By Bob Tedder • David Baldacci is an author whose books are more likely to be found beside a man’s beach chair than, say, Nora Roberts’ or Nicholas Sparks’. Baldacci’s books feature recurring characters with a range of special talents often operating in the shadowy and sometimes extralegal worlds of secret government organizations. In the case of “Zero Day,” Baldacci introduces a new character named John Puller and along the way inadvertently triggered a bit of real-world authorial internecine warfare as fascinating as the plots of the books themselves.
John Puller is a hulking combat veteran, military investigator and a walking cornucopia of weapons and tactics. As a loner, he is often tasked with finding solutions to problems best not publicized. When a soon-to-retire Army colonel with top secret clearances is found brutally murdered in a West Virginia coal mining town, Puller is the sole Department of Defense representative assigned to the case. There in the hinterlands Puller assists a local sheriff who is also a potential romantic interest. Together they track the antagonists to a zero day, zero hour countdown complete with a “cut the red wire” cliff-hanging resolution.
Unfortunately, Lee Child, creator of Jack Reacher – another hulking combat veteran, former military investigator and a walking cornucopia of weapons and tactics – found John Puller’s first appearance in print a tad bit derivative. Not being the litigious sort, Child sought and achieved a most amusing literary revenge. In the Reacher adventure “A Wanted Man,” a character named Puller crosses Reacher’s path. Child is happy to inform his reading public that Puller is an idiot probably dropped on his head as a child, and whose mental capacity is much the same as trying to teach Hindi to a beagle. In a later novel, “Never Look Back,” Reacher runs afoul of a thug named Ronald David Baldacci. In the course of their many encounters Reacher constantly foils the slow-witted Baldacci and breaks both of Baldacci’s elbows.
Although “Zero Day” is a fun, quick read, Baldacci’s five Oliver Stone/Camel Club novels contain much more interesting and original characters. If you must read John Puller, his real name is Jack Reacher and Lee Child, his creator, has chronicled Reacher’s adventures in 25 novels. Both authors are worth extended visits.