Amos Decker, the man who cannot forget anything, returns in David Baldacci’s sequel “The Last Mile.” In his new crime fiction thriller, Baldacci produces yet another predictable novel. Famous for his action-packed crime thrillers, Baldacci, in my opinion, serves his readers a weak, half-baked story plot that does not stray far from his original novel. Decker, who recently joined the FBI, comes across a case with an eerie similarity to his own past. Melvin Mars, a convicted murderer who is counting down his days until execution for brutally murdering his family, could possibly walk because a suspect has come forward and confessed to the murder. Decker takes it upon himself to investigate after seeing parallels between his own past and Mars’. However, when a member of Decker’s team goes missing, he begins to think there is a sinister plot here and he must use every ounce of brain power he can muster to save an innocent man from being executed. Baldacci’s mediocre plot took enjoyment out of reading this sequel and made me wish he had never written it. His writing seemed repetitive and dry, and I wished he had differentiated this book more from his others. Losing interest on the very first page, I had to forcefully make myself finish the book by bribing myself with candy after each chapter. If you are looking for an unintellectual, unoriginal crime thriller, Baldacci is the way to go.
