David Baldacci

David Baldacci (born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1960) is an American novelist and one of the best-selling writers of legal thrillers and suspense fiction. His books have been translated into dozens of languages and have sold in very large numbers, placing him among the most widely read authors of his generation.

He grew up in Richmond and studied political science at Virginia Commonwealth University before earning a law degree at the University of Virginia. He then practiced law for nine years in Washington, D.C., and that world of courtrooms and power later shaped many of his plots. He had been writing stories since childhood, when his mother gave him a notebook for them, and for more than two decades he produced short stories and screenplays without much success.

The turn came while he was still practicing law. He spent three years writing a novel, Absolute Power, which was published in 1996. Its story of a president and the agents who cover up an accidental death made him an international bestseller, and a film version followed the next year under the same title. From then on he published steadily, with at least thirty adult novels and several books for young readers, many of them organized into series such as the Camel Club, Will Robie and Amos Decker books.

His style blends espionage, suspense and the procedures of the justice system, with protagonists who are usually agents, investigators or lawyers shaped by difficult pasts. Recurring themes include power, institutional corruption and loyalty. He lives in Vienna, Virginia, with his wife and their two children.

His legacy is mainly popular and commercial. He showed that a suspense series can run for many volumes and inspire television and film adaptations. Together with his wife, he also supports a foundation that funds adult literacy programs in the United States.