I, like many others who reviewed David Baldacci’s “One Good Deed,” suspected that Aloysius Archer, the protagonist, would be the key character in a new Baldacci series. No sooner had I filed my column than the second Archer book arrived at my door. Like the first book, “A Gambling Man” is set in post-World-War-II America. But Archer has traveled from Poca City where he was released from prison to Reno, “The Biggest Little City in the World,” and then Las Vegas, where he hooks up with Liberty Callahan, a showgirl who has aspirations of becoming a movie star.
Archer is on his way to Bay City, CA, to become an apprentice private eye. After Callahan saves his life, he decides to give her a ride, at least most of the way to Hollywood. Because Archer has won a good sum of money by “not gambling” at craps and roulette, they travel in style in a 1939 Delahaye Model One Sixty-Five, Figoni and Falashi convertible cabriolet. (Do yourself a favor and Google this magnificent French-made automobile.)
Archer’s goal is to hook up with Willie Dash, Very Private Investigations, a former FBI agent who was recommended by Lieutenant Detective Irwin Shaw, back in Poca City. Although Liberty Callahan’s goal was to get to Hollywood and become a movie star, she forms a friendship, laced with a bit of sexual tension, with Archer and takes a job singing at a local nightclub.
Liberty is an immediate smash hit, but Archer has a lot to learn from Dash, and he needs to learn quickly because he finds himself in the middle of a case, the intricacies of which reminded me a bit of the 1974 movie “Chinatown,” starring Jack Nicholson. Specifically, Archer has to tread carefully as he investigates a case that involves power, politics, corruption, and a mysterious bit of family intrigue.
Bay City is run by a wealthy man, Sawyer Armstrong, whose son-in-law, Douglas Kemper, is running for mayor. But Armstrong is not only wealthy, he seems to own outright or have a financial interest in virtually everything that has value. Archer becomes involved with the family when Kemper comes to him for help because he’s being blackmailed.
Just when the reader begins to wonder if Archer is a kind of superman, like Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, he is soundly beaten by Armstrong’s strong-arm henchmen Hank and Tony. But Liberty sticks with Archer through thick and thin. P.I. Willie Dash seems to have an advisory role, at least until he shows up with a machine gun that he claims to have taken “from Ma Barker’s cold, dead hands.” Still, it’s wonderful to listen to Archer and Dash sift through clues together and formulate hypotheses.
Like the first book in this new Baldacci series, A Gambling Man takes us back to a time that most people will recognize through the novels by Ross McDonald, Mickey Spillane, Dashiell Hammett, and Raymond Chandler.
...Jim Glynn
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“Listen, ask questions, don’t believe anything is true unless you can corroborate it, and don’t trust anyone.”Highlighted by 160 Kindle readers- “Time fills your head up, if you allow it. Some don’t. They just put a lid on and end their life as they began it, ignorant as babies.”Highlighted by 152 Kindle readers
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| Dream Town | One Good Deed | The 6:20 Man | Memory Man | Long Road to Mercy | |
| More from the thrilling world of #1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci. | Private investigator and World War II veteran Aloysius Archer heads to Los Angeles, the city where dreams are made and shattered, and is ensnared in a lethal case. "Baldacci nails the noir." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review) | When a murder takes place right under his nose, a WWII veteran and ex-con is forced to investigate a small-town murder... or risk being sent right back to prison. | A cryptic murder pulls a former soldier turned financial analyst deep into the corruption and menace that prowl beneath the opulent world of finance. | This "impossible to put down" #1 New York Times bestseller introduces Amos Decker, a gifted police detective with a perfect memory who must solve a mystery he wishes he could forget: his family's murder (Washington Post). | Introducing Atlee Pine, an FBI agent with special skills assigned to the remote wilds of the southwestern United States who must confront a new threat . . . and an old nightmare. |
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Hardly noir, plodding plot, recycled characters.I got through about forty pages before I decided life was too short. Everybody fumbles, and writing novels, when done well, is neither simple nor easy. This one felt like he took the advance and had to crank out something to justify it. I assume favorable reviews are by fans who admire the author and will grant five stars indiscriminately.
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Top reviews from other countries
T. Wood
Excellent 2nd in Archer Series
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 15, 2021B.J and the bear
This book is unfortunately very dull and very boring
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 25, 2021Mark D. Holtom
A welcome change in style.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 29, 2021@alexandra-bald
As ever...Baldacci is great!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 10, 2022
