Hope Rises by David Baldacci

You may recall my review of David Baldacci’s Nash Falls. I finished that novel last February, only to find out it was half the story, and I had to wait until April to read the rest of the story. Now I have. It’s contained in the novel Hope Rises.

I thought the first book, Nash Falls, sounded like a small town in Vermont. I was wrong. It is about the fall of Walter Nash. This financier experiences a life-altering unraveling, through no fault of his own. To avenge his daughter's death by a drug cartel, he embarks on a year-long, extreme workout routine guided by an expert. A bald, tattooed remnant of his former self, he's no longer recognized even by his estranged wife.

Dillon Hope is the name he adopts for his alter-ego. So… it’s Nash Falls and Hope Rises. Get it?

As the story begins, Nash is posing as Dillion Hope while working security for his former boss, Rhett Temple, (who never sees the resemblance to his former employee Walter Nash.) The reader must truly believe the transformation is complete.

They hold a meeting in Hong Kong with Victoria Steers, who ordered the killing of Walter’s daughter, and Dillion Hope is determined to take her down. Steers is a heartless crime boss who appears to shoot an underling before the eyes of Temple and Hope.

The novel progresses and Dillion gets personally involved with Steers.

Then, one by one, nothing is at it once seemed.

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