The 6:20 Man by David Baldacci

 Well our "false fall" is over and we are back to summer. Ugh. I was hoping to back here sooner but here I am.

For September, the Mystery Book Club read The 6:20 Man, book one in a new series by David Baldacci. It was published in June of  2022 actually. We have read the first books in two of his other series, The Memory Man and the Mercy series, and those were well liked.

About:  "Every day without fail, Travis Devine puts on a cheap suit, grabs his faux-leather briefcase, and boards the 6:20 commuter train to Manhattan, where he works as an entry-level analyst at the city’s most prestigious investment firm. In the mornings, he gazes out the train window at the lavish homes of the uberwealthy, dreaming about joining their ranks. In the evenings, he listens to the fiscal news on his phone, already preparing for the next grueling day in the cutthroat realm of finance.

Then one morning Devine’s tedious routine is shattered by an anonymous email: She is dead.

Sara Ewes, Devine’s coworker and former girlfriend, has been found hanging in a storage room of his office building—presumably a suicide, prompting the NYPD to come calling on him. If that wasn’t enough, Devine receives another ominous visit, a confrontation that threatens to dredge up grim secrets from his past in the Army unless he participates in a clandestine investigation into his firm.

This treacherous role will take Travis from the impossibly glittering lives he once saw only through a train window, to the darkest corners of the country’s economic halls of power…where something rotten lurks. And apart from this high-stakes conspiracy, there’s a killer out there with their own agenda, and Devine is the bullseye. "

I thought it was a good read. It is very fast paced and kept my attention. Travis is likeable. He is working as an investment analyst but only to please his parents, even at this stage in his life. He is renting a house with three other people, who were unknown to him prior to moving to this house. There are two young women, one is studying to be a lawyer and one is building a "unique" online dating service. The one other man is a person from Russia who is a professional hacker. He actually adds levity to the story. The roommates all plate a part in the story. 

After being approached by a special branch of the government, Travis agrees to help them investigate what is going on at his company. They suspect an illegal money scheme. Oh, and if he doesn't help them, he will be sent to prison for something that happened when he was in the Army. 

Our discussion of the book was good. Everyone at the book club that night, are big fans of Baldacci. Some loved the book and read it in just a few days. Some felt parts of the book were over the top. But as one person pointed out, Baldacci is great at diversions for the reader. Overall I enjoyed it.

There are two more books in the series:

Book 2 is The Edge was published November 2023: "The 6:20 Man is back, dropped by his handlers into a small coastal town in Maine to solve the murder of a CIA agent who knew America’s dirtiest secrets—can Travis Devine uncover the truth before his time runs out?"

Book 3 is To Die For and will be released November 12, 2024. "... the 6:20 Man returns, this time sent to the Pacific Northwest to aid in a complicated FBI case—and he’s about to come face-to-face with his nemesis, the girl on the train. "