Title: Dream TownAuthor: David Baldacci
Series: Archer #3
Published by: Grand Central Publishing on Apr. 19, 2022
Genres: Mystery/Thriller
Pages: 432
Format: Hardcover
Source: Grand Central Publishing
Book Rating: 9/10
Private investigator and World War II veteran Aloysius Archer heads to Los Angeles, the city where dreams are made and shattered, and is ensnared in a lethal case in this latest thriller in #1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci’s Nero Award-winning series.
It’s the eve of 1953, and Aloysius Archer is in Los Angeles to ring in the New Year with an old friend, aspiring actress Liberty Callahan, when their evening is interrupted by an acquaintance of Callahan’s: Eleanor Lamb, a screenwriter in dire straits.
After a series of increasingly chilling events—mysterious phone calls, the same blue car loitering outside her house, and a bloody knife left in her sink—Eleanor fears that her life is in danger, and she wants to hire Archer to look into the matter. Archer suspects that Eleanor knows more than she’s saying, but before he can officially take on her case, a dead body turns up inside of Eleanor’s home . . . and Eleanor herself disappears.
Missing client or not, Archer is dead set on finding both the murderer and Eleanor. With the help of Callahan and his partner Willie Dash, he launches an investigation that will take him from mob-ridden Las Vegas to the glamorous world of Hollywood to the darkest corners of Los Angeles—a city in which beautiful faces are attached to cutthroat schemers, where the cops can be more corrupt than the criminals . . . and where the powerful people responsible for his client’s disappearance will kill without a moment’s hesitation if they catch Archer on their trail.
Review:
Rich, gritty, and menacing!
Dream Town is a mysterious, gripping tale that takes us back into the life of Aloysius Archer as he decides to head down to the City of Angeles, where his friend Liberty is just starting to make her mark on Hollywood and where his PI skills will once again come in handy when a writer who is afraid for her life suddenly goes missing and the trail to find her is littered with dead bodies, corruption, smuggling, drugs, blackmail and gangsters.
The prose is vivid and smooth. The characters are loyal, determined, and brave. And the plot is a well-paced, twisty whodunit full of red herrings, sleuthing, suspicious personalities, deduction, attraction, coercion, danger, mayhem, mischief, and murder.
Dream Town is the third book in the Archer series, and if you love mysteries set in the glitz and glamour of 1950s Tinseltown, this one won’t disappoint. It’s an intricate, tight, satisfying read by Baldacci, and I can’t wait to read whatever this steadfast gumshoe gets himself tied up in next.
This book is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.
Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.
About David Baldacci
David Baldacci is a global #1 bestselling author, and one of the world’s favorite storytellers. His books are published in over 45 languages and in more than 80 countries, with over 130 million worldwide sales. His works have been adapted for both feature film and television. David Baldacci is also the cofounder, along with his wife, of the Wish You Well Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting literacy efforts across America. Still a resident of his native Virginia, he invites you to visit him at DavidBaldacci.com and his foundation at WishYouWellFoundation.org.
Photograph by Allen Jones.
