Pine was an FBI special agent. Five eleven in bare feet, she possessed a muscular build from years of lifting massive amounts of weights, first for athletic glory, and currently to survive the rigorous demands of her occupation. Some agents spent careers mainly on their butts staring at computer screens or supervising agents on the streets. Pine was not one of them. Desiree Atkins has never been found. There are at least three scenarios that I can see.” Pine counted them off on her fingers. “She killed her husband and fled. Mercy killed her and fled. Or Desiree killed Mercy and fled.” In the exciting conclusion of this story, audiences find out if Atlee finds her mother and father. Have the past risks her mother took to bring down the mafia come after them but left Atlee alone? Also, in the novel we meet a vicious man whose long-term memory of past wrongs done to him, his family and others will cause Atlee to be in his crosshairs. Carol Blum is in real danger multiple times in the story, and it was gripping to see the lengths Atlee would go to find and rescue her. Her depth of love for Carol is very evident! Baldacci and his wife, Michelle, are the co-founders of the Wish You Well Foundation, [5] which works to combat illiteracy in the United States by funding adult illiteracy and education programs. [6] Baldacci became involved with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society after his sister, author Sharon Baldacci, was diagnosed with MS. [7] I’m not disagreeing with you, Carol. But I am saying that if Mercy did kill him, if she is violent, then the intervening years might not have been kind to her. She might have done other things.”

Part of her didn’t want to know his answer, but in life you needed to listen to things you didn’t want to hear, maybe those most of all.PINE LOOKED AT CAROL BLUM. In her sixties, a mother of six grown children, and a longtime employee of the Bureau, Blum had become something of a surrogate mother to the federal agent, to some degree taking the place of the one who had abandoned her. While practicing law, he turned to novel writing, taking three years to write Absolute Power. [4] Published in 1996, it was sold internationally. To date, Baldacci has published 46 novels for adults as well as seven novels for younger readers. She now believed the man in the grave was none other than Ito Vincenzo. He had apparently discovered Tim Pine’s whereabouts and come to exact revenge on him. Only he had ended up being the one to die. She didn’t like people looking for her. She didn’t want to be found. Only bad things could happen from that…‘And haven’t enough bad things already happened to me?’

From his son’s and grandson’s bodies. A familial match under these circumstances constitutes a slam dunk.”

Publication Order of Atlee Pine Books

Gresham, Tom (December 11, 2019). "David Baldacci once wrote stories in secret at VCU. Now he has millions of readers around the world". Virginia Commonwealth University. Shapiro, Ari (27 July 2009). "A Conspiracy Around Every Corner In Baldacci's D.C." www.npr.org . Retrieved 28 May 2022. Anyone who's been to an airport bookstore in the last 10 years has seen Baldacci.

Blum said, “And it doesn’t seem like the Atkinses did anything to, well, to educate her or . . . ” Her voice trailed off and she looked uncertainly at her boss. Then Pine’s eyes narrowed and her look became less certain. “But it does seem unlikely that they would just take Desiree’s word for it that he was dead. They might have thought they could still save him, or that she was even lying about it. But if he was dead, they would have been terrified that animals could have torn Joe’s remains apart overnight. And we know that didn’t happen.” Her last sighting was near Crawfordville, Georgia. She got away that night, or at least it appeared she did.”

Publication Order of Sean King & Michelle Maxwell Books

I regret a lot of things, Carol,” said Pine. But she put the car in gear and headed on to see the man who had lied to her more than any other person in her life.