The Forgotten

Brutal subject matter; the trafficking of humans into America to be used as slave labor in various parts of the country. The story takes place on the panhandle of Florida, where the avenue for transporting the slave labor begins on American soil. They come from all over the world, the slaves, and they are shipped to abandoned oil platforms off of the coast of Florida, and from there, they are shuttled in small boats onto a desolate part of the Florida coast. It is awful. These people become prostitutes, cheap agricultural labor, and household help. There is much money being made at lots of levels in order to keep this network moving. Enter John Puller, checking on a mysterious letter that his aunt wrote about things not right in her little town in Florida. Before Puller gets there, his aunt is killed. The police determine it was an accident, but Puller thinks otherwise. He becomes a one man vigilante squad trying to find out what really happened to his aunt, and indeed, he intercepts the network of human trafficking. The perpetrators of these crimes against humanity are monsters and will stop at nothing to deter the interruption of this market. Puller runs across a woman who turns out to be an undercover cop from Colombia where many of the victims come from. He also teams up with an enormous man from Bulgaria who has a desire to interrupt this market. A fascinating, ugly story is told, many people are killed, and people arent who they say they are. A good read, disgusting subject.

This book has taught me to avoid mass-producer novelists like Baldacci, who has penned over 30 books by now. I enjoyed some of this other stuff, like Camel Club, but this one is garbage. The numerous 5-star reviews just go to show how easily impressed most people are today, and I can assure you that intelligent and discerning readers aren’t among those reviewers.

This is a hack job, full of childish writing and plot turns. Worst of all is this annoying profusion of 5- or 6 word sentences, seemingly thousands of them, which the author apparently thinks makes him cute or something. It doesn’t. Doesn’t make him cute. Sentences very short. Really annoying. Very boring. Should stop. Want a book full of this????

Its hard to believe that human trafficking happens in the United States, but this book testified that it is Alive and well in this Florida town ironically called Paradise.

Baldacci weaves a tale here about the character he invented in the previous book Zero Day . John Pullers elderly aunt has mysteriously died. And when he gets to Paradise, other seniors drop like flies. This book is riveting. Its hard to put it down.

Like other Baldacci books, previous characters make an appearance; and often minor characters in one book become major characters in succeeding books. In this book it is a one star female general named Carson. Therefore, for complete satisfaction, it is best to read Baldaccis character books in order.

Im in book 3 now of Pullers capers about his brother who escapes from prison: The Escape. I forgot to mention that his brother and father are in all 3 books. What a delight for readers that like sagas!

I love John Puller. But this novel is poor. It is as if the author David Baldacci is trying to set up Puller as a fall guy before his audience. Baldacci has a hit average of .100, or about one good book per ten. His problem is that after the initial 50 pages of introducing a decent plot revolving around interesting characters, the book always deteriorates. The reason is that at that point he introduces more characters so that the middle and end of the books become tedious dialogues. I haven’t been able to put down the last four of his novels for the first fifty pages, nor have I been able to read them beyond that point.

This, as opposed to the masters of the genre: JP MacDonald, Lee Childs, and Lawrence Block. I salute you, John Puller, but you’re working for the wrong guy.

I am new to David Baldacci’s fan club. I’ve read all of John McDonald’s Travis McGee and other books, John Sanford’s “Prey” series, James Patterson’s Alex Cross books, Tony Hillerman, Navada Barr, Sue Grafton; and, JA Jance’s Johanna Brady and JP Beaumont books, etc., and was given Baldacci’s The Forgotten.

Wow, from the first page I was hooked and couldn’t put it down. Quite a thrill ride, with enough surprises, complexities, character development and overall fulfillment of giving a great story that I can’t believe I hadn’t picked up on this really good author. Before I even finished The Forgotten, I loaded my Kindle up with most of Baldacci’s books in the John Puller series, and the first of two other primary characters. But, I had to begin with Zero Day, the first John Puller character book, which I also finished nearly non-stop, page turning. The Forgotten had several references to a previous assignment or previous work experience in West Virginia, that I had to read Zero Day. Just as good, just as fast, development of numerous characters and enough mystery that it kept me working hard to try and figure out what was the primary issue driving the all the intrigue. I like the current mystery writers that give the reader lots of clues to “help” us solve the crime, but keep us working to near the end. Unlike Sherlock Holmes, that without your brilliant, over-the-top, genius knowledge of chemistry, biology, mathematics, physics, medicine, etc., you don’t have a chance to solve the crime until Sherlock drops the bomb in you lap.

Baldacci’s success had eluded me and what a pleasant surprise that I have found several new worlds that he has created to explore. Thank you, David Baldacci.

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