Nash Falls by David Baldacci

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


What a wild ride! It took me a little while to really get into the story but once it took off, it sucked me in and I ended up dreading putting it down.

When Walter Nash is recruited by the FBI to help bring down a global crime network his life is turned completely upside down in this thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci.

Walter Nash is a sensitive, intelligent and kindhearted man. He has a wife and a daughter and a very high-level position at Sybaritic Investments, where his innate skills and dogged tenacity have carried him to the top of the pyramid in his business career. Despite never going on grand adventures, and always working too many hours, he has a happy and upscale life with his family.

However, following his estranged Vietnam-veteran father’s funeral, Nash is unexpectedly approached by the FBI in the middle of the night. They have an important request: become their inside man to expose an enterprise that is laundering large sums of money through Sybaritic. At the top of this illegal operation is Victoria Steers, an international criminal mastermind that the FBI has been trying to bring down for years.

Nash has little choice but to accept the FBI’s demands and try to bring Steers and her partners to justice. But when Steers discovers that Nash is working with the FBI, she turns the tables on him in a way he never could have contemplated. And that forces Nash to take the ultimate step both to survive and to take his revenge: He must become the exact opposite of who he has always been.

And even that may not be enough.

I ended up really loving Walter Nash. He’s just a good man. He loves his wife, he’s a great father, and he’s the star at his company. Then the FBI shows up and everything falls apart. Badly. Like so badly.

Baldacci takes his time with the character development and rolling out the story. The result is that I felt so much for some of the characters that my emotions were all over the place. I spent the first half or so being super mad at one person in particular and a combination of disgusted and angry with a bunch of others. But I also felt a lot of compassion and love for others. I was all over the place!

My only real complaint is that we get no resolution in this first book. I mean, I’m not mad at that one person anymore and I got to watch Walter turn into a bad-ass mother fucker who I wish only the best for, but I didn’t get the closure I wanted. Guess I’ll be waiting for book two like everyone else will be. And I’ll happily re-read Nash Falls before I immerse myself in the second. Go Walter!!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. And thanks to David Baldacci for writing such great characters.



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