I am in awe of David Baldacci --- not just because of his writing skills and masterful plotting, but because of the seemingly tireless pace he has set for the novels he produces each year.

So reading MERCY, Baldacci’s latest thriller featuring FBI agent Atlee Pine, gave me a sense of comfort because I knew I was in good hands. Mercy is Atlee’s twin sister, who she has not seen in over three decades. It is a wonder that Atlee is able to operate at such an elevated level in her job when locating Mercy consumes her every waking moment.

"MERCY is classic David Baldacci. It’s full of heart and great thrills, with an intricate plot that only he can conceive."

As the book opens, Atlee is thinking to herself that coffins and bodies are not supposed to be retrieved. They should stay right where they’re planted, at least until a dying sun lashes out across space and bids farewell to all on earth. This merely represents how Atlee and Carol Blum, her administrative assistant at the Bureau, are leaving no stone unturned or coffin exhumed in their efforts to locate Mercy. Atlee takes advantage of her father’s toys to assist in her quest, which include a Porsche and a private jet.

Just as we are settling into their search, we are suddenly thrown into a completely different storyline --- one that does not seem to have any correlation to the plot. We are taken to an underground MMA/fight club scene where a tall and quite intimidating woman, Eloise “El” Cain, is preparing to deliver a beating on her opponent. It will not require Sherlock Holmes-like deduction to recognize that El might very well be Mercy. To that end, we can now strap in for the rest of the ride as Baldacci spins us a tale that hopefully will have a happy ending, with a long-awaited reunion thrown in for good measure.

The problem for El is that she is mixed up with some extremely dangerous people. During a skirmish, she ends up killing the brother of Peter Buckley, a really bad dude who knows that El is to blame, even if it was unintentional. Buckley will stop at nothing, and putting El in the hospital is not enough. He wants to put her in her grave. Because the search for Mercy is so personal to Atlee, her investigation becomes intertwined with El’s current situation --- and it isn’t long before she becomes Buckley’s next enemy.

MERCY is classic David Baldacci. It’s full of heart and great thrills, with an intricate plot that only he can conceive.