before he opens his mouth.
The plot is wonderfully narrated for most part but just as the reader starts sympathizing with Luther and even subconsciously begin egging him on to expose the whole affair, comes a huge shock. I literally had to read that particular page about 3-4 times to make sure that I had mot missed out an important line or two in between. It was only when I finished reading the book did I realize why Baldacci chose to put that triple-knotted twist as the turning point of the story. The ending of the story too is quite different from what one would have expected after having been fed on a staple diet of dizzying car chases or two deadly adversaries stalking each other in huge, deserted godowns.
If you steadfastly believe that a thriller novel ought to have secret agents, drug dealers and car chases in every other page, this one will be a huge disappointment. This was Baldacci’s first work and he’s really experimented with a lot of new ingredients. I’d strongly suggest you to remove all pre-conceived notions about thrillers from your head before you plunge into this one. Yes, the only common factor that it shares with other thrillers is in it’s ability to keep the reader riveted to its pages – from the first to the last. I had a giant killer whale of a time (sic!) reading this book and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was one GENUINE thriller that I got to read after a long time.
Here’s some trivia – the book was made into a movie about 5 years ago with the same name and starred Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, Laura Linney and Scott Glenn. It was co-produced and directed by Clint Eastwood himself. I didn’t get to watch the movie but I read somewhere that the latter half of the movie is a complete deviation from the original work. I’d still suggest reading the book, it’s worth every penny and second that you invest in it!