This book was exactly what you expect from a Preston & Child collaboration, with all the good and the not so good that comes with that territory.
As always the plot is interesting and well researched. There are enough twists and turns to keep you interested, writing action is clearly a strong point for these two, but the mystery is eminently solvable. These are traits you want in a thriller for sure. The research and love of history is clear in the writing. The scenery is beautifully described and the history comes to life as the story unfolds. This pair can certainly craft a solid tale.
However, like other books by these authors, the character development all feels like a “men writing women” cliche. With Corrie, it is leaned into pretty hard that she is facing discrimination as a young woman in a man’s field, but she is never written in a way that shows any kind of three-dimensional existence. She is a girl (but not like other girls!) with a checkered (but never fully shared!) past...you know the formula. Add in that she is written as an intellectual blank slate (an FBI agent with no idea about Watergate, was stationed in an area for 8 months and clearly never looked at a map, often deficient in knowledge she should have given her “specialty training”...just to name a few) and this protagonist rapidly fails to make an impact. The men only do slightly better, each being a paper doll archetype, but there you at least feel like authors have imbued them with some intellect.
In short a five star plot with one star characters.
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