A book review of ‘Zero Day’ by David Baldacci
The latest offering from David Baldacci is Zero Day. The novel boasts the introduction of a new character: John Puller, which is always exciting as character creation is one Baldacci’s biggest talents.
He has created some pure gems in the past whom I have enjoyed most notably the Camel Club and Sean King and Michelle Maxwell.
However, this time it turned out to be a complete bust. The character, John Puller, turned out to be almost exactly the same as Lee Child’s most famous creation: Jack Reacher.
And even more than that the entire book seemed to be a complete rip-off of Lee Child’s ‘Nothing to Lose’. And I don’t mean there were a few similarities here and there; it’s as if the entire premise, characters and plot have been copied and pasted.
So from that point of view it was quite a disappointing read. However, as usual, he did keep me sucked in and if you have never read any Jack Reacher stories, there shouldn’t be many draw-backs to enjoying this book.
The story centres on the murder of a family in the quiet, rural area of West Virginia. What complicates the matter is that murdered father has military ties, which brings in Puller, a war hero and US Army CID agent. Once he is on the scene the murders start to increase and he suspects something greater and more sinister is going on than just some random killings.
In spite of the Lee Child similarities I still think this is a good book, not Baldacci’s best, but still enjoyable. Although there are murders in the book it is not overly gruesome or violent and the focus is more on the investigation.
I’ll wait for the next John Puller until I make a final judgement on the character.
David Baldacci’s books
Absolute Power (1996)
Total Control (1996)
The Winner (1997)
Saving Faith (1999)
Simple Truth, the (1999)
Wish You Well (2000)
Last Man Standing (2002)
Christmas Train, the (2002)
Split Second (2003) King&Maxwell series
Hour Game (2004) King&Maxwell series
The Camel Club (2005) Camel Club series
Fries Alive! (2005)
The Collectors (2006) Camel Club series
Mystery of Silas Finklebean, the (2006)
Simple Genius (2007) King&Maxwell series
Stone Cold (2008) Camel Club series
Divine Justice (2008) Camel Club series
Whole truth (2008) Shaw&James series
First Family (2009) King&Maxwell series
True Blue (2009)
Hell’s Corner (2010) Camel Club series
Deliver us from evil (2010) King&Maxwell series
The Sixth Man
One Summer
Zero Day – John Puller series
The Innocent – Will Robie series
The Forgotten – John Puller series
Day of Doom
Th Hit (available April 2013) Will Robie series
