Dodging FBI officials and some of the scummier folks seeking to stop their progress, Pine and Blum uncover that there may be a plot that puts America in great danger. Thirty years later, the only agent assigned to the FBI’s Arizona Resident Agency at Shattered Rock, she is responsible for the protection of the Grand Canyon. 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.

Aside from reinforcing Atlee's previously demonstrated fighting abilities and her willingness to use them, plus her FBI badge and her gun, to beat guys bigger and stronger than she is, the anecdote had no bearing on the plot/storyline whatsoever.

But Pine had never allowed herself the time or opportunity to dig deep enough into her psyche to prove that theory true or false. Atlee’s twin sister, Mercy, was abducted from their bedroom over thirty years ago, and Atlee has spent every day since wondering what happened to her.

Baldacci's plotlines here might sound a trifle far-fetched here, until you look at the gloomy and dangerous state of US politics and the global machinations at play in the world today, at which point it all seems scarily possible. The mystery mule and disappearance of people were very suspenseful until I found out the whole story behind it and scratch my head, why? She can have no idea as to how deeply this will blow her world apart as she is warned off looking further into the case by her superiors in the FBI or face suspension. Atlee and her secretary, Carol Blum (who by the way I loved, a no nonsense woman in her sixties, she is intelligent and feisty) decide to go rogue. As I read, I was reminded of another series character: Jane Hawk, the feisty heroine conceived by another favorite author, Dean Koontz.

With tattoos on her body that serve as constant reminders of Mercy, Atlee visits Tor in ADX Florence high security prison in Colorado, aware that it is highly likely he is going to play mind games with her, but she doesn't care, she has to find out what happened to her sister. Pine is a loner happy to operate within the Bureau in a single agent office out near the Grand Canyon. She could be one of the Bureau’s top criminal profilers, if she didn’t prefer catching criminals in the vast wilderness of the West to climbing the career ladder in the D. Almost making Olympic status in weight lifting her character comes across as real and believable when she has to kick major butt.

In FBI Agent Atlee Pine, he has envisioned a new kind of heroine, forged in the fire of trauma and driven by a rare kind of strength. Way over the top with a story which would have been better placed as a James Bond plot (and we know how bad the Bond films were before Daniel Craig came along or Sean Connery I might add). So, there’s more political manoeuvring and game playing than I guess I was expecting but I really liked Atlee.They are also super fit, with lots of muscle and no fat (and are hardcore gym enthusiasts), have “no heart”, and love being on their own. In this, the first Atlee Pine adventure a trekking mule is brutally slain and the tourist who was riding it has gone missing, feared dead. Her pursuit of this case led her into some extremely dicey and dangerous situations that revealed a lot about Atlee, how she thinks, reacts and reasons.

The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. In total, David has published 49 novels for adults; all have been national and international bestsellers, and several have been adapted for film and television. Atlee’s pretty sure she now remembers seeing him in their bedroom when she was just 6yrs old but worries a little that she might be wrong. Her off sider in this story is also a woman, and an older one whose usual position is as her assistant in the office.Atlee Pine was six years old when a kidnapper snuck into the room she shared with her twin sister, used a random nursery rhyme to select his victim, and left with Mercy. And even thought she wears blouses, skirts, and pumps, she’s got steely determination and fierce loyalty to Atlee. In fact, it may be just the first clue, the key to unraveling a rash of other similar missing persons cases in the canyon. I hope David Baldacci's hard at work on Agent Pine's next adventure, because I can't wait to dive into it. The Grand Canyon was a stunning location for the book to be set and Baldacci's descriptions were wonderfully vivid.