Simple Genius by David BaldacciMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
Jacket Blurb: In a world of secrets, human genius is power.
And sometimes it is simply deadly...
A three-hour drive from Washington, D.C., two clandestine institutions face each other across a heavily guarded river. One is the world's most unusual laboratory, whose goals and funding are a mystery. The other is an elite CIA training camp shrouded in secrecy. Now a man and a woman are about to run a gauntlet between these two puzzle factories, straight into a furious struggle to exploit a potentially world-shattering discovery--and keep some other secrets underwraps forever...
Former secret service agents turned private investigators Sean King and Michelle Maxwell have seen their lives splinter around them. Michelle lies unconscious ina hospital bed after a night of suicidal violence. And Sean is forced to take on a thankless investigation into the mutder of a scientist just inside the CIA's razor-wire fence near Williamsburg, Virginia.
Soon he is uncovering layer after layer of disinformation that shields a stunning world filled with elite mathematics, physicists, war heroes, spies, and deadly field agents. Amid more murder, a seemingly autistic girl's extraordinary genius, and a powerful breakthrough in the realm of classified codes, Sean soon learns enough to put his life at risk. Now more than ever, he needs Michelle--at her best--to help stop a conspiracy of traitors operating in the shadow of the White House itself.
From Michelle's courageous struggle to defeat her long-buried personal demons to a centuries-old secret that surfaces in the heat of action, SIMPLE GENIUS pulses with stunning, high-intensity suspense. The heroes of Split Second and Hour Game, David Baldacci's #1 New York Times bestsellers, are back--as you've never seen them before.
Read as an audio book.
Premise of the book was convoluted and pretty darn implausible - yes, yes, they all are implausible, but this more so than the rest. Sean and Michelle are short on work and funds. Michelle had a mental breakdown following the activities in book #2, and Sean drains the last of his finances to get her into counseling. While in the psych ward, she solves a mystery, declares herself cured and leaves to meet up with Sean. Sean begs work of his former lover, Joan, and in the process of investigating a murder ends up angering the CIA, FBI and DEA and uncovering a plot that reaches all the way to the White House.
I bounced off this installment in so many ways:
>>Michelle - a woman - having the mental breakdown rubbed me the wrong way. Why the woman? Why not Sean?
>>I became increasingly annoyed with Sean's need to protect Michelle. Hello, damsel in distress trope.
>>The Turing tie-in seemed far fetched.
>>The plot (plots?) was so overly convoluted from WWII POW's to CIA secret flights to people randomly firing shots across a river to "Codes and Blood!" to lets just randomly kill people and electronic spies that after a while my ability to suspend my disbelief...sank. Like a lead balloon.
>>The torture scene/chapter was just ludicrous and added nothing to the plot other than to injure our main characters.
>>And it felt like there were loose ends left dangling all over the place.
Ugh. This was a total mash-up of conflicting plots, weird connections, save the damsel, government conspiracy, espionage, gun fights and boat chases. The only reason I finished was because it was the only audio book I had at the moment...though a podcast might have been a better option.
Not my favorite in the series. I'll still read #4, but with some reservations.
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