The Guilty

Will Robie, Book 4

By: David Baldacci

Narrated by: Kyf Brewer

Will Robie escaped his small Gulf Coast hometown of Cantrell, Mississippi, after high school, severing all personal ties, and never looked back. Not once. Not until the unimaginable occurs. His father, Dan Robie, has been arrested and charged with murder.

Father and son haven't spoken or seen each other since the day Robie left town. In that time, Dan Robie - a local attorney and pillar of the community - has been elected town judge. Despite this, most of Cantrell is aligned against Dan. His guilt is assumed.

To make matters worse, Dan has refused to do anything to defend himself. When Robie tries to help, his father responds only with anger and defiance. Could Dan really be guilty?

With the equally formidable Jessica Reel at his side, Robie ignores his father's wishes and begins his own desperate investigation into the case. But Robie is now a stranger to his hometown, an outsider, a man who has forsaken his past and his family. His attempts to save his father are met with distrust and skepticism...and violence.

Unlike the missions Robie undertook in the service of his country, where his target was clearly defined, digging into his father's case only reveals more questions. Robie is drawn into the hidden underside of Cantrell, where he must face the unexpected and possibly deadly consequences of the long-ago choices made by father and son. And this time there may be no escape for either of them.

©2015 David Baldacci (P)2015 Hachette Audio

Very heavy

Although I liked getting background on Robie's past, it was heavy and depressing to hear.

Close, but no cigar.

The story got my attention and held two thirds of the way through. The ending was disappointing. Performed with really bad southern accents.

Our country needs you, Will Robie!

The plot line is available in the publisher's summary as well as Audible and Amazon reviews here, so I will discuss other things.

Fantastic book. I tried to listen to it in one day, but well, you know. Baldacci is a master writer. Even when he ventured into fantasy or Christmas themes, he was top-notch. He has created several wonderful men and women (Oliver Stone, King and Maxwell, John Pullman, and Jessica Reel and Will Robie) who are regular people with extra-ordinary training, experience, and skills. These skills come at a great price and those with them are people we might be afraid of but who are the very ones we turn to in times of great trouble or injustice.

You cannot become a soldier, a sniper, a fighter, an assassin, a killer without some trauma to your soul, your psyche. When someone does it on his own, we call him a psychopath, a sociopath or a serial killer. But when backed by a government, we call him a hero. Yet, the trauma is still there. In WW1 it was called shell shock, but not much help was available. After Viet Nam it was called PTSD and psychiatric and emotional helps started being investigated and offered. Today the stigma of trauma's effects is somewhat reduced. Some people can heal just through reconciliations, but others require more in-depth psychiatric intervention.

This book is about PTSD and how various people develop under the trauma and then react to it. It is about abuse, reconciliation, and love. Since Will Robie is a good man, he is not unaffected by his career. In this story he finds that his skills are compromised, and he must find a way to deal with a mistake that happened, and then find a way back to himself. Thomas Wolfe said, "you can't go home again" because the home you left is not what is there when you go back, not only because YOU are different. The people at home are also different. This is what Robie learns in this book.

There is plenty of Baldacci action, plenty of skill shown by Robie and Reel, and the whole thing is complicated and surprising. If this is your genre, then The Guilty will not disappoint. If you haven't read the first 3 books, then do that first. You will come to love Will Robie as a hero, a fighter, and a good man.

Why change narrator half way through a series

Ok first of all idk where you folks live but people from the south do not talk the way they were portrayed in this book. No one says "I got me this here gun" it doesn't happen not since 1897 or so anyway. Now how hard is it to keep the same damn narrator? It really screws with the whole experience when the main character changes voice in the middle of the damn series. Do better. The story was on par. Good book. Maybe David should have spent a little time in Mississippi and Alabama where I live and done a little research on local dialects before he wrote this one.

Shocking ending

This was an excellent listen and was hard to turn off when RL interfered! The characters were realistic and the book just flowed. Highly recommend!

Even the best clandestine operative is still human

I loved the Decker series and Robie is even better. The backstory on Robie wasn’t as heavy as the exploration of what might happen in small town America. Estranged military father softened with old age is the only logical foundation for Robie and it was executed well. His lost love, turning out the way she did, that was a wild turn.

Someone mentioned it was irritating that the two best operatives in the United States are narrowly escaping attacks from everyday citizens and I didn’t see it that way. They escaped mercenaries hired by a billionaire, presumably excellent, and a psychopathic serial killer who while not explained, was likely highly intelligent and contemplative. I think it was well written, real and Robie didn’t lose but they had to catch up to someone planning heinous crimes for 20 years in a matter of days.

Excellent book, excellent author, wish they’d make some movies

Good story

I really like the Robbie books. Always a good listen and the reader does a great job of making the characters come to life.

Suspense and twisted

I enjoyed the story. I like the build and portrayal of characters and location. I can imagine being there watching the mystery be revealed.

What a story!!

What a well written book! The book had me captivated from beginning to the end! An enjoyable read!!

if heading is optional why won't you let me submit

I love the book I love the author and I love the narrator it was a very good book in my opinion