Just average...
After recently reading "The Collectors" and "Stone Cold," I was really looking forward to this one by a brilliant and captivating writer. However, "Simple Genius" just didn't live up to Baldacci's potential. The book felt rushed and he definitely sacrificed quality writing for quantity in putting out another book so quickly.
In this convoluted thriller, Sean King and Michelle Maxwell must solve a murder at a top-secret government/research facility which just happens to be located across the river from a CIA training camp where mysterious happenings are obviously taking place- but under whose authority? With genius mathematicians, code brakers, spies and too many secrets around them, Sean and Michelle must figure out whom they can trust, and no one is who they seem. Meanwhile, Michelle is healing from an attempted suicide attempt so her shrink Horatio is conveniently called to her side to thicken the plot and attempt to help her and a young girl heal from their emotional wounds.
While the book was extremely fast-paced and kept me mildly interested, the novel was pretty weak and not well-written, so I can't recommend it. Rather, if you are interested in David Baldacci, I highly recommend some of his other books: "The Collectors," "Stone Cold," "The Winner," "Hour Game," "Simple Truth," "Total Control," and "Absolute Power," all of which are of a much higher caliber and each excellent reads.
