Total Books: 4   Total Pages: 1627   Longest: 433   Shortest: 353

Genres: 2 (Biography – 1, Thriller – 3)

Yes, I’m behind in publishing my June reading due to the Glacier and Yellowstone trip from which we returned a week ago and which I’m still in the middle of writing about.  

David Baldacci’s The 6:20 Man Series

I realized a few months ago that I hadn’t read the most recent David Baldacci series “The 6:20 Man”, so this month that 3-book series was my focus.

Published in 2022, 2023, and 2024, the “6:20 man” is Travis Devine who takes the 6:20 commuter train to work every day into Manhattan. Devine is a West Point graduate and career military man until he abruptly resigns his commission and becomes and investment banker at a prestigious firm. In the first book, The 6:20 Man, a co-worker dies at the office and Devine receives an anonymous email stating “She is dead” before anyone else is aware. Devine becomes both a suspect and an investigator when DHS leverages him to help uncover corporate irregularities at the firm.

In the second book, The Edge, Devine is now a full-time DHS investigator and sent to work a case on the Maine coast involving the death of a CIA analyst who grew up there. Devine must determine whether her death was the result of her work, or something that happened decades before in the small town.

In what appears to the be the final book in the series, To Die For, Devine heads across country to the Pacific Northwest to escort an orphaned 12-year-old girl to a meeting with her uncle, under investigation by the FBI and someone Devine once briefly shared a military mission with. Devine realizes the official account of the girl’s parents’ deaths doesn’t add up and begins a dangerous side investigation to find the truth.

Baldacci is a prolific author and I’ve now read at least 41 of his books (I might have read one or two before I started tracking!). Yes, he is formulaic, but I’ve enjoyed the majority of his characters, and the plots are generally well put together with the necessary twists for page-turning reads.

Where the Wind Leads by Vinh Chung

Personal back story: I’ve had this book literally sitting on my side table – it’s physical – for years now. One of our Arkansas cousins (on my dad’s side) had loaned it to my sister, and she passed it to me, but I just never had committed to picking it up and reading it. We recently had a 4-day visit with said cousins (Jane and Jill) in which we discussed our favorite books. Of course, I shared my blog with them to keep up with what I’ve been reading. A few days later, Jill texted me that she was reading one of my recommendations, The Last Palace (Note 26), and that I needed to read Where the Wind Leads and offered to send me a copy. I took a picture of the book sitting on the table and sent it to her confessing I had gotten really bad about reading physical books. She admonished me to add it to my rotation! Not wanting to disappoint her and feeling guilty that I hadn’t already read it, it was next up! I needed a non-fiction book for this month anyway since I skipped last month.

I can’t summarize it any better than the Amazon description:

---

From the harrowing experiences of their journey across the South China Sea in the aftermath of the Vietnam War to the heartwarming account of their successful restaurant venture in America, the refugee story of Vinh Chung and his family is riveting. In a time where the current topics are immigration and human rights, this first-hand account reminds us to view events and people with a lens of compassion.

Just eight months after South Vietnam fell to the communists in 1975 Vinh Chung was born. His family was wealthy, controlling a rice-milling empire worth millions; but within months of the communist takeover, the Chungs lost everything and were reduced to abject poverty. Knowing that their children would have no future under the new government, the Chungs decided to flee the country. In 1979, they joined the legendary “boat people” and sailed into the South China Sea, despite knowing that an estimated two hundred thousand of their countrymen had already perished at the hands of brutal pirates and violent seas.

Narrating a multigenerational memoir, Vinh illustrates the compassionate side of humanitarian efforts and the life-changing moments that brought him to America as a child. With a sharp sense of humor he unravels ethnic hostility faced when they arrived in Fort Smith, Arkansas, the challenges and struggles of his family as they strove to achieve the American dream, and how he and his siblings went on to earn master degrees and doctorates from prestigious universities – all because his parents took a leap of faith and held on to the courage of building a new life.

…

Where the Wind Leads is Vinh’s tribute to the courage and sacrifice of his parents, a testimony to his family’s faith, and a reminder to people everywhere that the American dream, while still possible, carries with it a greater responsibility.

---

This book vividly resonated with me because it was my grandmother’s church, Grand Avenue Baptist, in Fort Smith, that had the Vietnamese service which the Chung family attended. Also, cousin Jane’s husband Jim, a former pastor there, was one of many who provided his recollections for the book.

Until next time, read what pleases you!