Simple Genius

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Simple Genius
Author	David Baldacci
Publisher	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date	April 2007

Simple Genius is a 2007 crime fiction novel by the American writer, David Baldacci. Topping the New York Times bestseller list as the #1 bestseller for the week ending April 28, 2007,^[1] the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reviewed Simple Genius as "simply entertaining."^[2] Simple Genius continues the story of Michelle Maxwell and Sean King from its predecessors, Split Second and Hour Game, and combines themes such as "quantum computers, protective codes, breaking those codes, the CIA, psychological demons and even buried treasure".^[2]

1 Plot Summary
2 Characters
3 Themes & Issues
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Plot Summary

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From the book (Paperback Edition): Near Washington, D.C., there are two clandestine institutions: the world's most unusual laboratory and a secret CIA training camp. Drawn to these sites by a umurder, ex-Secret Service agent Sean King encounters a dark world of mathematicians, codes, and spies. His search for answers soon leads him to more shocking violence - and an autistic girl with an extraordinary genius. Now, only by working with his embattled partner, Michelle Maxwell, can he catch a killer...and solve a stunning mystery that threatens the entire nation.

Michelle Maxwell is a stunning weapon, in every possible sense. She goes on a suicidal mission, having a death-wish. However, things don't always go as planned. In therapy, being helped by King's good friend Horatio Barnes, Michelle batlles it out with demons that have plagued her since the tender age of six.

King, financially hard-pressed to help his professional - and platonic - partner, does something he had decided to never do: look for a "job" from Joan Dillinger, an fellow ex-Secret Service agent who has gone private running her own PI agency. He sets out to Babbage Town, to investigate the death of Monk Turing [Yes! "Turing"!].

Weird little Babbage Town is situated right across - of all places - Camp Peary, aka "The Farm"! Home to geniuses dealing with something funny, called quantum computers.

[edit] Characters

Please help improve this section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

Michelle Maxwell: An ex-Secret Service agent, first featured in Split Second - and again, in Hour Game. She is the professional - and platonic - partner of Sean King, also an ex-Secret Service agent. 37, dark-hair, attractive, about five-ten, Olympic medallist in rowing, and an expert in combat. She is as close to a lethal weapon as a human can get. But, she has her demons. Demons that have haunted her for three decades, since the tender age of six. "Simple Genius" brings to light the inner fragility of the strong lady, and how she fights against them as she decides to stand by those she loves and cares for.

Sean King: An ex-Secret Service agent, like his indomitable partner, Sean King is in his forties, six-two, and handsome. He is somewhat more controlled [not that Michelle is prone to losing self-control when she is alright, which - in Simple Genius - she is not, at itmes] and had a relationship with another (now former) Secret Service agent, Joan Dillinger. It is the continuing "contact" [non-sexual, of course, from King's side; Joan is not averse to trying to bed him] which gets King the mission at Babbage Town.