David Baldacci Books

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David Baldacci is a best-selling author famous for his thriller novels and has written a few children’s books as well. He is of Italian descent, from Tuscany but was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. Before becoming a writer, he was a corporate attorney for 9 years. He was practicing law in Washington, D.C. Baldacci was engaged in writing from a very young age. His earliest works include several short stories and screenplays.

Print:

While practicing law, David Baldacci took three years to complete his first book Absolute Power, published in the year 1996. It went on to become a best-seller. He has written several other standalone books and book series. His books are fast-paced action thrillers, some of which have been adapted as feature films and television series. Till date, Baldacci has written 31 best-selling thriller novels and 5 books in the Children’s fantasy genre. His books have been translated into more than 40 languages and have sold over 110 million print copies in 80 countries.

Born in Richmond, Virginia, 1960, David Baldacci never left his home state to gain his education. He went to Virginia Commonwealth University, before gaining a law degree at the University of Virginia. At was at this point that Baldacci decided to leave his home state of Virginia to practice law in Washington DC, which is where he gained an insight into politics and governance that would prove to be crucial for his literary success later on in his life.

While law was Baldacci’s chosen career, writing had always been a passion of his from a young age, and while studying and practicing law, he continued to write stories and screenplays, albeit without the success that his later books and screenplays with achieve. And it was not until 1996 that Baldacci made the breakthrough that he had so long hoped for, with the book Absolute Power, which had taken him three years to bring complete.

Like many of David Baldacci’s books, Absolute Power was a standalone novel, and it wasn’t until the 2003 release of Split Second that Baldacci created a series of books featuring the same character or characters. In the case of Split Second, it was Sean King & Michelle Maxwell. He also wrote The Camel Club series, which started in 2005 with the book The Camel Club, and in 2008 he released The Whole Truth, the first in the Shaw and Katie James series. Baldacci has also released other series that involve lone characters, rather than pairings or groups of people. In 2011, he released Zero Day, the first book in the John Puller series, and in 2012 he introduced Will Robie in The Innocent, the first book in Robie’s series. The Memory Man serves as the introduction to the character Amos Decker. But as well as these series, David Baldacci continues to write standalone novels, such as Wish You Well, which he also adapted into a screenplay.

As well as adult fiction, David Baldacci has written books for children, his first series being the Freddie and the French Fries series which was started in 2005. In keeping with Baldacci’s ability to span genres, he started The Finisher series, which is a fantasy series for children and is a departure from his more crime and legal based adult fiction. The Finisher series has given Baldacci that rare thing; global success as both an author of adult fiction as well as children’s fiction.

CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER OF DAVID BALDACCI BOOKS:

All of the David Baldacci books chronological order currently match their publication order.

DAVID BALDACCI AWARDS:

He is a highly acclaimed writer and has received several awards and mentions. The 1996 best-seller ‘Absolute Power’ received the Gold Medal for the best Mystery/Thriller novel from the Southern Writer’s Guild. It was also People Magazine’s ‘page-turner of the week’ and won W.H.Smith’s Thumping Good Read Award in the fiction category in 1997. His book ‘The Hit’ won the Audies award in the Thriller/Suspense category in 2014. Baldacci and his wife, Michelle co-founded the Wish You Well foundation. It aims to increase America’s literacy rate.

DAVID BALDACCI BOOKS INTO MOVIES:

The author has a long relationship with Hollywood. He has penned several screenplays. Absolute Power was adapted as a feature film starring Academy Award winners Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman. His book Wish You Well was also adapted as a movie featuring Oscar award winner Ellen Burstyn, Mckenzie Foy and Josh Lucas in the lead roles. He wrote the screenplay as well for that particular adaptation. The King & Maxwell series of books was made into a television series on TNT where Baldacci was a consulting producer. The lead roles of Michelle Maxwell and Sean King were played by Jon Tenney and Rebecca Romijn.

BEST DAVID BALDACCI BOOKS:

Absolute Power: This one happens to be Baldacci’s favorite. He wrote it since he was a child and finished it while he was still a lawyer. His debut novel became a best-seller and went on to become a Hollywood production as well. The story revolves around Luther Whitney, an ace burglar who witnesses the death of the wife of the billionaire he tries to rob at the hands of the President of the United States and his secret service agents.After viewing the murder through a two-way mirror, Whitney escapes but the secret service discover his presence during the crime. A high-profile cover-up follows, where Whitney is blamed for the murder and a detective tries to figure the real culprit behind the crime.

The Winner: LuAnn Tyler is a gorgeous woman who also happens to be poor and is struggling to take care of her infant daughter. She carries on with her destitute life in a trailer park. Her life dramatically changes on meeting Jackson. Jackson, a criminal mastermind who offers to rig the US National Lottery and make her win on one condition: she must change her identity and leave the United States. Ten years later, LuAnn returns to the US with her daughter. She finds herself on the run from Jackson, who hunts her for disobeying him and the FBI who believes she’s the lead suspect in the lottery scam. She gets help from the mysterious and secretive character, Matthew Riggs.

Wish You Well: Quite different from Baldacci’s usual large-canvas action thrillers, his fans were pleasantly surprised by this one. When 12-year-old Lou and 7-year-old Oz’s father dies in a car crash and mother enters a catatonic state, they’re sent from New York to live with their great-grandmother in her farm in Virginia. Baldacci poignantly describes the countryside and the beauty of its simple lifestyle while slowly developing the book’s central plot.

Stone Cold: The third installment in the Camel Club book series is an action-packed adventure thriller. Everyone from Camel Club(group of political watchdogs) leader Olivier Stone’s past is turning up dead. Harry Finn, responsible for working behind the scenes and keeping the country safe is on a mission to extract vengeance on the camel club.

When Does The Next David Baldacci book come out?

The next book by David Baldacci is Strangers in Time and will be released on April, 15th 2025.

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