Long Road to Mercy

Atlee Pine has been enduring a nightmare for the past thirty years. Her twin sister was kidnapped from her bedroom by an unknown assailant. Atlee and her sister Mercy were sadistically toyed with by the thug before he ran off with Mercy. Atlee stumbled in the years following the kidnapping but straightened out to become a Special Agent with the FBI. She has decided to confront a serial killer who fits the M.O. of the kidnapper. After a spine-tingling face-off at the maximum security fortress leaves Atlee unnerved but with no real answers, a mystifying case comes her way. A mule has been found dead at the Grand Canyon with initials carved in its body. The rider has gone missing. The challenges posed by the natural landscape of the Canyon is imposing enough. Those pale in comparison once the case gains more clarity, bureaucracy starts closing doors and Atlee’s career is in the balance.

David Baldacci’s Long Road to Mercy is a top to bottom page-turning thriller. Atlee Pine is a bruised and battered heroine that garners the interest and respect of the reader. The action is always lurking around every corner and one is never left wanting. The plot is character driven and altogether worthwhile. Must read of 2019.