American novelist (1960- )
Five hundred and thirty-five members of Congress plied their trade near here in various buildings named after long-dead politicians. They, in turn, were surrounded by an army of lobbyists flush with cash who worked relentlessly to convince the elected officials of the unassailable righteousness of their causes. Such was democracy.
DAVID BALDACCI
The Innocent
I was with Bobby Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel. I was a rookie cop in L.A. when RFK came through. I just stood there and watched a man who should have gone on to be president bleed to death on the floor. Every day since then I've wondered what I could have done differently.
DAVID BALDACCI
Split Second
King heard the bang, like the sound of a dropped book. He could feel the moisture on his hand where it had touched Ritter's back. And now the moisture wasn't just sweat. His hand stung where the slug had come out of the body and taken a chunk off his middle finger before hitting the wall behind him. As Ritter dropped, King felt like a comet flying hell-bent and still taking a billion light-years to get where it's actually going.
DAVID BALDACCI
Split Second
You know what kind of person it takes to run for President? Not normal. They could start out okay, but by the time they reach that level they've sold their soul to the devil so many times and stomped the guts out of enough people that they are definitely not like you and me, not even close.
DAVID BALDACCI
Absolute Power
Confidence is one thing, disrespect is quite another.
DAVID BALDACCI
The Simple Truth
Under normal circumstances it would have been unheard of for women to be deployed in terrorist cells with men, since there were strict rules and tribal customs forbidding unrelated men and women from being around each other. However, it had become quickly evident that Muslim men were almost always placed under heavy scrutiny in America, whereas Muslim women were given much more leeway.
DAVID BALDACCI
The Camel Club
Life is what it is, Will. You take it as it comes.
DAVID BALDACCI
The Innocent
Listening to a sermonizer who above all loves to hear himself sermonize is about as much fun as having your toes sheared off.
DAVID BALDACCI
The Finisher
She noticed a shadow of movement behind her, but had no chance to feel alarmed about it. That was Betsy Puller Simon's last memory.
DAVID BALDACCI
The Forgotten
It's my experience that most folk who ride trains could care less where they're going. For them it's the journey itself and the people they meet along the way. You see, at every stop this train makes, a little bit of America, a little bit of your country, gets on and says hello.
DAVID BALDACCI
The Christmas Train
He was accustomed to seeing without benefit of light, becoming, over the years, an expert of sorts. The years in prison had also boosted the acuity of his hearing such that he could almost hear someone thinking. You did both a lot in prison: listening and thinking.
DAVID BALDACCI
The Simple Truth
She had spent considerable time writing the letter. The younger generation, with all of its tweets and Facebook and cryptic texts and emails where no actual language or grammar were involved, would never have understood taking the time.
DAVID BALDACCI
The Forgotten
At this prison the doors are inches thick, steel; once factory smooth, they now carry multiple dents. Imprints of human faces, knees, elbows, teeth, residue of blood are harvested large on their gray surface. Prison hieroglyphics: pain, fear, death, all permanently recorded here, at least until a new slab of metal arrives.
DAVID BALDACCI
The Simple Truth
Like a spreading pandemic, the video ignited a maelstrom worldwide. From blog to blog, chat room to chat room, e-mail to e-mail, the story passed. With each retelling it grew in proportion until the globe was in apparent jeopardy of being overrun at any moment by crazy, bloodthirsty Russians. Within three days after Konstantin's sad proclamation, the world rang with his name. Soon half the earth's population, including many who had no idea who the U.S. president or the pope was, knew all about the dead Russian.
DAVID BALDACCI
The Whole Truth
Sometimes inspiration hits in the middle of the night and I want to get up and work on it. It’s that spark of immediacy. For me, it’s a tap which is on all the time.
DAVID BALDACCI
The Telegraph, November 16, 2015
For once in a long time, he felt good. No worries, just possibilities. Endless possibilities.
DAVID BALDACCI
Absolute Power
All you have to do is spend your life running from one awful place to another, write about every horrible thing you see. The civilized world reads about it, then forgets it, but pats you on the head for doing it and gives you a reward as appreciation for changing nothing.
DAVID BALDACCI
The Christmas Train
Today might not be so good. But tomorrow, you got another chance to get it right.
DAVID BALDACCI
Absolute Power
I love my country. It is a place of beauty. The people there are good. They like to work hard. They love their freedoms. But that does not mean that every leader we have is a good one who deserves the respect of the people. So sometimes when you do not follow along blindly things happen to you.
DAVID BALDACCI
The Forgotten
As a lawyer, I was paid to write persuasively. I was paid to take the same set of facts the other side had and make you believe that my version of it was true, while the other side was doing the exact same thing.
DAVID BALDACCI
interview, The Strand