To Die For (6:20 Man): David Baldacci, author; Zach Villa, Mela Lee, Cassandra Morris, Rena-Marie Villano, Christine Lakin, Will Collyer, Kiff VandenHeuvel, Erin Bennett, narrators.
Although it is read very well by the various narrators, it would still be wise to keep a pencil handy to jot down some notes. There are so many characters and so many alternate ideas presented that it is easy to get confused or bogged down by the minutiae.
Essentially, Travis Devine, who works for the Department of Homeland Security, has been sent to a hotel in Seattle to help guard a twelve-year-old girl, Betsy Odom, until her custody hearing. Her only relative is an uncle fighting for her custody. His name is Daniel Glass. He is the brother of Betsy’s mother, Alice, and a man her father despised. He is also a man with a very questionable criminal past who is under investigation by the FBI. He stands to lose all of his vast fortune. Because he has never been convicted, Child Protective Services will not consider his criminal past. Betsy has little choice. Her immediate options are foster care or Uncle Danny. Travis is surprised by the low level of security for this child, since the deaths of her parents, though deemed to be an overdose of drugs, seems very suspicious and her uncle, is under serious criminal investigation. If he gets custody of her, what then if he is convicted? Will he be? How will Travis play into this plot?
Prior to this assignment, Travis was almost murdered by a woman while he was traveling on a train in Europe. He does not know the woman and dubs her “the girl on the train”. In addition to trying to protect the child and discover how her parents might have really died, he must protect himself from the woman, Prudence Jackson, who is intent on killing him.
When a group calling itself 12/24 enters the narrative, the mystery grows even larger. Who are they, and why would they be involved in the death of Betsy’s parents or in the criminal investigation of her uncle? The group is named for the date that the Ku Klux Klan was born. It is a known racist, antisemitic, terrorist organization with dreams of destroying America and taking it over. Anyone that disagrees with them or does not look and think like them is the enemy.
As this novel moves forward, Travis has to figure out how the FBI, the CIA and the 12/24 group are all involved with Betsy’s parent’s death; How does it involve her Uncle Danny? Is Travis being betrayed by his own government? The “girl on the train”, Prudence Jackson, is an important part of this mystery, and will help answer all of the questions, but for totally unexpected reasons. The book is exciting and will hold your constant attention, but the threads will unravel at times. It is violent. but also heartwarming, in different scenes. It will be hard to discover who Travis or Betsy can truly trust. In the end, all the threads connect, but as I advised, take notes.