Book Review: Zero Day by David Baldacci
A Good Escape from Reality when it was Most Needed
In every situation there are winners and losers, and I would even go as far as to say that often times it is in the person’s control to see if they become the winner or the loser. So was the situation a few weeks ago when the war broke out with Iran, and I was at a loss for things to read. I had tried my friend David’s biography of Jerusalem (I’ll return it soon, if not before you even read this post), but the opening content was too much (basically the incredibly gory and graphic conquest of the city and the Jewish Holy Temple) when the same things were occurring around me in real life (that, and then my own issue that the author was trying to make everyone happy with his history of the city, which is certainly allowed and probably something I need to work on for myself). Anyway, finally after a few days of war, arrangements were made to allow access to our library (why when times are bad is access to information the first thing to get cut off, makes you wonder, right?) and I told my wife: “get me something fiction, I can’t take real life right now”. She returned an hour later with Zero Day by David Baldacci.
This book is the first in a series of his investigator John Puller, a career army man who is assigned to the Army’s internal investigation unit. As any good character, he has a storied past that haunts him, his being his multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan (the book is from 2011) and his constant need to do whatever he can to save his comrades during intense fighting from Jihadists hellbent on killing him and everything that represents freedom (ok, maybe my wife didn’t do such a great job getting me an escape from reality).
The book happens to be a mystery, though with a good dose of action, which is my preference in fiction. The first half of the book moved a little slowly, though, given this was the first book in the series, this can be excused in the name of character development. The book opens with the murder of a military family, which is what prompts the call for Puller, though strangely he is the only person assigned to the quadruple homicide. The story takes place in a rural mining town in West Virginia, where everyone knows everyone else, making it hard to figure out who is involved and who isn’t. Of course, there is some romantic tension between the main character and the lead investigator in West Virginia to spice things up a little bit. I can’t say much more without providing any spoilers, so I’ll leave it at that.
Aside from the slow start, the rest of the book was enjoyable and not too fantastical, aside from one part where Baldacci resorts to hyperbole when calling something a “super-radioactive” something or other, which I felt was silly and took a bit away from the story. He also relies on an unlikely “know-it-all” character who is critical to Puller’s overall success. I’m also unclear what the title of the book had to do with the story, as typically Zero Day means something that you have no time to respond to, though in the story there were at least three days to work with, and the entire book takes place over a bit more than a week.
The last time I read a mystery, I texted my friend (the same one I owe the book to): “Are you supposed to be able to figure out a mystery novel without reading the last five pages?” If you are, then I stink at mysteries as much as I stink at those 3D eye illusions. The responsible character in this story was not anyone you would suspect from the story (I had my money on a different character), and I thought that you needed to discount too many red herrings in order to come to the conclusion that Puller did. I will say though that I liked the straight up action-based mystery more than the psychological, logic, type of mystery presented by Jonathan Kellerman (in fact, I just passed up another Jonathan Kellerman mystery at the local bus stop book exchange).
In the end, I don’t really care. I read the book to be entertained, and entertained I was. For a month I resisted the urge to turn to the last 5 pages and see how it all ended. For a month I was joined by some cool characters who let me imagine different aspects of myself in a different reality. Isn’t that exactly what all of us need right now?
Projects I am working on (that may or may not happen, but maybe writing them down here will make me accountable):
Something involving Yogi Berra
A modern twist on Kinnot for Tisha B’Av
Cooking videos