The bearded and massively built protagonist—a former homicide detective turned private investigator turned police consultant—has a rare gift: he remembers everything and forgets nothing. Events, experiences, people, faces, names, objects, shapes, numbers, dates and places are permanently imprinted on his mind, the result of a collision on the football field when he was twenty-two years old.
The accident ruins Decker's professional football career but leaves him with a super autobiographical memory, the ability to recall virtually everything that has happened in his life.
If you were a student preparing for a Maths or History test, you would probably give anything to have Decker's gift.
If you were a student preparing for a Maths or History test, you would probably give anything to have Decker's gift.
(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)
In Memory Man, Decker puts his extraordinary perceptive faculties and deductive reasoning to good use by joining the Burlington Police Department, where he and his partner and friend, Detective Mary Lancaster, form a formidable team of investigators.
One evening, Decker returns home from work to find his wife, young daughter and brother-in-law murdered, his family brutally violated in the process. The tragedy sends his life into a downward spiral. He leaves home, gives up his job and drifts through life on the streets, largely indifferent to what becomes of him. Eventually, he manages to rebuild some semblance of a life as a reclusive private investigator, taking on minor cases, simply to survive. Meanwhile, the murders remain unsolved.
More than a year later, Decker is jolted back to reality by two extraordinary events: the appearance of a mysterious man named Sebastian Leopold, who confesses to the unsolved murders despite having a seemingly watertight alibi, and a carefully planned mass shooting at the local high school. His former boss, Captain Miller, persuades him to assist in the investigation into the shooting. Decker agrees, hoping it may finally help him uncover the truth about his family's deaths.
Decker joins his former partner, Lancaster, in the school library—the investigation's makeshift war room—with the FBI also on the case. But he largely works alone, much to the frustration of Lancaster and Special Agent Sam Bogart, bringing them in only after he has pursued a lead and uncovered something worth sharing.
What he uncovers over the next few days leaves him stunned: the person—or persons—responsible for murdering his family also orchestrated the killings of the students and staff at the school. Yet, even Decker's remarkable mental abilities fail to produce any face or name from his past that might explain the motive behind the crimes.
Amos Decker is one of the most unusual characters I have encountered in crime fiction. The tragedy has left him emotionally scarred and detached, but not devoid of empathy. His extraordinary mind makes him an effective investigator. Decker unravels most of the clues and assembles the missing pieces. Others on the case are largely content to follow his lead.
Memory Man is a well-crafted thriller with an unusual storyline and an intriguing hero. The novel's strength lies in its singular focus on Amos Decker, the Goliath-like protagonist who dominates the narrative from start to end, both as a grieving family man and a razor-sharp homicide detective.
In Memory Man, Decker puts his extraordinary perceptive faculties and deductive reasoning to good use by joining the Burlington Police Department, where he and his partner and friend, Detective Mary Lancaster, form a formidable team of investigators.
One evening, Decker returns home from work to find his wife, young daughter and brother-in-law murdered, his family brutally violated in the process. The tragedy sends his life into a downward spiral. He leaves home, gives up his job and drifts through life on the streets, largely indifferent to what becomes of him. Eventually, he manages to rebuild some semblance of a life as a reclusive private investigator, taking on minor cases, simply to survive. Meanwhile, the murders remain unsolved.
More than a year later, Decker is jolted back to reality by two extraordinary events: the appearance of a mysterious man named Sebastian Leopold, who confesses to the unsolved murders despite having a seemingly watertight alibi, and a carefully planned mass shooting at the local high school. His former boss, Captain Miller, persuades him to assist in the investigation into the shooting. Decker agrees, hoping it may finally help him uncover the truth about his family's deaths.
Decker joins his former partner, Lancaster, in the school library—the investigation's makeshift war room—with the FBI also on the case. But he largely works alone, much to the frustration of Lancaster and Special Agent Sam Bogart, bringing them in only after he has pursued a lead and uncovered something worth sharing.
What he uncovers over the next few days leaves him stunned: the person—or persons—responsible for murdering his family also orchestrated the killings of the students and staff at the school. Yet, even Decker's remarkable mental abilities fail to produce any face or name from his past that might explain the motive behind the crimes.
Amos Decker is one of the most unusual characters I have encountered in crime fiction. The tragedy has left him emotionally scarred and detached, but not devoid of empathy. His extraordinary mind makes him an effective investigator. Decker unravels most of the clues and assembles the missing pieces. Others on the case are largely content to follow his lead.
Memory Man is a well-crafted thriller with an unusual storyline and an intriguing hero. The novel's strength lies in its singular focus on Amos Decker, the Goliath-like protagonist who dominates the narrative from start to end, both as a grieving family man and a razor-sharp homicide detective.
Nice to see you posting again Prashant! I haven't read any Baldacci, though I know he is very successful. This sounds a bit too violent for me...
ReplyDeleteHello, Moira! It is good to be back though I'm trying to post as regularly as possible. I will be reading more of Baldacci, especially the Amos Decker series to see how his sleuthing career shapes up.
Delete