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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)
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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.
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
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.
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.
It starts normally - Robie is out on a mission but when he pulls the
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.
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.
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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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.
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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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
It's an enjoyable read, easy, though not sure the book is worth the keep shelf.
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.