End Game by David Baldacci (Will Robbie #5)

I already had my eyes on the book End Game by one of my favorite authors, David Baldacci, when the publisher asked me if I want to review it.

Did I want to review the book? I left my previous read unfinished, downloaded End Game from Netgalley and started reading. It went that fast! And, as usual, David Baldacci didn’t disappoint. I got hooked on the story from the very first page.

For anyone who hasn’t read this series yet (what are you waiting for?), Will Robbie is a hitman. A fearless assassin who never misses his target.

Except, in this latest book Will Robbie is asked to do something that it’s rather alien to him: to investigate the disappearance of his boss, Roger Walton, also fondly called Blue Man.

First of all, he’d rather be dealing with a bunch of terrorists than … investigate. he’s a hitman, for crying out loud, not a cop. And second, he is paired with Jessica Reel of all people, the one who kinda broke his heart recently. The one person whom he actually loves, but who decided to take an op in Irak rather than be with him.

So the two go to a very remote part of Colorado, a small town where neo-nazis, rednecks, and cults feel and are quite at home. Blue Man is from that very same town, and it’s the place where he retreats to every year for a few days to go fishing. Except during this year’s trip, he vanished without a trace. And it’s Robbie and Jessica’s job to find him before he disappeared for good.

Both Robbie and Jessica are exceptional assassins. Jessica is one of the best snipers around. So at least they are not helpless during their search for their boss. But what they uncover in the small town of Grand is on a whole other level of crazy.

In Grand, the two are joined by two locals, Sheriff Malloy and Deputy Sheriff Bannon, who have already started working on Roger’s disappearance, although without much success.

The joint investigation puts them in the crosshairs of all the many fringe groups that made their homes in the area. They get to meet all sorts of interesting (and shady) people along the way, many who have lots of buried secrets they’d not want to get out. And this means that even if some people are innocent of Blue Man’s disappearance, one way or another, everyone wants the feds gone, for some seriously good reasons.

The story was action-packed right from the start. With Will Robbie, you don’t get to do a leisure, relaxed reading. With all the fringe groups out there, the red herrings were plenty and sorting the chaff from the wheat seemed at times impossible.

And let’s just say that the ending came as a major surprise. I did not see the bad guy coming at all. Although, now in retrospect, I do remember having a sort of “jolt” moment at some point during an interaction with that person, a feeling I casually dismissed. My loss.

The characters were all well fleshed out, even the bad guys. David Baldacci really went deep into everyone’s motives and reasons and you could almost see into their very soul (as foul as it sometimes was).

This book was an absolute thrill to read. Robbie and Jessica’s relationship is complicated and I can’t wait for the next book to see how it will all resolve.

End Game by David Baldacci
Series: Will Robbie #5
Published by Grand Central Publishing
Published 2017
Genres: Thriller
Source: Review Copy
Also by this author: King and Maxwell, No Man’s Land