Mr. Baldacci was not up to par on this one. Boring unconvincing story. What was with all the fashion statements? I didn't get the link...Every other book of David Baldacci was much more fun and interesting.

I literally could not put the book down. Baldacci is brilliant! It’s a inspiring story of a man who fights to prove his innocence.

One Good Deed, David Baldacci, author, Edoardo Ballerini, narrator
This is the first book in a new series being written by the author. Aloysius Archer is introduced to the reader as a two sided individual. One side is that of an ex-con and the other is as a heroic infantry veteran of WWII. So which description is more apt? The reader will decide.
After the war, although he had experienced combat, death and destruction, Archer was a young man essentially naïve to the wiles of women, essentially trusting them completely. He became involved with a young female who lied about her age. In an attempt to help her run away from a life she complained about, he borrowed her family car with her permission. However, when they were caught, he discovered she lied about her age, was not 20, but just a teen around 16; he was charged with crimes and sent to prison.
In 1949, not quite 30, when released early on parole, because of good behavior, he was sent to a place called Poca City. He was handed a list of rules, basically amounting to no carousing of any kind. His very attractive parole officer, Ernestine Crabtree, was strict, although she seemed to have two sides of her personality, one hard and one soft. She told him she would give him some employment opportunities when next they met.
Against the rules, he went to a local watering hole where he struck up a conversation with Hank Pittleman, who happened to be the richest man in town. With him is Jackie Tuttle, his very close “friend”. Instead of waiting for his parole officer’s job opportunities, he takes a job offered to him by Pittleman, to collect on an unpaid debt. A car had been put up as collateral, and he wanted Archer to get the car. The debtor was, coincidentally, Jackie’s father, Lucas Tuttle. Archer took an advance of money for some expenses since all he owned were the clothes on his back. Pittleman warned him that he would have to repay him if he failed to get the automobile, and he intended to collect on that debt as well, aggressively, if it came to pass. He seemed like a man who drove a hard bargain. Archer did not want to cross him.
On that night a mystery began that will embroil Archer in the midst of its twists and turns, alternating him between suspect and hero. The reader’s interest and attention are held by this “throwback” male, from a different era, seven decades ago, as he muddles through his life. As the murders in this town begin to pile up, Archer becomes involved with Irving Shaw, a State Police Homicide Investigator, first as a suspect, then as a criminal investigator, and then as his own legal counsel in a fight for his life.
Who is behind the murders that begin to pile up? Who stole the money and bank notes missing from the vault of a dead man? Because the book is taking place decades ago, in a simpler time when women were considered homemakers, Archer is portrayed as the outlier, an innocent, naïve young man who takes most things at face value and doesn’t realize, although he is warned, that he can easily be taken in by clever, designing women. He refuses to take advantage of the “weaker sex”. The women he meets are “me too” stereotypes of today who believe that the stronger stereotype of the “toxic” male will and does abuse them in many ways, taking advantage of their strength and financial position. They view themselves as victims whose role as homemaker is subservient to their capabilities, especially when coupled with their limited ability to defend themselves. Each is scarred emotionally by the events in their lives.
Aloysius Archer is the polar opposite of the description of the 21st century’s toxic male. He is respectful of women, protective of women and thinks of them as equally capable of performing most of the functions of which men are capable, except perhaps, for those depending on brute strength. Although, because it was a different time, a simpler time, the book was kind of hokey, it was also nostalgic, and I look forward to watching Archer grow and interact with the people he will meet in future books in the series. I look forward to watching the changes, as time moves on and the culture evolves. On a philosophical, social level, there is a suggestion of a secret relationship between two women, of a sexual nature, which in addition to equal rights, is a progressive issue introduced bringing the book into the present time. Each of the characters seems really authentic for the time period, although many are stereotypes, especially the law enforcement officers. Each character is also many sided.
The narrator of this audio is excellent. He always uses the right amount of expression in his tone to convey the moment in each scene and delineates each character so each is identifiable, apart and aside from the other.