I just finished a great book by an author new to me: David Baldacci's Simple Genius. The book is about two former Secret Service agents, Sean King and Michelle Maxwell, who now work as private investigators. They are good friends and partners; however, Michelle is exhausted and troubled and enters a rehab facility while Sean scrambles to find a case that will help him pay for it all. He gets hired to investigate the mysterious death of a brillant scientist, Monk Turing, at Babbage Town, a secretive facility that just happens to be across the river from Camp Peary, once a naval station and now a CIA training camp.
Michelle settles into her new routine, meeting with Psychologist Horatio Barnes, while Sean settles into his assignment. However, answers to his questions are not easily obtained, and after he arrives, the one man who speaks with him ends up dead himself. After meeting the local sheriff and M. E., Sean next meets Turing's young daughter, Viggie, who has a fascination with manipulating numbers but problems relating to people. Viggie is being looked after by another scientist named Alicia, and Alicia soon begs Sean for his help keeping Viggie safe. Sean continues to investigate, but feels as though he is getting nowhere.
In the meantime, Michelle struggles to resolve her resistance to therapy and makes friends with another woman at the facility; she also notes some strange behavior at night, and discovers that one of the workers is sending mysterious packages from the facility, so she begins her own investigation. Horatio gets permission to speak to Michelle's older brother and becomes convinced that her current problem stem from something traumatic that happened many years ago. When he has a week of vacation, Horatio decides to do some investigation of his own and visits Michelle's girlhood home town and talks to one of her old neighbors. While he's gone, Michelle is able to prove that the creepy worker is committing a crime and contacts the authorities; she is able to avert a tragedy as well. Feeling back on top of her game, she checks herself out of treatment shortly before Horatio returns; she is determined to join Sean and resume their partnership.
Sean has already decided he needs help and has contacted Horatio about coming down to meet Viggie, who has been called autistic because of her strange way of behaving around other people. However, Sean is convinced that Viggie knows things that will help him determine what happened to her father. Thus, both Horatio and Michelle arrive at Babbage Town and the book's action really takes off.
The book has all of the ingredients I need for a good read: authentic characters, plot twists, good dialogue, a little history, a mix of action and mystery, and a very contemporary feel. However, like the cherry on top of a hot fudge sundae, the book also includes other elements: the scientists at Babbage Town are trying to develop a quantum computer, the C. I. A. is in the throes of the war against terrorism, and much of the action relies on the the cooperation (and sometimes the competition) between various law enforcement agencies.
You can find Simple Genius in the WPL adult fiction area as well as in large type and CDbook. Check it out: you won't need an advanced degree in Quantum Physics to appreciate it!
c Waterloo Public Library 2008
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