📖 Publication Day Review ~ The 6:20 Man by David Baldacci

 

Macmillan
4 August 2022

My thanks to the publisher and Laura Sherlock PR for my copy of this book

Every day without fail, Travis Devine puts on a cheap suit, grabs his faux-leather briefcase, and boards the 6:20 commuter train to Manhattan, where he works as an entry-level analyst at the city’s most prestigious investment firm. In the mornings, he gazes out the train window at the lavish homes of the uberwealthy, dreaming about joining their ranks. In the evenings, he listens to the fiscal news on his phone, already preparing for the next grueling day in the cutthroat realm of finance.

Then one morning Devine’s tedious routine is shattered by an anonymous email: She is dead.

Sara Ewes, Devine’s coworker and former girlfriend, has been found hanging in a storage room of his office building—presumably a suicide, prompting the NYPD to come calling on him. If that wasn’t enough, Devine receives another ominous visit, a confrontation that threatens to dredge up grim secrets from his past in the Army unless he participates in a clandestine investigation into his firm.

This treacherous role will take Travis from the impossibly glittering lives he once saw only through a train window, to the darkest corners of the country’s economic halls of power…where something rotten lurks. And apart from this high-stakes conspiracy, there’s a killer out there with their own agenda, and Devine is the bullseye.

📖 My Review..

Travis Devine travels to work on the 6:20 train every morning. Deep in thought he glances out of the window to see a beautiful young woman take a skinny dip in a pool and therein starts a journey which will see Devine immersed in the high octane world of financial skullduggery. An ex-army veteran Devine knows how to look after himself and even though his self imposed exile working as a financial analyst for a prestigious finance company is mind numbingly boring, things are about to become a whole lot livelier when the body of a co-worker is found and Devine gets inadvertently drawn into an untidy NYPD investigation. 

With an exciting new protagonist, this high action thriller hits the ground running with a complex and volatile murder mystery which sees Devine pitting his considerable wits against a series of villains who seem determine to drag him into the investigation. However, leaving no situation unchallenged is something Devine does with serious aplomb and by bringing the shady dealings of Manhattan’s financial district to life there is never a moment when the story doesn’t pull you in. Occasionally, there were times when I had to suspend belief, after all this is fiction, however, the story kept my attention and I found, towards the latter part of the story, that  I turned the pages faster to see where it would all end. I wasn’t disappointed 😉

The 6:20 Man is a clever, sophisticated and entertaining thriller, with more than enough twists and turns to keep you guessing and with a likeable lead character who I rather hope we will see more of in future novels. Whilst this is a standalone thriller, the ending certainly lends itself to this being the start of an exciting new series.

🍺Best read with.. a cold beer and slices of pizza

About the Author

David Baldacci is one of the world's best selling thriller writer. He has sold over 150 million copies worldwide and his books are published in over 45 languages. A former trial lawyer with a keen interest in world politics, he has specialist knowledge of the US political system and intelligence services, and his first book, Absolute Power, became an instant international bestseller with the movie starring Clint Eastwood a major box office hit. He has since written more than forty bestsellers featuring most recently Amos Decker, Aloysius Archer , Atlee Pine and John Puller, David is also the co-founder, along with his wife, of the Wish You Well Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting literacy efforts across the US. David lives in his native Virginia.

 Twitter @davidbaldacci #The620Man

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