I’d already written off  David Baldacci as not nearly as good as Koryta, Rankin, Silva and Michael Connelly. 

So why bother?

He’s super popular but not all that good a writer.

For some reason I tried Baldacci’s 2019 book One Good Deed and was pleasantly impressed.

It’s surprisingly and refreshingly simple.  Slower.  Cleaner.

It’s 1949. When war veteran Aloysius Archer is released from Carderock Prison, he is sent to Poca City on parole with a short list of do‘s and a much longer list of don’ts: do report regularly to his parole officer, don’t go to bars, certainly don’t drink alcohol, do get a job — and don’t ever associate with loose women.

The small town quickly proves more complicated and dangerous than Archer’s years serving in the war or his time in jail. Within a single night, his search for gainful employment — and a stiff drink — leads him to a local bar, where he is hired for what seems like a simple job: to collect a debt owed to a powerful local businessman, Hank Pittleman.

Soon Archer discovers that recovering the debt won’t be so easy. …

The 4th and last book (2009) in the Lincoln Perry series is somewhat like the rest.

Great plot. Lincoln unlikeable as ever.

Alexandra Cantrell, daughter of a notorious Mafia don, and her husband, Joshua, set up a house for paroled murderers.

Only Koryta dreams up things like this.

Parker Harrison served fifteen years for murder but claims Alexandra’s intervention saved his life. Now he wants to find her–and he’s not the only one.

Lincoln Perry takes the job.

I’ve now read all 5 of St. John Mandel’s books.  All excellent.

As usual, Lola jumps forward and backward in time.  No author does this more skillfully.

• Last Night in Montreal (2009)
• The Singer’s Gun (2010)
• The Lola Quartet (2012)
• Station Eleven (2014)
• The Glass Hotel (2020)

“Emily St. John Mandel nails it with The Lola Quartet.

She had me from page one, when Anna, a 17 year old with a new baby and $120,000 in cash which clearly does not belong to her goes on the run.

I loved this tale about what not to do after high school.

It’s the story of four flawed members of a high school jazz band after they graduate, lose contact and disperse to follow their dreams,dreams which one by one melt away as they each struggle and falter in a world where doing the right thing is never as clear as it sounds.

Each is connected to Anna’s colossally bad decision whether they realize it or not, and it eventually forces them back together ten years later, to the story’s dramatic climax. …”

–Kris Kleindienst, Left Bank Books, MO