71. A Gambling Man

A Gambling Man. (Archer #2) David Baldacci. 2021. 432 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: With a new decade looming, Aloysius Archer was on a creaky bus headed west to California to seek as much of a life as someone like him could reasonably expect. 

Premise/plot: Archer stars in his second mystery novel in David Baldacci's A Gambling Man. (His first being One Good Deed.) Since the last book, he has been offered a job--potentially--in Bay Town, California, as a private investigator. He'll be working alongside--learning the ropes, if you will--Willie Dash. He's barely arrived in town when he's thrown in the middle of a DANGEROUS case. Within days, the body count starts to climb...and climb...and climb...and climb. His first 'real' case may just end up being his last case unless he (and Dash) can put all of the many pieces together. The case starts simply enough, his client has been threatened with blackmail...but the case is anything but simple.

My thoughts: I liked the first book better. I did. I can't help it. This book and I got off to a very rocky start. It took FOREVER for me to get into this second novel. Meandering might best fit. The novel begins with Archer on the road to Bay Town. And the book spends WAY too much time getting him there. Granted, a little back story on how he picked up his lady sidekick, Liberty, was necessary. But mystery novels shouldn't have so much extra stuff that is ultimately irrelevant and cumbersome. When it takes TOO LONG for the mystery to start--in this case, someone to be murdered--then readers get antsy, bored. It sounds horrible to admit, but, honest all the same. 

Once the mystery starts to unfold, plenty happens. I didn't stay bored with this one. It was just a rough start.

 

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