Mace Perry is in prison, desperately attempting to keep at the absolute peak of fitness, and despair, although tempered with a little hope, is spurring her on. Mace used to be a cop but after she was kidnapped, drugged and taken by criminals on a series of hold-ups, she was stripped of her badge and imprisoned for two years. In jail, she is subjected to all kinds of physical indignities and humiliations. Before she can be subjected to one final bout of abuse, Mace is rescued by the DC Chief of Police, her sister Beth.

Roy Kingman works for the law firm of Shilling & Murdoch. He gets to work early and goes to the fridge to get some milk for his coffee, but instead finds the dead body of Diane Tolliver, another partner with his law firm.

Mona Danforth, interim US attorney for the District of Columbia, hates both Mace and Beth and was largely responsible for putting Mace in jail. Mona’s current prime ambition is to get the former cop back behind bars. Mace, though, wishes to solve a major crime and, on the strength of that, get her police badge back.

The murder of Diane Tolliver seems to be an ideal opportunity for Mace, so she attempts to get in on the investigation and her path crosses that of Roy Kingman. Mace, mistress of public relations, asks him if he killed Diane.

I didn’t enjoy this opus as much as I have Baldacci’s previous works. I didn’t think the characterisation particularly convincing. Mona Danforth is more of a caricature than a character. I almost expected her to twirl invisible moustachios and hiss: “Not so fast, my pretty!” Kingman is just a bit too good to be true, as is the golden bond between the two sisters.

As to the villains, Baldacci has previously written about villains in high places, so perhaps this lot are not to be marvelled at.

The narrative didn’t flow quite so smoothly as the author’s prose usually does. Perhaps he was not quite as comfortable with this protagonist as in previous works.

I just hope subsequent books see a return to better form. – Macmillan, $32.99