The Fix

By: David Baldacci

Narrated by: Kyf Brewer, Orlagh Cassidy

Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's Summary

David Baldacci's remarkable detective Amos Decker - the man who can forget nothing - was first introduced in the sensational number-one New York Times best seller Memory Man. Now Decker returns in a stunning new novel....

The Fix

Amos Decker witnesses a murder just outside FBI headquarters. A man shoots a woman execution style on a crowded sidewalk, then turns the gun on himself.

Even with Decker's extraordinary powers of observation and deduction, the killing is baffling. Decker and his team can find absolutely no connection between the shooter - a family man with a successful consulting business - and his victim, a schoolteacher. Nor is there a hint of any possible motive for the attack.

Enter Harper Brown. An agent of the Defense Intelligence Agency, she orders Decker to back off the case. The murder is part of an open DIA investigation, one so classified that Decker and his team aren't cleared for it.

But they learn that the DIA believes solving the murder is now a matter of urgent national security. Critical information may have been leaked to a hostile government - or, worse, an international terrorist group - and an attack may be imminent.

Decker's never been one to follow the rules, especially with the stakes so high. Forced into an uneasy alliance with Agent Brown, Decker remains laser focused on only one goal: solving the case before it's too late.

©2017 David Baldacci (P)2017 Hachette Audio

Critic Reviews

"This fast-moving mystery is a wonderful vehicle for narrators Kyf Brewer and Orlagh Cassidy. Brewer portrays FBI agent Amos Decker's quirky personality and investigative abilities with aplomb. Cassidy provides wonderful, unique personalities for Defense Intelligence Agent Harper Brown and Decker's roommate and colleague Alex Jamison, as well as various other female characters.... Well-developed characters and realistic dialogue help listeners follow the story, and the well-paced, adept vocal performances add to the intrigue." ( AudioFile)

The Fix

As of this writing, the Amos Decker Series by David Baldacci consists of five novels. The Memory Man, The Last Mile, The Fix, The Fallen, and Redemption. This is a review of all five in audiobook format.

You’ll learn in Book 1, The Memory Man, that Amos was a star athlete - played for the Cleveland Browns. A severe football injury results in Amos having extraordinary memory skills - in fact, he remembers everything as if it happened moments ago. He forgets nothing. This bizarre ability thrusts Amos into the role of an investigator for the government; he’s a valued FBI investigator on a special task force. Amos solves the unsolvable.

Each of the five books will stand alone; you don’t need to read them in sequence. But, if you plan on reading all five, start with Memory Man. This story gives the background of Amos and the horrible loss of his family. Subsequent stories will be more interesting for you with a more in-depth understanding of Amos Decker. Beware Book 1, The Memory Man, has some problematic audio issues that might have been corrected by this writing.

No sex, no language issues, clean reads. Don’t hesitate to give as gifts to anyone.

Typical of Baldacci, the stories are intricate mysteries, a few near-death events for Amos and his partner, much sleuthing and guessing. Narration is well done. Orlagh Cassidy reads the female characters throughout all five novels, male characters read by Kyf Brewer except Memory Man. Ron McKlarty reads this book. Personally, I prefer the McKlarty/Cassidy pairing, but either is fine. The transition between male/female voices is very smooth throughout. Baldacci books are almost like watching movies in your head, riveting stories. 😮

All five novels were published during the month of April in 2015, 16, 17, 18, 19 respectively, 11-13 hours of listening, released by Hachette Audio. Recommended.

33 people found this helpful

Very tedious

Started out with action on the first page. My expectations were high.
By chapter 20 I could no longer listen to the tedious dialogues and endless explanations of real estate, government interagency bickering, and NO action.

23 people found this helpful

Where is Ron Mcclarty?

New reader makes decker seem teenager. Bring back Ron Mcclarty for Pete's sake. He brought real meaning to the story. I don't feel that brewer brings the real Amos decker out

46 people found this helpful

How To Ruin A Guaranteed Best Seller

The only thing I have to say about this recording is that any Baldacci book is guaranteed to be a best seller, so why did Hachette pick poor readers to record the book. Orlagh Cassidy is Hachette regular, but I think she is highly over-rated as a reader. Kyf Brewer, in my opinion, totally misses the Amos Decker personality. He reads the book like a young adult novel.

The Baldacci story gets through, so if you are a fan, you can stick it out.

41 people found this helpful

Good, but the narrorater effort is weak.

I like the story but didn't like the narroration on this book. did they change?

33 people found this helpful

Watered down & boring.

After the other books in the series (and by this author) I was looking forward to this one and had preordered it months in advance. I did listen to the entire book. I'm like that... once started, I have to finish a book; there have only been 2 or 3 books out of thousands that I've never finished. But it was finished a bit reluctantly. I was thinking I could be listening to something (almost anything) else.

The author (treats his audience as if we are all in kindergarten, completely over explaining every scene and situation. Almost as if it were an outline for a movie or tv show script (the actor notes, not an actual script). While not the most intellectual thrillers, I'd felt the previous books kept the reader in some suspense. This is so poorly written I doubt anyone will be left trying to guess what's going to happen. I found myself wondering more than once if this was really the same author. Not only was the plot terrible, extremely predictable and, yawn, boring (the same overdone plot of so many recent movies & tv shows -this one wasn't even well done), but we hardly get to see much of Amos. I mean, he is still the main character but we don't get much of what is special about this character. Where are the quirks, what efforts is he making to improve himself (or not), where is his pain we can empathize with? Oh, it's all "mentioned" but just barley. You get just the briefest of glimpses with no follow up.

The plot is so spread out and there are so many side characters and sub plots everything gets very watered down. If you are hoping for a delicious cup of rich espresso you'll only be getting a cup of stale, over heated drive through coffee. Blech!

29 people found this helpful

Not the best Baldacci

I usually enjoy Baldacci, but this one was a struggle. The plot was good, but the characters were almost all unlikeable. I am also really tired of these narrators, especially the woman who only does southern, bitchy and immature, and sulky/weepy/whiny. Why are there so many sulky/weepy/whiny women in this novel? How many hours of sobbing women can anyone stand? Amos Decker is a jerk at least half the time and rarely likable.

40 people found this helpful

Female narrator

Didn't are for narration. Same voice with poor.attempt to disguise for all the women in the story. Liked her voice, just doesn't work for multiple rolls.

9 people found this helpful

good stuff

great story! and excellent performance! amos Decker is a great story line and Alex is cool too!

3 people found this helpful

Worst Baldacci novel ever

Between the painful narration and ridiculous plot this may be the worst book on Audible. I can't believe Baldacci wrote it.

15 people found this helpful