SIMPLE GENIUS
David Baldacci
Grand Central Publishing
Thriller
ISBN-10: 0446580341
ISBN-13: 9780446580342

• Read an Excerpt

Something is very wrong at Camp Peary, a secure CIA facility in Virginia, and it’s not just the dead body found there. The victim, a physicist working across the river in a compound called Babbage Town, appears to have trespassed on sensitive ground. The CIA could have simply claimed national security as a reason for the shooting, and no one would have questioned their actions. So why has PI Sean King been hired to investigate and decide between suicide and murder? And what was the scientist doing at Camp Peary in the first place? His job was in Babbage Town, working on some highly secret computer applications that they claim could change the world. Camp Peary and Babbage Town seem to have nothing in common.

Sean’s partner, Michelle Maxwell (from SPLIT SECOND and HOUR GAME), is fighting big demons, big enough to take her down --- and soon. She has spiraled out of control in what looked like a personal death wish. While Sean is helping her to get well, he lands the Camp Peary case. It will not only pay some very demanding bills but will mightily test his skills, especially without Michelle to back him up.

Sean isn’t at Babbage Town long before he notices a whole lot of strange behavior and way more activity in the middle of the night than makes sense. While the scientists can theoretically work around the clock, there is just too much sneaking around and too many furtive glances to be explained as normal behavior. And couple that with his employer having second thoughts about his very presence in Babbage Town and Sean’s suspicion radar goes wild. Then another death occurs, and that tips the scales in favor of murder. A suicide and a fatal accident within that short a time span just doesn’t fly with Sean. But the question remains: Why?

He longs to bounce ideas off Michelle, but she is still grappling with her issues, at least one of which threatens to unravel her entire life at any time. Her explosive instability puts them both at high risk that could end with disastrous results. Sean resigns himself to waiting for her doctor to drive out the insidious sickness. He fears it may take a long time.

His wait is much shorter than he expects, because Michelle decides she can handle whatever is eating at her and heads down to join her partner. Not only does she find Sean working on some thorny problems, while thoroughly annoying some folks in high places, but the victim’s autistic daughter needs special attention. After all, her father is gone and her entire universe has been turned upside down. Not a good scenario for a savant.

As a nasty storm is brewing in the area, Sean and Michelle finally decode the clues they have uncovered and implement a plan to solve the murders, for they have come to the conclusion that they both most certainly are murders. But the motives are almost too fantastic to believe.

With links to foreign countries, clandestine meetings and post-9/11 jitters all wrapped up into a blockbuster plot, David Baldacci’s SIMPLE GENIUS is no simple read. Just a great one.

   --- Reviewed by Kate Ayers

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