BOOK REVIEW: The Forgotten

David Baldacci introduced a new protagonist, Army Special Agent John Puller in Zero Day and I wanted to learn more about this special investigator, plus it was a good read by an author that I usually enjoy. I picked up THE FORGOTTEN with the hope that there would be more information about the brother who is serving a life sentence in a federal prison for treason and the military hero father who is in a VA hospital with dementia. Only some questions were answered.

As is typical Baldacci, the book pulls the reader in with an action scene. This one  takes place on an oil rig off the coast of Florida’s panhandle. The “forgotten” of the title refers to the people who have been captured by slave traders and are smuggled into the United States by way of the deserted oil rigs in the Gulf. One man escapes from the long line of dispirited people by jumping into the Gulf of Mexico. Thus begins our introduction to the mysterious, and extremely focused, Mecho.

In the resort town of Paradise, Florida, an elderly woman mails a letter, returns to her home and is murdered. The letter was sent to her baby brother, John Puller Sr. a retired three-star general and the father of our hero, John Puller,CID. John’s aunt had hinted, strongly, that something was not right in Paradise and wanted to talk to John Jr.  

When John arrives in the beautiful beach town, he finds that he is the only person who believes that his aunt had been murdered and in the process of his investigation is pulled into the world hidden beneath the beautiful exterior of the town. His life becomes involved with the local mixture of characters as well as with Mecho and his hidden agenda.

This was not the best David Baldacci book that I have read. There are quite a few holes in the plot and many solutions that the reader has to “go along with”. There are times when John Puller seems to be too much of a comic-book hero. Although a large, strong man he is practically useless without his duffel bag and with the amount of things that he pulls out of that bag, it must is a wonder that he can carry it. (Batman’s belt seems much more efficient).  

For a protagonist that is going to be carrying a series, the author has not done a very good job of giving us a character that we will see grow. I am not saying that I will not read any of the follow up novels because I do want to know how John’s brother ended up in a federal prison and because David Baldacci is capable of better things. You can watch for more John Puller reviews in the future.