Dream Town by David Baldacci—the third outing of Aloysius Archer—finds the WW-II veteran and Private Investigator welcoming 1953 in the company of Hollywood hotshots, thanks to his close friend and upcoming actress Liberty Callahan. During the evening, the pair meets Eleanor Lamb—an acquaintance of Callahan and a successful film writer—who seems to have reasons to fear for her life, and hires Archer immediately upon knowing his profession. Before the night is over, Archer finds a dead man inside Lamb’s house, gets hit on the head by someone, and his new client is nowhere to be found. As Archer starts searching for Lamb, he gets drawn into the glittering world of films where drugs, sleaze and violence lie just beneath the veneer of respectability. Nothing is as it seems in the Dream Town and Archer is in for an intense ride where, rather than solving the case, staying alive itself will take all his strength and smarts.

In Dream Town, Baldacci has recreated with tremendous authenticity the Los Angeles of the fifties, the glitz of Hollywood, and the shadowy underbelly of the City of Dreams with historically accurate descriptions of places and people. Smart, tough and good-looking, Archer's character has all the ingredients of a classic PI. Other characters like Archer’s boss Willie Dash, ex-PI Jake Nichols, the beautiful Samantha Lourdes and the antagonists are well crafted too. The plot of Dream Town is briskly paced right from the start until the action-packed climax. On the downside, the pace of the narrative is hampered somewhat by some repetitive descriptions of locales and attires. Also, there are just too many characters in this novel—especially female ones—for the reader to keep track of until well into the final quarter, which robs some of the fun.

In short, Dream Town is a highly entertaining work by the acclaimed storyteller with a lot more to like than dislike, and I look forward to reading more of Archer’s adventures. My humble suggestion to the author for the future novels would be to keep them low on descriptions, which would make them leaner and a lot more appealing—just like Aloysius Archer.

I wish to thank Pan Macmillan, and David Baldacci for my e-ARC through NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

This is turning into a memorable series as this is now the third Aloysius Archer PI novel and perhaps the best.

I say this as by now we are becoming more comfortable with his character as it develops and more aware of his strengths and indeed his foibles.

He is dogged, brave, intuitive and determined with a strong sense of doing what is the right thing and acting as honourably as his profession allows.

This time it is Los Angeles and the film studios that come under Baldacci's periscope and he paints a wonderfully detailed picture of the goings on and shenanigans that took place.

Never less than exciting, this is an exceptionally good book by an exceptional writer.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for an advance copy of Dream Town, the third novel to feature PI Aloysius Archer, set in Los Angeles in early 1953.

Archer is out with his friend, Liberty Callahan, on New Year’s Eve when he is approached by Eleanor Lamb. She thinks someone is trying to kill her and wants Archer to investigate. Later on that night he goes out to her house to check on her, trips over a dead body, gets a blow to the head and discovers she is missing. Determined to investigate Archer puts his life in danger trawling through the good and the bad in Los Angeles.

I thoroughly enjoyed Dream Town, which is a complicated thriller with a tense atmosphere. I found it addictive in the picture it paints of the town and its inhabitants at that time, basically sleazy. This gives the novel a hard boiled edge with Archer a fittingly noir detective. The novel is told entirely from his perspective and this, again, fits the scenario.

The plot is complicated with all sorts of interconnecting characters and motives, double crosses, twists and lies. I won’t say I didn’t understand it all, but I definitely needed to pay attention to keep up. When I look back at it, it seems to be an amazing feat by the author to have woven such an intricate and sprawling novel in a way that seems logical and makes sense. And it still finds time to take potshots at the sexism of the time, the studio system and police corruption, even the mob’s stranglehold on Las Vegas gets a mention.

It is Archer who holds the novel together. He is a dogged detective with a bull in a china shop mentality, ask questions and see what shakes loose. Unfortunately in this case it seems to be violence that shakes loose, so he and his partner, Willie Dash, find themselves in some tricky situations.

This is fun novel that is highly entertaining, so I have no hesitation in recommending it as a good read.

The movie hey days of the studio system. A missing woman and a dead body. A tale of twists and turns and near misses. David is a master story teller and this book meets his usual high standards.

This is the third book in the Aloysius Archer series by author David Baldacci. Archer is a war veteran and now private investigator.

Set in 1952 Los Angeles, screenwriter Eleanor Lamb is convinced someone is trying to kill her and wants to hire Archer to protect her. Archer is soon in the thick of the action when on a visit to Eleanor Lamb’s house stumbles on a dead body and knocked unconscious. To make matters worse there is no sign of Lamb and he is now hired by one of Eleanor’s friends to investigate her disappearance.

This is well written and full of action and has Archer mixing with the rich and famous as well as the criminals. A good read but I didn’t enjoy it as much as the previous books in the series.

I would like to thank both Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

The second book in the new series from David Baldacci. Set in the 1950s, it provides plenty of atmosphere from then with a modern story maker's delivery.

Baldacci never fails to capture the reader and keep them teased and misled with his trusts and turns, always drawing the clues together in one neat parcel by the end of the book.

If you enjoy a good old detective adventure story, then Baldacci and his character Archer are the ones you must read.

Thoroughly entertaining.

It's 1952 in L.A and Archer, Liberty and Dash are back in another installment from David Baldacci.
My review may be a little biased as I've been a huge fan of Baldacci's works for more years than I care to remember.
His ability to spin a yarn is second to none and Dream Town is no exception.
From the glitzy show business side of L.A to the sleazier underbelly strap your selves in for another great read.
Keep them coming Mr Baldacci.

Dream Town in the third in this series arc featuring Aloysius Archer. Once again the usual classy and satisfying thriller from Baldacci. The attention to the detail of the time, the early 1950s, is staggering. This is a riveting read as we follow Archer trying to find out why screenwriter Eleanor Lamb has vanished. I adored the appearance of his platonic (!) friend Liberty and also PI boss/partner Dash. While this is the usual outstanding read from this author, for some reason it didn't grip me as much as the last two. I think that's down to my preference for thrillers set in the modern day. So no fault of the author, but it's why I can't give it five stars. For lovers of old school 1950s Hollywood, the movie system and the mob-run Vegas it will be a fabulous read.