The Target

February 24, 2014
At the start of bestseller Baldacci’s tense third thriller featuring CIA hit man Will Robie (after 2013’s The Hit), Earl Fontaine, a terminally ill Alabama death row prisoner, plans one last killing that will personally affect Robie and his fellow agent, Jessica Reel. Meanwhile in Washington, D.C., the U.S. president authorizes an operation to assassinate a foreign leader. Evan Tucker, the head of the CIA, recommends Robie and Reel, whose recent exploits have earned them the CIA’s highest medal, for the job. When that mission is scrubbed, Robie and Reel end up attempting a dangerous incursion into North Korea to rescue a couple of prisoners from the notorious Bukchang labor camp, a move that results in North Korea deciding to retaliate against the U.S. on its own territory. In unsparing detail, Baldacci depicts the brutal conditions in the North Korean camp, in particular their impact on 25-year-old Yie Chung-Cha, a prisoner groomed as a deadly assassin. Agent: Aaron Priest, Aaron M. Priest Literary Agency.

June 30, 2014
Baldacci’s new thriller features Will Robie and Jessica Reel, secret agents licensed to kill by the U.S. president. Their officious superior hates them, but they’re just too darned good to dismiss. The novel unfolds in a segmented but connected series of their adventures, several of which lead to a dangerous incursion in North Korea and involve a ferocious hit woman. Aiding and abetting Baldacci’s characters are narrators McLarty and Cassidy, two total pros who have collaborated on other recent Baldacci audios. Here, the former is given the lion’s share of work, narrating the novel and, using minimal shading, providing the voices for Robie (usually calm and collected), the president (unyielding, with just a hint of self-doubt), the head of the CIA (combative, sour, fearful), among others. Cassidy supplies Reel with a steely self-confidence, shifts to a halting Asian accent for the infamous hit woman, and uses a similar but higher-pitched accent for the assassin’s young ward. Bottom line, McLarty and Cassidy get their job done as successfully as Robie and Reel. A Grand Central hardcover.

Ron McLarty and Orlagh Cassidy are a great team of narrators in this lightning-paced thriller. More exciting adventures and plenty of violence are in store for trained assassins Will Robie and his partner, Jessica Reel, even though some doubt their ability to follow orders. McLarty's performance is heartfelt and empathetic, and Cassidy's warm, low voice takes the hard edge off of Jessica's character. Cassidy's use of pacing and accents adds both drama and character to the wide variety of other female characters, including North Koreans Min, who is 10 years old, and her savior, Comrade Yie. Together, the narrators pull the listener into the plot's many twists and turns. S.C.A. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine