The Guilty (Will Robie series)

by David Baldacci

2016

Status

Available

Publication

Grand Central Publishing (2016), Edition: Reprint, 464 pages

Description

Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:After failing a critical assignment overseas, Will Robie must investigate a murder accusation against his fatherâ??but to save him, he'll have to face a violent and deadly fallout in this New York Times bestselling thriller. Will Robie escaped his small Gulf Coast hometown of Cantrell, Mississippi after high school, severing all personal ties, and never looked back. 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 Robieâ??a local attorney and pillar of the communityâ??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… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member satxreader
I've read Baldacci's novels before and really liked them but this is one of those where I really felt cheated out of hours of reading time I'll never get back. It was a great read and I was so hooked I couldn't put it down -- until I got to the "twist". So outlandish it was insulting and I felt
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like I'd been totally scammed by the author. Thank goodness for the library -- I'd be REALLY pi$$ed if I'd had to shell out money for this. I'm being generous with three stars because the first 95% was a real grabber. The ending ruined it for me, but I feel like I should give the author some credit for a really good setup at least. SO disappointed...could you tell?
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LibraryThing member lewilliams
The Guilt grabs you from the first page and doesn't turn you loose until the last. Plenty of suspense, plot twists, and intrigue to keep you reading.
LibraryThing member Olivermagnus
The Guilty sees the return of Will Robie and his partner Jessica Reel. This is the fourth book in the series featuring a team of CIA snipers and the one that expands on Robie’s backstory, much like The Target expanded on Jessica's. When an assignment goes wrong, Will is placed on leave and is
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encouraged to confront his past and the strained relationship with his father. Word comes to him that his father, Dan Robie, has been arrested for murder in the Gulf Coast town of Cantrell, Mississippi, a small town where everyone knows everyone else’s business.

His father is now a county judge and living in a huge mansion with his new wife and child. The man he is accused of killing, Sherman Clancy, was rumored to be having an affair with Dan Robie's wife. Will is also haunted by memories of his high school sweetheart, who he believes turned her back on him the night they were supposed to leave Cantrell for good. Joined by his professional partner Jessica Reel, they must unravel a web of dark secrets and deceptions that have been hidden for years if they want to save Robie's father.

My favorite part of this series is the relationship between Will and Jessica. They have a deep personal and professional trust and respect for each other. It comes off as both believable and compelling, and also provides some humor in the way they interact with one another. While The Target remains my favorite book in the series, this one has everything a fan would appreciate, including some twists and turns in the finale. I listened to the audio version, featuring Kyf Brewer and Orlagh Cassidy. In the previous three books of the series, the male voices were performed by Ron McLarty, and while I thought Brewer did a great job, I do prefer McLarty. Orlagh Cassidy is just plain amazing. She voices all the female roles, many of them with southern accents, and all the characters are easily identifiable.
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LibraryThing member labdaddy4
I normally have enjoyed every one of Baldacci's novels. They are faced paced with engaging characters. This was not a good read - very slow and I never did get engaged in the story. Disappointing.
LibraryThing member Judiex
David Baldacci’s novels grab the reader immediately and don’t let go.

In THE GUILTY, Will Robey, US Government assassin, accidently shoots a young girl when he targeted her father. Even though he had no way of knowing she was there, the event shook him so much that he doubts his ability to
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continue serving the government in that role any longer.
While trying to determine his future, he learns his father is in jail in Mississippi, jailed for murder. Will had left home more than twenty years earlier, when he graduated from high school. Since then, he has had no contact with his hometown or with his father. He decides to go back to Cantrell to find out what has happened, not only with his father but also with Laura, the girl he left behind.
He learns that his father was a well-respected judge, has remarried a younger woman, has a two-year old son who bears Will’s middle name, and lives in the much nicer home that used to belong to Laura’s family.,
Cantrell, Mississippi, is a small town where strangers are noticed immediately and, even if they used to live there, are treated with suspicion. The local gossip travels faster than anything similar in the media. Will’s arrival is met with suspicion and he is encouraged to leave.
While he is there, there are additional murders in the once-quiet area. Will’s mission becomes four-fold: Learning about his relationship with his father, finding out what happened to Laura, resolving his father’s situation, and avoiding becoming a victim himself.
I did figure out the killer relatively soon, though I couldn’t figure out a motive so I doubted my intuition. THE GUILTY has lots of twists and insight. Some of the characters are stereotypes. All in all, aside from the unnecessarily short chapters, which always make me lower my rating one level, the book is an excellent read.
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LibraryThing member jfe16
Disciplined professional assassin Will Robie has several problems, not the least of which is an unsuccessfully completed job and a father jailed for murder. Never mind that he and his father haven’t spoken in more than twenty years; Will, smarting from his inability to complete his mission for
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the government, heads to Mississippi to help his father and to find an answer for his own problems.

An edge-of-your-seat thriller, “The Guilty” is filled with unexpected twists and turns and strong characters. Will’s personal backstory, revealed bit by bit, reveals much about the choices he has made in his life.
The description of small-town Cantrell, Mississippi and its citizenry is top-notch, giving the story a strong sense of place. Readers will find it almost impossible to set this book aside until the final stunning reveal.

Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member Susan.Macura
Will Robie, one of my favorite characters created by this author, returns in a unique tale. While on assignment, for the first time, he fails. Coincidentally, at the same time he learns that his father has been arrested and charged with murder. Robie has had no contact with his father since left
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home as a teen. Are these two events related? Does Robie need to resolve one to solve the other? Will pal Jessica Reel be there for him? Baldacci never disappoints. There is lots of action, twists and turns in this tale where Robie seeks the truth about his father, his relationship with him and ultimately, himself. I am a huge Baldacci fan, and can’t wait for his next book.
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LibraryThing member LivelyLady
When Will Robie accidentally kills a child in his line of duty,, he becomes unable to function effectively. His boss tells him that his estranged father, a Mississippi judge, is being charged with murder. Will decides to go home and see his father. That leads to who done it and who is doing it
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mystery with lots of action and a surprise ending. I never saw it coming. Good read.
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LibraryThing member drlord
Have to admit, I'm a Baldacci fan and this book did not disappoint. The Will Robie series has gone beyond the public and has attached to his personal life. How does someone in his line of work deal with the issues or mistakes they make. I liked this book and am looking forward to the next.
LibraryThing member infjsarah
This was much better than the previous book The Target. It had a plot and red herrings. Robie leaves a trail of bodies a mile long and nobody blinks an eye but suspending disbelief is a requirement for many thrillers.
LibraryThing member phoenixcomet
I have to admit that the book kept me guessing as to who the killer was. However, in so many ways, I felt the ending was a cop out. Will Robie is a government assassin whom on his last job accidentally killed a child. After that, he cannot seem to focus on his target, seeing a little child in the
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way. His handler, the Blue Man, tells him that his father has been jailed for murder, and maybe it was time that he took a look at the past which he left 22 years before. So back to Mississippi he goes and right into a massive mess. Decent, quick read, just slightly disappointing at the end.
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LibraryThing member cacky
More of a crime novel as Robie aids in defending his father from a murder charge. Still Robie and Reel have plenty of opportunities to sue their special skills.
LibraryThing member Writermala
This book started out with a killing. It set the tone for the whole book - violence with a capital V. Yet, one wants Will Robie to kill, to be able to kill. WIll Robie loses his ability and takes an absence from his job to head to Mississippi where his father stands accused of murder. Will has not
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seen his father in two decades and there are a lot of unresolved issues between the two men including emotional and physical abuse. Will and his partner set about systematically trying to find an alternate suspect. Will they be able to? Will there be a lot of violence? Well, the answers are presented really well and in a fascinating manner in "The Guilty." One of Baldacci's better books.
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LibraryThing member AnnieMod
The 4th book in the Will Robie series is very different from the first three. For one - there is no killer that seems to have gotten bad but turns to be good. And there are no treats to the president or new countries to explore.

It starts normally - Robie is out on a mission but when he pulls the
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trigger, a child dies together with the target. And while he is still reeling, Blue Man tells him that Robie's father is arrested for murder - and then agrees to send our favorite assassin on a new mission immediately. Which ends up as well as expected - a second team needs to step in and Robie goes home to Cantrell, Mississippi.

22 years had passes since the day Robie had walked out from the town and the two men had not talked to each other since. So the wife and the 2 years old son are a surprise. As is the house the Robies are living in now - the old house of Will's sweetheart. And while our Robie is meeting ghosts from his old life and needs to learn some hard truths, his father Dan seem very guilty.

And then FBI show up with a story of a serial murderer. And more people die. And old secrets suddenly come to the front.

I would not say that I was surprised about who the killer ended up being - between the FBI details and Dan's reluctance to answer some questions, it was almost obvious. It was the connection between what else had been happening and our killer that came out of blue field - and stretched the suspense of disbelief. It fits the story but I do not thinking that Baldacci built up the story well enough to make it believable - it felt too surprising, almost artificial.

It is a weird novel for the series - not because of where it was set but also because the usual cast is missing - Julie is nowhere to be seen, Evan Tucker is missing, Blue Man is there as a human google and the person to show up and smooth lines now and then, Jessica shows up in mid-novel to help just when Robie is about to die. Had it been a standalone novel, I may have enjoyed it more actually - it serves as closing the backstory for Robie but it is a filler for the series and just does not fit with the other 3 novels. Still - if you had been reading the series, you should read it - some old stories do get closed and Robie's past get explained.

A warning: the old secrets are the stomach turning type - not that killing people was so nice in the previous novels but that one is more in line with Kellerman's style than the usual Baldacci style.
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LibraryThing member she_climber
The Will Robie series hasn't been one of my favorites just because there are so many Robie/Reachers in the world that it's just not fresh to me, and that type of character just doesn't really do it for me. But my husband likes these books so they are in my house and I will eventually pick them up,
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as I did with The Guilty.

The Guilty was probably my favorite Robie book to date. Maybe because we got to know more about him and his upbringing. However, that said, this story seemed to be all over the place. We had blackmailers, pedophiles, old money, white trash, serial killers, mafia types, and a hick sheriff just to name a few. It was like a kitchen sink of suspects and crimes for a little imaginary town of Cantrell Mississippi.

The ending of this book though, without giving anything away, was a big disappointment. The kitchen sink was clogged with all these crimes and suspects and in one fell swoop it was all explained away cleared up as if with a bottle of Draino. The type of ending that makes you sorry you spent so much time getting there.
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LibraryThing member DCarlin
Another enjoyable whodunit for David Baldacci with plenty of twists and turns to keep readers/listeners guessing. A small country town suddenly becomes the centre for a large number of murders. Who is charged with one of these murders is the catalyst for another former member of the community to
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return. From there on...the plot thickens. For those who. like me, listen to audio books, this is the first book which has employed a male narrator along with a female for female character voices. Makes the book so much more enjoyable to hear a women speaking the female lines.
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LibraryThing member EmpressReece
A Trip Down Memory Lane - 4.5 stars...

I'm a huge Will Robie fan and I always listen to the audio because Ron McClarty and Orlagh Cassidy always put on a fantastic performance, so I was really nervous to see The Guilty had a different male narrator, Kyf Brewer. Now he didn't 'wow' me like Ron does
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but he did a really good job which is saying a lot considering he had some pretty big shoes to fill.
 
In the previous book, The Target, we got to learn about Jessica Reel's past and family ties. Well in this book, we visit Robie's hometown of Cantrell, Mississippi and learn more about his family and childhood, much to my satisfaction. : ) His dad has not only been accused of murder but Robie has some issues to work out with his last mission.
 
As always is the case when Will and Jessica are involved, there is lots of action, a high death count and numerous surprise twists. If you're in the mood for a high octane thriler, this is a great series to try and if you like audiobooks -Go for the Audio!! You won't be disappointed!
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LibraryThing member buffalogr
This is a change from the assassin role to more of a Grisham-like lawyerly Southern pulp role. The characters are familiar, except of course, the new ones...one of which is the bad guy in the whodunit. Unrealistic; however, the use of CIA resources in a domestic role. The end was quite fun to
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listen and kept me into the book.
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LibraryThing member ChazziFrazz
I had read "Absolute Power" when it came out, but not sure if I've read any others. I had been told the the Will Robie series was pretty good and that you didn't have to read them in sequence. I had picked this up and started to read it just to get the flavour. I wound up reading the whole thing. I
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read it in parts, taking my time to think over what I had read, rather than powering through it.

I didn't think I would like it at the beginning as it seemed to be more of an action/adventure type of book. It does have action/adventure in it, but it has more. Character development, red herrings, a plot that is dense but not dry. Good scene descriptives but not done to death with detail. Also things happen that seem probably and then things happen that come out of nowhere.

