{"id":4987,"date":"2026-09-22T21:06:44","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T21:06:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spyscribe.com\/isdb\/?post_type=_author&#038;p=4987"},"modified":"2026-09-22T21:06:47","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T21:06:47","slug":"david-baldacci","status":"publish","type":"_author","link":"https:\/\/spyscribe.com\/isdb\/_author\/david-baldacci\/","title":{"rendered":"David Baldacci"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":3704,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"wds_primary_isdb_country":0,"footnotes":""},"isdb_country":[],"class_list":["post-4987","_author","type-_author","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"isdb_author_id":"P0000069","author_display_name":"David Baldacci","given_name":"David","middle_name":"Gregory","family_name":"Baldacci","pen_name":"","other_names":"","author_gender":"Unknown","author_portrait":"","short_biography":"","full_biography":"<h1>Early life and education<\/h1>\r\nBaldacci was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. He began writing stories as a child after his mother gave him a notebook to fill. He graduated from Henrico High School, then earned a BA in political science at Virginia Commonwealth University. He has said he wrote stories in secret while at VCU.\r\n\r\nHe went on to the University of Virginia School of Law and earned his Juris Doctor. After law school he practiced in Washington, D.C., for about nine years, handling trial and corporate work.\r\n<h1>Road to publication<\/h1>\r\nBaldacci wrote short stories and screenplays for more than twenty years with little success. While still working as a lawyer he spent three years writing Absolute Power, mostly at night. Warner Books published it in 1996. It became an international bestseller, won Britain's W.H. Smith Thumping Good Read Award in 1997, and was filmed the next year. He left law to write full time.\r\n\r\nSince then he has published a novel or two almost every year. His output now runs to more than 50 adult novels plus seven books for younger readers, a few novellas, and short stories.\r\n<h1>Personal life and philanthropy<\/h1>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife Michelle. His sister, Sharon Baldacci, is also an author. John Baldacci, governor of Maine from 2003 to 2011, is his second cousin.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Wish You Well Foundation. <\/strong>He and Michelle founded it to fund family and adult literacy programs in the US. In 2008 it partnered with Feeding America on a program called Feeding Body &amp; Mind.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Multiple sclerosis. <\/strong>He works with the National MS Society. His sister Sharon was diagnosed with MS.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Mark Twain House. <\/strong>He has served on the board of trustees of the Mark Twain House &amp; Museum in Hartford, Connecticut, for over a decade, and donated $1 million to it in 2019.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h1>Genres and subgenres<\/h1>\r\nMost of his work is commercial thriller fiction set in or around Washington, D.C., and Virginia. Government agencies, the military, intelligence services, and big money are the usual targets. The main strands are:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Political and conspiracy thrillers: <\/strong>Absolute Power, The Camel Club series, Total Control.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Legal thrillers: <\/strong>The Simple Truth, A Calamity of Souls.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Espionage and assassin fiction: <\/strong>Will Robie series, Shaw series, The 6:20 Man (which moves into Five Eyes intelligence in All In).<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Military investigation: <\/strong>John Puller series (Army CID).<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Crime and police procedural: <\/strong>Amos Decker (Memory Man) series, Atlee Pine series, King &amp; Maxwell series.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Historical crime and noir: <\/strong>Aloysius Archer series, set in late-1940s and early-1950s America.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Revenge and financial crime: <\/strong>Walter Nash series (money laundering, FBI informant).<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Historical and literary fiction: <\/strong>Wish You Well (1940s Virginia mountains), A Calamity of Souls (1968 Virginia), Strangers in Time (London in World War II).<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Holiday and family fiction: <\/strong>The Christmas Train, One Summer.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Middle-grade fantasy and children's books: <\/strong>Vega Jane series, Freddy and the French Fries, and a book in The 39 Clues.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h1>Series and recurring characters<\/h1>\r\nBaldacci runs several series side by side and crosses characters over. Daylight puts Atlee Pine with John Puller. The short story Bullseye pairs Will Robie with Oliver Stone and the Camel Club.\r\n<table width=\"624\">\r\n<thead>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"127\"><strong>Series<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td width=\"160\"><strong>Lead characters<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td width=\"337\"><strong>Books (year)<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/thead>\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"127\">King &amp; Maxwell<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"160\">Sean King and Michelle Maxwell, former Secret Service agents turned private investigators<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"337\">Split Second (2003), Hour Game (2004), Simple Genius (2007), First Family (2009), The Sixth Man (2011), King and Maxwell (2013)<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"127\">The Camel Club<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"160\">Oliver Stone (alias of ex-CIA assassin John Carr) and a group of outsiders who watch the government<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"337\">The Camel Club (2005), The Collectors (2006), Stone Cold (2007), Divine Justice (2008), Hell's Corner (2010)<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"127\">Shaw<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"160\">Shaw, an intelligence operative with no first name; journalist Katie James<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"337\">The Whole Truth (2008), Deliver Us From Evil (2010)<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"127\">John Puller<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"160\">John Puller, Army combat veteran and CID special agent<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"337\">Zero Day (2011), The Forgotten (2012), The Escape (2014), No Man's Land (2016)<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"127\">Will Robie<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"160\">Will Robie, government assassin; fellow assassin Jessica Reel; handler Blue Man<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"337\">The Innocent (2012), The Hit (2013), The Target (2014), The Guilty (2015), End Game (2017)<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"127\">Amos Decker (Memory Man)<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"160\">Amos Decker, ex-NFL player turned detective and FBI consultant with perfect recall after a head injury; partner Alex Jamison<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"337\">Memory Man (2015), The Last Mile (2016), The Fix (2017), The Fallen (2018), Redemption (2019), Walk the Wire (2020), Long Shadows (2022)<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"127\">Atlee Pine<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"160\">Atlee Pine, FBI agent hunting for the twin sister abducted when they were six; assistant Carol Blum<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"337\">Long Road to Mercy (2018), A Minute to Midnight (2019), Daylight (2020), Mercy (2021)<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"127\">Aloysius Archer<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"160\">Aloysius Archer, WWII veteran and ex-convict turned private eye; actress Liberty Callahan<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"337\">One Good Deed (2019), A Gambling Man (2021), Dream Town (2022); a fourth book is listed by Macmillan for 2027<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"127\">The 6:20 Man<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"160\">Travis Devine, former Army Ranger working undercover for the government<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"337\">The 6:20 Man (2022), The Edge (2023), To Die For (2024), All In (due Nov 10, 2026)<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"127\">Mickey Gunn<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"160\">Mickey Gunn, ex-detective and single mother<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"337\">Simply Lies (2023)<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"127\">Walter Nash<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"160\">Walter Nash, finance executive turned FBI informant who later works under the alias Dillon Hope<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"337\">Nash Falls (2025), Hope Rises (2026)<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"127\">Vega Jane (young readers)<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"160\">Vega Jane, a girl in the walled village of Wormwood<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"337\">The Finisher (2014), The Keeper (2015), The Width of the World (2017), The Stars Below (2019)<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"127\">Freddy and the French Fries (children)<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"160\">Freddy and his living french fries<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"337\">Fries Alive! (2005), The Mystery of Silas Finklebean (2006)<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Note: UK titles differ for the Vega Jane books (for example, The Finisher is The Secrets of Sorcery in the UK).<\/em>\r\n<h1>Standalone novels<\/h1>\r\n<table width=\"624\">\r\n<thead>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"424\"><strong>Title<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td width=\"200\"><strong>Year<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/thead>\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"424\">Absolute Power<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"200\">1996<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"424\">Total Control<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"200\">1997<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"424\">The Winner<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"200\">1998<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"424\">The Simple Truth<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"200\">1998<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"424\">Saving Faith<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"200\">1999<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"424\">Wish You Well<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"200\">2001<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"424\">Last Man Standing<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"200\">2001<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"424\">The Christmas Train<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"200\">2003<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"424\">True Blue<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"200\">2009<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"424\">One Summer<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"200\">2011<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"424\">A Calamity of Souls<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"200\">2024<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"424\">Strangers in Time<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"200\">2025<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em>Years follow the Wikipedia bibliography. Some sources date The Winner, Wish You Well and The Christmas Train one year earlier, based on the first US release month.<\/em>\r\n\r\nShorter works include Waiting for Santa (2002), No Time Left (2012), Bullseye (2014, Robie and Camel Club crossover), and The Mighty Johns, also published as The Final Play (2021). He also wrote Day of Doom (2013), book six of the Cahills vs. Vespers arc of The 39 Clues.\r\n<h1>Best known work<\/h1>\r\nAbsolute Power (1996) made his name. A burglar named Luther Whitney is inside a mansion when he witnesses the US president involved in the death of a woman he was having an affair with. Secret Service agents cover it up and then hunt the witness. The book's success and the 1997 Clint Eastwood film set the pattern for the rest of his career: Washington power, cover-ups, and an outsider who knows too much.\r\n\r\nAmong the series, Memory Man (2015) is the most popular starting point. Amos Decker's hyperthymesia gave Baldacci a detective with a clear hook, and the series ran to seven books.\r\n<h1>Film and television adaptations<\/h1>\r\n<table width=\"624\">\r\n<thead>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"153\"><strong>Title<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td width=\"87\"><strong>Year<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td width=\"113\"><strong>Format<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td width=\"271\"><strong>Details<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/thead>\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"153\">Absolute Power<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"87\">1997<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"113\">Feature film<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"271\">Directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, with Gene Hackman and Ed Harris<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"153\">King &amp; Maxwell<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"87\">2013<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"113\">TV series (TNT)<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"271\">One season, 10 episodes. Jon Tenney and Rebecca Romijn. Baldacci was consulting producer. Canceled after one season<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"153\">Wish You Well<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"87\">2013<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"113\">Feature film<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"271\">Baldacci wrote the screenplay. Ellen Burstyn, Josh Lucas, Mackenzie Foy. Shot in southwest Virginia<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"153\">The Christmas Train<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"87\">2017<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"113\">TV film (Hallmark Hall of Fame)<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"271\">Dermot Mulroney, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Danny Glover, Joan Cusack. Directed by Ron Oliver<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"153\">One Summer<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"87\">2021<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"113\">TV film (Hallmark Movies &amp; Mysteries)<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"271\">Sam Page, Sarah Drew, Amanda Schull<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h2>Projects announced but not produced<\/h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Puller (Fox, 2018). <\/strong>Script commitment for an hour-long drama from Carla Kettner and Josh Berman, with Gary Oldman producing. It did not reach series.