Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the ARC.
As usual with this author, the writing is excellent; the dialogue flows well and conveys the intensity with which his new character Atlee Pine tackles a possibly world-ending investigation. From the apparently benign beginnings of tracing a missing person from the bottom of the Grand Canyon, the contemporary storyline weaves through governmental and super-power plotting, and along the way Atlee loses trust in her Federal organisation and teams up with her secretary Carol Blum to find out exactly what is going on. Throughout, the writing really captures the essence and atmosphere of this intriguing story; the vastness, dangers and beauty of the Grand Canyon; the partnership between Atlee and Carol and their clandestine operations and, not least, Atlee's determination to discover the truth - not only for this investigation, but what did happen to her sister?
A real page-turner, and very nicely and thoroughly concluded.. Can't wait to see what she gets up to next.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Pan MacMillan for an advance copy of Long Road to Mercy, the first novel in a proposed series to feature FBI Special Agent Atlee Pine.

Atlee Pine is called to investigate a murdered mule and a missing person in the basin of the Grand Canyon. Not one to shirk her duties she starts to investigate tenaciously and soon uncovers more than she bargained for, putting both her and her assistant Carol Blum’s lives in danger.

I thoroughly enjoyed Long Road to Mercy which is a convoluted tale of governmental chicanery and good triumphing over evil. I would love to say that the plot is absolute nonsense but with the current administration nothing is completely beyond the unimaginable so Mr Baldacci has taken recent events and created a scenario that could arise, complete with some very nice touches, and produced a well written and imagined thriller. It held my attention from start to finish with some good action scenes, some very scary scenes of government agencies in action and a plot that encourages the reader to keep turning the pages to see what is coming next.

Atlee Pine is a kickass protagonist with great skills. An interest in weightlifting and MMA gives her physical strength and survival skills and being 5’11” she is as strong as any man. Mr Baldacci writes that he wanted to create a strong female protagonist but is making her some kind of Amazon the right way to portray a strong woman? I don’t know but it doesn’t seem quite right to me, the couch potato, fortunately she is also smart and resourceful. At the same time as investigating the mule she is dealing with her own problems. Twenty nine years ago her six year old twin sister, Mercy, was abducted from their home and Atlee was left seriously injured. Recently Atlee has recovered her memory of those events and suspects that serial killer Daniel James Tor was the perpetrator so she has started visiting him in prison to find out what happened to her sister. This will be an ongoing thread in the series or to quote the title, a “Long Road”.

Long Road to Mercy is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for this advanced copy of the newest member of the Baldacci "family". Atlee Pine , FBI Agent not to be messed with (a cross between Lara Croft and Jackie Chan!!), is the main character along with her sidekick Carol Blum in this intriguing tale set in the stunning surroundings of the Grand Canyon, It is really fast paced and an extremely well written and thought out story. The attention to detail is first class as always. Looking forward to the next adventure with Atlee Pine. I have no hesitation in recommending this book. Another winner and a great addition to the David Baldacci collection.