Fans of David Baldacci may label his latest novel as "genius," but simple? Not so much.

The thriller dips into quantum computers, protective codes, breaking those codes, the CIA, psychological demons and even buried treasure. It's a lot to fathom in 400-some pages, but Baldacci pulls it off, keeping things tight and exciting, even while explaining the physics and mathematics involved.

By Dav

		"SIMPLE GENIUS" By David Baldacci Warner Books ($26.99)

"Simple Genius" brings back the team of Sean King and Michelle Maxwell, the former Secret Service agents turned private investigators who were the protagonists of "Split Second" and "Hour Game."

You don't have to read the previous books to get hooked on the partners, although mentions in "Simple Genius" will reveal what happened in "Hour Game."

The novel opens with Maxwell getting drunk and picking a fight with the biggest thug in a dangerous Washington, D.C., dive.

Despite her death wish, she survives the brawl, so her concerned -- and -- platonic partner checks her into a mental institution under the care of his psychologist friend Horatio Barnes.

Nearly broke, King then takes a job investigating the murder of a physicist from a think-tank called Babbage Town, near Williamsburg, Va. He learns the scientists at the complex are working on technology that could "stop the world dead in its tracks," with countries willing to go to war over it.

Babbage Town happens to be across the river from Camp Peary, a heavily guarded secret CIA training facility, where the victim's body was found.

King finds himself butting heads with the CIA, the FBI and the people in Babbage Town, whose mysterious owners hired him in the first place. The investigation becomes more complicated when another death occurs, one King believes is also murder.

While he's busy in Babbage Town, Maxwell is doing her own snooping into some shady behavior at her treatment facility. Once she clears that up, she checks herself out, intent on helping King. Once she arrives at Babbage Town, Maxwell turns out to be one of the few people who can get through to the daughter of the first murder victim, an autistic girl with a talent for music and factoring very large numbers.

Yet Maxwell herself is a long way from healed. Will the loose cannon prove to be more of danger than an asset to her partner? Or, with Horatio along for the ride, can she finally face the hidden memories that have been haunting her since childhood?

There are several mysteries happening here simultaneously, among them the deaths connected to Babbage Town, the hush-hush activities at Camp Peary and the reason behind Maxwell's breakdown.

Baldacci ties it together into one powerful conclusion. It's a complicated task, but in the end, it's simply entertaining.