First, I must establish I am a big big fan of David Balcacci. I have read all of The Camel Club Series, all the Atlee Pine thrillers, all the Shaws, all the Will Robies, and pretty much everything else David Baldacci has put out. I have always been more than satisfied with the reading experience. Baldacci is a great mystery writer. So it is with a heavy heart I must say that Strangers in Time is a decent enough mystery and not more. BUY at Amazon
Baldacci’s Strangers in Time had all the ingredients to make me want to enjoy it. I am a sucker for kids’ adventures and in this thriller two London tweens, Charlie Matters and Molly Wakefield, must survive the Blitz. To add to the characters Charlie is a waif and Molly comes from a posh home. There is a Fagin type figure in a mysterious bookshop owner and air warden named Ignatius Oliver who seems to be up to some dark deeds even if he takes in Charlie and protects both the children.
The mysteries in Strangers in Time is what happened to Molly’s father, what is Ignatius Oliver up to, and what will happen to Charlie in these difficult times. The problem is most of the novel has Charlie and Molly running around bombed-out London looking for her father without anything much happening. Not enough is revealed about the mysterious Fagin character until the finale to make him really interesting.
The closing to Strangers in Time feels rushed and the reveal about Molly’s father is kind of hard to swallow because of how traumatic it turns out to be.
Strangers in Time is not David Baldacci’s best effort.
Strangers in Time
David Baldacci
Grand Central Publishing 2025
433 pages
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