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Atlee Pine (Amazon Studios, 2022). <\/strong>Drama in development with writer Aeysha Carr, Lionsgate Television and 3 Arts. No series order has been reported since.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Will Robie and Amos Decker. <\/strong>Both have been rumored for years. As of September 2026 neither has a confirmed production.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h1>Awards and honors<\/h1>\r\n<table width=\"624\">\r\n<thead>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"280\"><strong>Award<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td width=\"73\"><strong>Year<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td width=\"271\"><strong>Work or reason<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/thead>\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"280\">W.H. Smith Thumping Good Read Award (UK)<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"73\">1997<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"271\">Absolute Power<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"280\">Kurd La\u00dfwitz Award, foreign work (nominated)<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"73\">1999<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"271\">The Winner<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"280\">Library of Virginia Literary Award, fiction<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"73\">2005<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"271\">Hour Game<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"280\">International Thriller Writers Silver Bullet Award<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"73\">2008<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"271\">Charity and literacy work<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"280\">Crime Thriller Awards, People's Bestseller Dagger (UK)<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"73\">2011<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"271\">Career<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"280\">Library of Virginia Literary Award, fiction<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"73\">2012<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"271\">The Sixth Man<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"280\">Library of Virginia Literary Award, fiction<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"73\">2014<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"271\">King and Maxwell<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"280\">Audie Award, thriller or suspense<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"73\">2014<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"271\">The Hit (audiobook)<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"280\">Library of Virginia, Lifetime Achievement<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"73\">2017<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"271\">Career<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"280\">Nero Award<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"73\">2020<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"271\">One Good Deed<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width=\"280\">PEN\/Faulkner Literary Champion<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"73\">2024<\/td>\r\n<td width=\"271\">Literacy advocacy<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h1>Recent and upcoming books<\/h1>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Nash Falls <\/strong>(November 2025). Opens the Walter Nash series.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Hope Rises <\/strong>(April 2026). Walter Nash #2. Reached #1 on the New York Times list.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>All In <\/strong>(November 10, 2026, Grand Central, 448 pages). The 6:20 Man #4. Travis Devine investigates the shooting of a war correspondent and the kidnapping of a Five Eyes analyst.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Aloysius Archer #4 <\/strong>(untitled). Listed by Macmillan UK for spring 2027.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h1>Style notes<\/h1>\r\nBaldacci writes short chapters, shifts point of view often, and gives villains their own chapters. His protagonists usually carry a specific skill or wound: Decker's memory, Pine's missing sister, Puller's brother in prison for treason, Robie's growing doubts about killing on orders. Plots tend to start with a single crime that widens into an institutional cover-up. His legal background shows in courtroom scenes and procedure, and his D.C. years supply the setting for most of the early books.\r\n<h1>Sources<\/h1>\r\nWikipedia (David Baldacci; List of New York Times number-one books of 2026); Hachette Book Group and Grand Central Publishing title pages; Pan Macmillan author pages; DavidBaldacci.com; Deadline (November 2018 and December 2022); Virginia Living (February 2026); IMDb; FictionDB; Better World Books author page.","author_status":false,"author_official_website":"","author_wikipedia_url":"","author_agencies":false,"birth_date":"19600805","death_date":null,"birthplace":"Richmond, Virginia","nationality":"American, of Italian descent","author_education":"","author_family":"","occupation_service":"","author_intelligence_service":"","author_country":null,"author_awards":null,"author_books":"","author_series":"","author_characters":"","author_publishers":"","author_organizations":"","author_adaptations":null,"authority_identifier":"","author_record_status":"Published","author_verification_status":"Verified","author_editorial_notes":"","author_sources":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spyscribe.com\/isdb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_author\/4987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spyscribe.com\/isdb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_author"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spyscribe.com\/isdb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/_author"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spyscribe.com\/isdb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_author\/4987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spyscribe.com\/isdb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spyscribe.com\/isdb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"isdb_country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spyscribe.com\/isdb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/isdb_country?post=4987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}