Review of David Baldacci’s ‘A Gambling Man’

A Gambling Man’ is David Baldacci’s latest thriller. It stars Aloysius Archer — whom we last saw in ‘One Good Deed’.

A video review will be coming soon on my YouTube channel.

Following the events in Poca City, Archer is on his way to California to see if a potential apprentice with a Private Detective will work out. He makes a stop in Reno, where after some action, he picks up a load of cash, a fancy automobile called a Delahaye and an aspiring actress named Liberty Callahan. Eventually, they reach Bay Town, California, a stopping point for would-be and failed stars. Archer gets the P.I. job and is immediately embroiled in a string of murders.

I will be honest. Archer is the most forgettable Baldacci hero. Even Atlee Pine, with her set of ho-hum stories, is more memorable than Archer. I had to look up ‘One Good Deed’ to find out who Archer was and what he had done in his debut. I had given a high rating to that book which means that while the story is probably good, the lead character is quite bland. Essentially, I was starting ‘A Gambling Man’ without knowing who Archer was or why he was in Reno.

‘A Gambling Man’ is a slow burner and is unlike any other Baldacci I remember. The tone ranges from a noirish detective fiction like L.A. Confidential to an Alistair MacLean story like ‘Fear is the Key’. There is a bit of action, but mostly it is Archer figuring out what is happening. I think this old school detection is the book’s highlight, and kudos to Baldacci for trying out something new.

But that said, there are several issues.

The story starts in Reno and is set up for Archer to get his iconic car and become friends with Liberty Callahan. A plot set-up in Reno ultimately goes nowhere, and this is quite disappointing. In my opinion, we could have started the story with Archer in Bay Town and explained away the presence of the Delahaye and Liberty in a paragraph.

The second issue is the pacing. The book is slow, and it takes a while to get into the story. In my case, I had to read about half the story before I was sort of hooked on to it. After this point, the pacing improves. I am not sure the cause and effect here, but the first half is a trudge.

The third issue is that the author glosses over some plot points in the ending. We don’t get to see some threads resolved while others are just papered over in the ‘ they lived happily ever after ‘ sort of way.

Where the book does excel is in the detective work (mentioned earlier) as well as creating a 1950s kind of atmosphere. I like how Archer and his boss actually have to spend time going through books, records, legal documents etc., as well as canvas witnesses and informers.

Overall, I liked ‘A Gambling Man’. It will not figure in Baldacci’s top 10, but neither is it bad. It is a flawed book that is entertaining once you get past the initial sections. Archer, as such, is a decent character, but I feel that Baldacci needs to add something extra to make him stand out.