Simple Genius

March 26, 2007
Last seen in Split Second
(2003), former Secret Service agents Sean King and Michelle Maxwell have reached a crisis in their relationship in this less than compelling Washington political thriller from bestseller Baldacci. When Maxwell instigates a fight with the most intimidating bruiser she could find at a local bar and lets herself be beaten unconscious, despite her superior fighting skills, her partner suggests she voluntarily commit herself to a psychiatric facility. While Maxwell reluctantly undergoes treatment to find the childhood roots of her death wish, King probes the suicide of a scientist found on the grounds of Virginia's Camp Peary, a mysterious CIA facility. Both mysteries are fairly run of the mill, lacking the sharp twists and expert pacing that characterize Baldacci's fiction at its best.

There's nothing simple about SIMPLE GENIUS, a complicated novel involving murder, geniuses, and the CIA. The story marks the return of former Secret Service Agents Sean King and Michelle Maxwell, now in business for themselves. Scott Brick captures the excitement of this thriller with his unique pacing and style, which are perfect here. Brick even manages to sound somewhat feminine when he needs to be, and his voice for the Southern black gentleman is classic. The beginning of the novel is a story within a story, as Maxwell ends up institutionalized after inexplicably attacking a man in a sleazy bar. Everything comes together in a mysterious settlement for geniuses, where people are being murdered. There's a lot of heart in this work. M.S. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine