Title: Deliver Us from Evil
Author: David Baldacci
Publisher: Macmillan
Price: £ 5.99
David Baldacci's Deliver Us from Evil is filled with suspense-action sequences, meandering through angst and revenge; romance though, is occasional and maybe, a little sporadic.
Shaw is a kill-agent for an undercover agency officially supported by the G-8 countries, and Reggie the kill-agent for an equally undercover, private-funded agency headed by the meditative Prof. Mallory. While Shaw's agency operates for causes like preventing nuclear holocausts and weeding out international terror outfits, Prof. Mallory's contingent butchers erstwhile Nazis and Fascists.
Fedir Kuchin, a ex-KGB general from Ukraine who was responsible for the decimation of hundreds of people, now lives in Canada as Evan Waller, businessman par brilliance. However his business involves selling young girls from Asia and Africa as prostitutes in the West, and could now include selling nuclear aid to Islamic terror groups.
Killing mission
Shaw and Reggie find themselves amid rural tranquillity in a village in Provence as, coincidentally, both agencies decide to kill Evan Waller at the same time and same place but for different ideals. They are introduced to each other as Bill Young, ex-lobbyist, and Janie Collins, care-free cash-rich tourist since they initially suspect each other's mission. Sexagenarian Evan Waller arrives in Provence, and finds his carnal desires ignited by Reggie ‘holidaying' next door, and unmindfully lands on line with her kill-plan. While Shaw plans his attack with colleague Frank, Reggie manages to feign a money-inspired attraction towards Evan Waller and goes around the town hand-in-hand with him. At this point, Evan Waller's nuclear business proposal is grounded and consequentially, Shaw's agency decides to abort the mission since Evan Waller is no more a threat. However Shaw is forced to stay on the mission by his newfound attraction and concern for Reggie. One event leads to another and, in a searing mid-book climax, Evan Waller blinks in the face of Death, but doubles up to escape back to Canada, and goes underground there.
Shaw and Reggie get back to England. Shaw finds himself offering to help Prof. Mallory hit back on Evan Waller, a.k.a. Fedir Kuchin (Reggie exposes his identity during their face-off in Provence). Shaw and Reggie head to Canada in search of Kuchin hoping to find his location by terrorising his right-hand and business manager, Alan Rice. However, the ever-evil Kuchin kidnaps journalist Katie James, an important person in Shaw's life, and uses her as a bait to ferret out Shaw and Reggie. What happens from here forms the climax. A major part includes several rounds of gun-fire, one-on-one face-offs, hungry hunting dogs, few deaths, evil intentions, courageous decisions, serendipitous twists, unexpected allies and miraculous escapes. Finally, as expected, the world sees the last of yet another sinister man.
Patchy but thrilling
Though predictable and patchy on a few counts, Deliver Us from Evil will go down as one of the most sincere thrillers ever written. The characters remain faithful to their well-presented sketches and though, Baldacci proves exquisitely nimble with his plot, he falls short of delivering emotions sublimely. Solely fuelled by the dynamite packed in each chapter, the book is quick and exhilarating; however the acceleration falters in certain serpentine and sometimes disjointed descriptions. Nevertheless, the feeling that remains in the end is the feeling you stay with while watching the credits of a just-finished edge-of-the-seat Hollywood thriller.
This time around, it is a thoroughbred thriller from David Baldacci; a recommended read for action-enthusiasts.
Seshasayee is pursuing chartered accountancy.
