No Man's Land (John Puller Series) Mass Market Paperback – July 25, 2017

I enjoyed reading book four in the John Puller series by David Baldacci. John Puller decided to investigate his mother's death. She disappeared 30 years ago, when John was 8 years old.

*UPDATE:I work in the defense intel arena and I just was reading an article titled: DARPA to Fund 8 University Research Efforts Under Neuroplasticity Learning Program. Talk about timing! So DARPA does have it's hand in neuroscience as well. So perhaps a super soldier isn't too far off base!Definitely kept me completely intrigued and couldn't put it down but I am glad it's book 4 and not book 1, which may have prevented me from reading others.So it really is suspenseful and interesting but "spider-man / Superman" character seemed a bit far fetched. Maybe a bit to futuresque. At least we should hope it's too futuresque!I was really disappointed how some thoughts toward the end aren't completed. I don't want to give anything away.... but there was a lot of "You fill in the blanks." In one instance John Puller says to someone "other than my mom, you're the most innocent person involved." then half a page later said person is being handcuffed and dragged away - with no resistance. Knowingly? Did they mention it to that person in advance so they were in on the plan? Or was that person caught off guard? How could John Puller just sit there and watch that happen without some sort of a protest? And we don't know how a key moment was planned toward the end... or how certain people became friendly enough to be in cahoots for these plans...Missing some dialogue that I wanted connected. BUT the rest is written so well you can easily figure out how it went down. I just wanted the story to tell me how it went down because I enjoy the characters so much. I want to be a part of those conversations and character development.That said - I still give it 4 stars. I found myself flying through the book, not wanting to put it down. Very suspenseful, great characters and 2 separate plots that captivate you from the very beginning. ENJOY!

This is the fourth book in the series starring John Puller, a Chief Warrant Officer with the Army, a man who is one of the best investigators the Navy has ever had. Puller is the son of "Fighting John Puller," who is suffering from dementia after a notable career in the Army, ultimately as a three-star general. When his father is accused of having killed his mother 30 years before, John's immediate response is to begin work to clear his father's name. But before too long, the Army advises Puller that he needs to stop investigating and get on a plane to Germany, where he is needed for other work.But Puller's not the kind of guy who would take that order well, and things start getting very interesting at that point. And they continue to fascinate as we meet Paul, a man of superhuman strength who has just been released from prison. What does Paul have to do with Puller's mom and dad? We'll find out.Baldacci ramps up the tension, occasionally putting his characters (the cast includes Veronica Knox, who we met in The Escape, book three in this series, and it's good to see her again) in such jeopardy that it seems impossible that they'll get out. I swear that at one point my heart actually stopped beating for a second! Baldacci's writing is smooth, the sort of smooth where you tend to forget you're actually reading, the words just flowing straight into your brain.I wish there were more Puller novels for me to read, as I've just torn through the final two in the series in record time. But there's always more Baldacci to be found, thank goodness, and there are still nearly 20 books of his I haven't read yet. Hmm, what's next?

John Puller is a serious detective with the Army's Criminal Investigation Agency. He does superb work and always gets his man. But there is one case that he has really never looked into and that is the case of his own mothers disappearance 30 years previous. He was just a young boy when his mom disappeared and he has never really thought about solving the crime.But when someone comes forward to accuse his father of killing his mother that gets his interest. He doesn't want to see his father's reputation destroyed and besides he can't believe that his father would kill his mother.This sets him on a course of investigation that leads to a serial murder, Department of Defense experimental science and possibly a meltdown in his own views of his father, who wasn't where he said he was the night that John's mother disappeared.The most interesting part of the novel is the details regarding Liquid Armour, Ekoskeletions and synthetic skin. Further there was an experiment to make a super soldier, one that couldn't feel pain and one that didn't fear combat. Did that really happen? If so, is there a connection to John's family and his mothers disappearance?The technology as well as the mystery makes for a very entertaining and enlightening novel. I ended up after the novel doing some online searches for DoD science experiments and want to find out more about these new technologies. Where is robotics and computer enhanced medicine taking us?Enjoy the novel. Baldacci is a master story teller.

Tried and true basis for the plot but still a good read and interesting story. The "super soldier" combined with Frankenstein motif is handled well by baldacci. Worth the time to read.

This story started with two tracks parallel to each other. The more the facts and truths were revealed, the more the parallel tracks dovetailed into a surprising ending.