Die Trying - by Lee Child

This is the second book of the Jack Reacher series and was written back in 1998.  Fate places Reacher on a Chicago street at the same time that a woman is being abducted.  Kidnapped along with her, Reacher slowly learns who she is and works with her to deduce what is happening to them and why.  Then he must take the situation under control as only he can do.

I have read quite a few of the books in Lee Child's Jack Reacher series.  Although this was not my favorite, it has the pace and the feel of the other thrillers in the series.  I better appreciate how Reacher has grown as a character because I have now experienced this early volume of the series.  If you like the genre, I think you'll find this a worthwhile read.

Deliver Us From Evil - by David Baldacci

This is a sequel to The Whole Truth, featuring Shaw, the premier operative of an unnamed agency sent to beautiful Provence, where he plans to abduct Evan Waller, a very bad man made wealthy by selling young girls into the sex trade and now dealing with Arab terrorists over the sale of enriched uranium. There, he crosses paths with Reggie Campion, a Nazi hunter who is after Fadir Kuchin, a cold-blooded Ukrainian psychopath known as the "Butcher of Kiev" who is now known as Evan Waller.

While I like David Baldacci's books, this was not one of my favorites.  Shaw is not my favorite of his protagonists.  While I did not dislike this story, when I reached the end I was somewhat glad that it was over.  This thriller was not short on suspense, action, and violence, but for me personally, it did not totally grip and engage me.  That said, it was a decent story and your results may differ.