Hell's Corner by David Baldacci

From the author's website: John Carr, aka Oliver Stone—once the most skilled assassin his country ever had—stands in Lafayette Park in front of the White House, perhaps for the last time. The President has personally requested that Stone serve his country again on a high-risk covert mission. Though he’s fought for decades to leave his past career behind, Stone has no choice but to say yes. But Stone’s mission changes drastically before it even begins. It’s the night of a State Dinner honoring the British Prime Minister. As he watches the Prime Minister’s motorcade leave the White House that evening, a bomb is detonated in Lafayette Park, an apparent terrorist attack against both the President and the Prime Minister. It’s in this chaotic aftermath that Stone takes on a new, more urgent assignment: find those responsible for the bombing.

This one started out shaky for me. It was sort of slow the opposite of what I think of with David Baldacci. It was also one of a series and I was jumping in the middle so I didn't have the characters' histories to flesh some of them out and maybe make them a little more likable. But more than either of those problems, what bothered me was the unexpected female narration. I was ready for Ron McLearty; because he has voiced the last few Baldacci books I've listened to, he is the voice I expect to hear when I pop a Baldacci into the CD player. He was there doing his usual outstanding job but then all of a sudden a female voice piped in to narrate the female characters - that was unexpected and unwelcome - I found it very jarring. But, as so often is the case, given a little bit of  time, I got used to it and just let the story take over. The pace of the story quickened and soon we were thick into the action and I ended up enjoying it. It's not my favorite of his books, it was so very convoluted, but it was good enough.