Dream Town (Private Investigator Archer Book 3)

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In fact, David Baldacci seems to be writing a whole slew of characters of late that I’m finding absolutely compelling, and I’m loving it. A visit to Lamb’s Malibu residence leaves Archer knocked unconscious after he stumbles over a dead body in the hallway; and Lamb seems to have vanished. Every character has a secret or more, connecting them to other characters and connecting all of the dots got, quite frankly, almost a bit overwhelming. I was fascinated by the 1950s setting and the fantastic detailed descriptions - with all the allure and mystique of that decade. The narrator, soon established as Elliot Chase, then zooms out to address the reader directly, introducing the players—most importantly movie star Lana Farrar.

A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people. Although he is still based in the fictitious Bay City, California and working for Willie Dash's detective agency, the case in Dream Town takes Archer into full-blown Chandler / Marlowe territory in Los Angeles and Hollywood. His books are published in over forty-five languages and in more than eighty countries, with 150 million copies sold worldwide. It was a town that took every single dream you had and then merrily ran it right through the world's biggest meat grinder. The 1950s weren't the fabled good old days, but they're fodder for gritty crime stories of high ideals and lowlifes, of longing and disappointment, and all the trouble a PI can handle.Archer’s takes him behind the scenes of the Hollywood power elite, the dark sides of Los Angeles, and the glitzy world of Las Vegas, as he tries to piece together the connection between the dead body and Elanor’s disappearance.

The personality and values that have made Archer such a likable and decent man continue to shine through. The darkness that all the glitz, glamour and picture perfect seafront and hillside properties manage to mask.Archer cleverly works his way through the many layers of this mystery, almost getting killed more than once. When I read the synopsis for this book, I just knew that I was going to enjoy it and boy did I ever! Archer is not for me and, Heaven forbid, this series continues, I won’t be wasting any more time on it.

Left to my own devices I would have read it in one sitting - sadly real life never seems to allow for that!The writing is tight and the plot is a terrific rollercoaster ride - with lots of stomach dropping free-falls. I plunged right into Baldacci's PI series featuring Aloysius Archer, WWII vet, set in Hollywood in the 50s. The novel starts off with a murder, and with seven people trapped on an isolated Greek island lashed by a "wild, unpredictable Greek wind. A lifelong Virginian, David is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Virginia School of Law.