Copyright 2019 by Columbus Rose, Ltd. Published by Grand Central Publishing, New York.

This is #5 in Baldacci’s Memory Man series, but the first of the series that I have read. I always feel that I am missing something when I don’t start at the beginning and I am undoubtedly right. There are many references in this book to events that presumably were the subject of previous books in the series. Missing some of the context certainly diminishes my enjoyment of the book.

But I will give you my take.

Amos Decker, the protagonist and the eponymous “memory man”, suffered a brain injury in college while playing football at Ohio State. As a result of his injury he remembers everything, no matter how minor or how long ago (but not before the injury). This mental abnormality plays a large role in Redemption as Decker – now an FBI agent – is approached by a man that was sent to prison for life for murdering 4 people, largely due to Decker’s investigation – his first homicide case as a police officer 13 years earlier in Burlington OH. The man, who has only weeks to live (he was released from prison due to his impending death) pleads with Decker to clear him as he was innocent.

That very night the man is murdered. Decker searches his infallible memory for any evidence that he screwed up the investigation. He initially can’t see any problem in what the police did 13 years prior, but the fact that the man was murdered (why murder a dying man?) and some doubts about how well he investigated the murders (he never, for example, read the autopsy reports) gnaw at him. He decides to look into it. His suspicion that he somehow messed up drives him to seek redemption (hence the title).

Needless to say, when he starts pulling at the strings, the case begins to unravel. More people start to die. He himself is shot at. It doesn’t take a genius – or a man with infallible memory – to realize the something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

I won’t go into the details of a very twisted plot, but I will tell you that the motive for all the mayhem is very large and very deep. But I couldn’t get past the feeling that it was all a little too contrived. Not realistic. Too many murders in a small town (it reminded me of Cabot Cove, home of Jessica Fletcher of Murder She Wrote – a little town with more murders per capita than Detroit or Miami). So while I enjoyed the book, I can’t rate it highly.

6 out of 10.

Copyright 2016 by Smart Blond, LLC. Published by St Martin’s Press, New York.

I think I have criticized Scottoline before as being too “girly” – spending a lot of time and verbiage on feminine things. That may be a feature for some, but not for a macho man like me. In this book, in which Mary DeNunzio is preparing for a second marriage, an entire chapter is devoted to her dress fitting. Not exactly “must read” prose for those of us with testosterone.

I have another complaint about this particular book: it sometimes reads like a primer on family law. Necessary, perhaps, as this is a mystery involving child abuse and placement, but not the kind of stuff that normally makes me want to not put the book down.

Yet I didn’t want to put the book down. I think that says a lot about Scottoline’s skill as an author. She manages to make even the dry stuff compelling.

Quick synopsis: Mary is engaged by Edward O’Brien, the paternal grandfather of 10-year-old Patrick O’Brien, a dyslexic student who is unable to read and has been sued by a teacher’s aide for allegedly attacking him with a scissors. Mary gets Patrick’s side of the story, which is that the aide has been verbally and physically abusing him and, in fact, struck him in the face (with a bruise to back him up). Patrick denies attacking the aide. Mary quickly gets Patrick interviewed by a child abuse social worker who believes Patrick’s side and also lines up private schooling to address his dyslexia. Everything is going well until…

Edward dies in his sleep that very night. Mary discovers the dead Edward, who has soiled the sheets. She does all the right things – calling the police, finding the will, calling the executor. She even washes the sheets so that Patrick won’t notice the mess. All very sad. Mary, who has quickly bonded with the now-orphaned Patrick, decides to become his legal guardian (without consulting her fiancée!). She goes to the guardianship hearing expecting to get custody of Patrick, but…

It is revealed in the hearing that the police are investigating Patrick for suspicion of murder. And are investigating Mary as a possible accomplice. Edward’s cause of death was an insulin overdose (he was diabetic) and both Patrick’s and Mary’s fingerprints are found on the fatal syringe.

Suddenly the “simple” civil lawsuit has become a criminal case, with Mary in legal jeopardy.

It is a quick read. It kept me interested. That outweighs the heavy “girl” orientation.

8 out of 10.