Amos Decker would forever remember all three of their violent deaths in the most paralyzing shade of blue.It would cut into him at unpredictable moments, like a gutting knife made of colored light. He would never be free from it.
Description:
Well, I guess if you are still interested in this book after the first sentences' promise of "violent deaths," you are a thriller lover like I am. David Baldacci's newest crime novel, Memory Man, introduces Amos Decker, a man whose brain was jostled by a thunderous hit during the first play of his professional football career. The hit left Decker with a mangled brain that now remembers everything. Not really a photographic memory but more like a DVD that can be run back, stopped, and studied in detail for any event that took place in the years that followed.
He joins the police force and becomes a detective, valuable for his memory and powers of observation. But after returning from a long stakeout one night, he finds his wife and daughter murdered in his home and the bottom drops out of his life. Leaving his police job, he chooses to drift around and even be homeless for awhile, barely eking by. But eventually circumstances draw Decker into a local high school shooting that left seven students and teachers dead.
Decker decides to become involved with the incident as his mind uncovers tiny clues to the murderer and the motivation that link the school shooting and his own family's deaths. Soon he finds cryptic notes left behind by the murderer, goading Decker into action, hinting that Decker himself is responsible for the killer's motivations.
Decker is a complex man, dealing with many physical and mental demons. His mind does not compute social skills or relationships which doesn't endear him to colleagues, but he is dogged in his commitment to bring the killer of his family and those at the high school to justice. The winding road he follows, always one step behind the murderer, is a bloody one to be sure and not for the fainthearted reader.
But for those of us who enjoy complex crime novels and can tolerate criminal investigations that never linger on gratuitous descriptions of violence, Baldacci provides one of the best in Memory Man.
He joins the police force and becomes a detective, valuable for his memory and powers of observation. But after returning from a long stakeout one night, he finds his wife and daughter murdered in his home and the bottom drops out of his life. Leaving his police job, he chooses to drift around and even be homeless for awhile, barely eking by. But eventually circumstances draw Decker into a local high school shooting that left seven students and teachers dead.
Decker decides to become involved with the incident as his mind uncovers tiny clues to the murderer and the motivation that link the school shooting and his own family's deaths. Soon he finds cryptic notes left behind by the murderer, goading Decker into action, hinting that Decker himself is responsible for the killer's motivations.
Decker is a complex man, dealing with many physical and mental demons. His mind does not compute social skills or relationships which doesn't endear him to colleagues, but he is dogged in his commitment to bring the killer of his family and those at the high school to justice. The winding road he follows, always one step behind the murderer, is a bloody one to be sure and not for the fainthearted reader.
But for those of us who enjoy complex crime novels and can tolerate criminal investigations that never linger on gratuitous descriptions of violence, Baldacci provides one of the best in Memory Man.
If this book interests you, be sure to check out:
Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood
True story of the murder of the Cutter family by two drifters. Capote does a thorough investigation and interviews with the murders, witness, and law enforcement officers to present the complexities behind this shocking crime and the pursuit and capture of the perpetrators. (previously reviewed here)
Sjowall, Maj and Wahloo, Per Roseanna
Ultimate police procedure novel of Martin Beck and the Swedish murder unit as they slowly, deliberately try to unfold the identity and murderer of woman washed ashore. Absolutely the finest in the dogged approach to solving mysteries. (previously reviewed here)
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