King and Maxwell

King and Maxwell by David Balcacci

Those who read David Baldacci knew exactly what to expect as soon as they saw the title of this book.  Neophytes might be slightly curious. Why would you name a book after its two protagonists?  Isn’t a more descriptive title about the story necessary?  Well, if you’re a fan, you understand. Baldacci has a lot of reoccurring characters in his various books. I think the “Sean King and Michelle Maxwell” books are my favorite.  A duo of private investigators who both used to be secret service agents.  He is good looking, athletic, handsome and single.  She is good looking, athletic, beautiful, and single. Yet apart from an odd uncomfortable innuendo or suggestive encounter, their relationship is strictly platonic.

While driving one day, the two encounter a scared teenage boy running frantically in the rain waving a pistol. Being good Samaritans, they stop and help, and discover the young man has just lost a military father who has been killed in the line of duty somewhere in the Middle East.  Or so he’s told.  So King and Maxwell get involved and start to uncover a labyrinth of lies and deceptions.  Like most of Baldacci’s thrillers, this one takes place in the realm of the government, and nothing is ever what it seems on the surface. Even the President of the U.S. is a minor character in this book.

On a macro level, I really enjoyed the book and found the story to be quite rewarding.  When one digs deep, however, one sees flaws. Baldacci sometimes struggles with writing things like characters talking to each other. Example: When Sean and Michelle have simple conversations about anything, they always use each other’s name in conversation.  When friends talk to each other, they rarely ever do this. So we read Sean constantly saying things like:
“What should we do, Michelle?”
“Let’s get something to eat, Michelle.”
“Take a left turn here, Michelle.”

This sounds like a silly complaint, but trust me, it gets quite annoying after a while.  Speaking of flawed character descriptions, it also seems a bit unnecessary (and silly) for Michelle to be referred to at times as a “slob”. This trait bears absolutely no relevance on the story. It just seems like every time they get in her car, it gives a reason for Sean to complain about an old banana peel on the passenger seat etc.   It just seems forced. It would be different if this trait somehow affected the action and the circumstances, but it really doesn’t.

What really brings this story down a notch is their friend Edgar. It seems Edgar is a bit of a wiz with a computer and finding out things via secret computer files that few have access. Anytime there’s a spot in the story when the author seems to get stuck on how to proceed, he uses the character Edgar as a cheat to advance the plot. Need to know the president’s limo route?  Let’s call Edgar! He’ll know!   Need to figure out who’s car is following them?   Let’s call Edgar! He can trace the license plate!  And so on. Without dear old Edgar, our heroes probably wouldn’t be able to have accomplished much.

Still though, this book is better than most out there, and whereas Baldacci will never be in the same league as someone like a John Grisham, his Washington government-crime stories mostly play out well, and are mainly enjoyable.  This one was a nice addition.