Will Robie freezes on a mission. Could this mean that he will no longer be useful to the organization he works for? Then he receives word that his father is in jail. Robie's father is a ramrod straight guy so his being in jail makes no sense. Robie also feels that he still has old business to clear up from his past, so he takes a leave to go back to Cantrell, Mississippi where he was born and raised.

Arriving there, after being gone 20 years, he finds it is pretty much the same. Also that he isn't that welcome as he had left abruptly and without word. His father doesn't want to talk to him or want Robie's help. The people are a bit distant and distrustful of him. He can't really fill them in on where he has been or what he has been doing, and that just keeps the distance between them and him. What he does find is murders, blackmail, dirty secrets, deceit and suspicions all interwoven. He has returned not to a homecoming but to a nest of nastiness.
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LibraryThing member RolandB
great thriller
LibraryThing member Carolee888
There are some authors that that I only want to read a certain series and other author that I want to read every single book that they write. So far I have listened to two of the Amos Decker books want was blown away with it but also have listened to two of the Will Robie Series and was sort of let
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down. I do not think it is the author's fault at all. The Amos Decker Series fit what I want in this type of series. The audio for The Guilty was very loud and I often could not figure out what was being said. Also, I crave story background and well developed characters with just a minimum of action.

In this story, Will Robie accidentally kills a little girl when he was trying to get his target. He has post traumatic stress disorder and feels that it may be the end of his career. He discussed this with Blue Man and is put on another assignment. This involves going back to where he grew up in Cantrell, Mississippi. His father in in jail and has been charged with murder. Will and his father had a falling out years ago and have never settled it. His father even refuses to see him. Will sets about investigating the murder and meets up with Sheila Taggart, a gruff but soft on the inside police woman. Even his Jessica Reel shows up when needed and the violence was boiling over.

I really enjoyed Will Robie uncovering the deep and scandalous secrets of Cantrell and his interaction with all the character. There just was a little bit too much action and violence for me.
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LibraryThing member gilroy
This proved to be a quick and painless read, as most of my other Baldacci experiences have been. It had good flow, dialogue that felt natural, and an interesting start.

Ah, this is a family exploration story and working through past issues story. Great thing to read as I prepare to go visit
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family. *snort*

This story gets more convoluted the more I read it. Still fascinating and keeping me reading but weird...

Less than fifty pages from the end, I was still feeling confused and the number of suspects seemed to grow instead of shrink. Oh he's mentioned child exploitation and incest. I can't believe the author went there. Just the thought makes me squirm...

The final twist came out of no where. Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention, or he didn't telegraph it like other authors. WOW. Who'd a thunk it? Laura Barksdale went nuts, came back and killed all those who knew anything...

It's an enjoyable read, easy, though not sure the book is worth the keep shelf.
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LibraryThing member gaillamontagne
Will Robie is trained military sniper who begins to question his nerve after he accidentally shoots a child he did not know was near the target victim. On his next assignment, he hesitated at the time of firing because he hallucinated there was yet another child near the target victim. When he is
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told that there was no child, Will Robie knew he had a problem that was going to affect his concentration, nerve, and thus his career. Then, he receives information that his estranged father is charged with first degree murder in his hometown down in Mississippi. Robie senses his hallucination and his relationship with his father are connected and it is time to comes to grip with the problems between them. After 22 years apart, Robie's father does not want to even see him as Robie's father sits in jail. Robie feels compelled to uncover the secrets of his small hometown unable to believe his father is capable of 1st degree murder even though his father was abusive during hi childhood. The secrets become deeper and more convoluted as the body count piles up. The mystery keeps the reader going to a surprising ending. Not my favorite David Baldacci book but I enjoyed it.
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LibraryThing member JudithDCollins
Another winner by Baldacci! The audio was outstanding. Review to follow.
LibraryThing member PhillipThomas
An enjoyable read.
Will Robie returns to his native Mississippi following two failed missions. His father in in jail charged with murder and Robie tries to uncover the truth.
Well written and enough plot and twists to keep it interesting.

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2015-11-17

Physical description

464 p.; 5.25 inches

ISBN

1455586439 / 9781455586431

Barcode

1602528
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