Leafing Through Pages - The Fallen (Amos Decker #4)
First posted on WordPress here.
For review of all books in the Amos Decker series, go here.
Stars: 3 / 5
Recommendation: It is still a well-written and engaging story, even though it leads to unexpected roads. Definitely not fast-paced since a lot of redundancy and droning goes on. Somehow Baldacci still managed to keep the reader gripping to the tale. That is what this makes readable!
The Fallen is the fourth book in the Amos Decker series by David Baldacci and originally published on April 17, 2018.
The stories in this series center on Amos Decker, a detective turned private investigator who has an excellent memory, that he doesn’t forget anything and can recall things from his past and personal experiences and also everything he heard or read about in history. His condition - hyperthymesia and synesthesia - is due to the helmet-to-helmet collision with opposing team player on his very first NFL game, that almost killed him. He was revived twice which caused his brain to retain memory; and also see world in a kaleidoscope of colors and numbers. He uses his skills to catch killers as a detective first and later as a private investigator.
Amos is in Baronville, a Rust Belt town in Ohio, visiting Alex's sister and her family who recently settled there. There is nothing rusty there, especially when Amos stumbles into a double murder and there had been four other murders. Again despite FBI's reluctance Amos and Alex stay back to investigate thus uncovering decades worth of hatred, solving a cold case of double murder and also exposing the opioid ring that was slowly taking over the Rust Belt.
We get to see the inner turmoil that Amos faces day in day out and still strives to find the truth making him more humane. This time Alex and Amos are forced to work with DEA Special Agent Kate Kemper.
This is not a simple tale as it seems leading Amos Decker down a path that opens doors to unexpected avenues. There is still a lot of paraphrasing and repetitive scenes and scenarios that we could have gotten away with it and still have a decent story. It is unusual for Baldacci’s books since I read a few of his novels in a different series. Perhaps to show Decker's synesthesia and hyperthymesia, he had to take this approach.
Decker still remains a fat agent as he describes himself. He continues to be very human with real emotions as opposed to having a god-like figure and overtly rich as shown in many TV shows. This was the one of the saving graces that made me give 3 stars. I see a lot of football euphemisms included in the plot and also different plays that they use on football.
As the books proceed we see that Amos struggles with his ever changing memory. Although he seems to regain his perfect memory still.
It is still a well-written and engaging story, even though it leads to unexpected roads. Definitely not fast-paced since a lot of redundancy and droning goes on. Somehow Baldacci still managed to keep the reader gripping to the tale. That is what this makes readable!
Spoiler Alerts:
Plot Reveals:
1) Police Force in Baronville - Officer Will Curry;
2) Harper and Melvin are on vacation in this plot.
Sub Plots:
1. FBI Joint Task Force - Special Agent Ross Bogart; “Alex” Jamison, FBI consultant.; Todd Milligan;
2. Amos Decker’s family and friends: His dead family - Cassandra “Cassie” his wife, Molly his daughter and Johnny his brother-in-law; he has two sisters too with spouses and kids.
3. Alex's family - sister Amber and niece Zoe Mitchell