Catherine Raynes: To Die For and Inside Mercedes F1: Life in the Fast Lane

To Die For by David Baldacci  

Travis Devine has become a pro at adapting to any situation to accomplish the mission set in front of him. Whether it’s a high-powered corporate setting or small-town community, Devine will become the man for the job. His time as an Army Ranger and on the financial battlefields of Wall Street gave him the skills he needed, and he’s put them to good use. But this time it’s not his skills that send him to Seattle to aid the FBI in escorting orphaned, twelve-year-old Betsy Odom to a meeting with her uncle, who’s under investigation for RICO charges. Instead, he’s hoping to lie low and keep off the radar of an enemy that he evaded on a train in Switzerland and who has been after him ever since—the girl on the train. 
 
But as Devine gets to know Betsy, questions begin to arise around the death of her parents. Betsy is adamant that they had never used drugs, but the police in the small rural town where they died insist the Odoms died of an overdose. Devine starts digging for answers, and what he finds points to a conspiracy bigger than he could’ve ever imagined. The question is, how do Betsy, her uncle, and various government agencies all fit into it. 
 
It might finally be time for Devine and the girl on the train to come face-to-face, and when that happens, Devine is going to find himself unsure of who are his allies and who are his enemies. And in some cases, they might well be both. 

  

Inside Mercedes F1: Life in the Fast Lane by Matt Whyman   

With exclusive and unprecedented access to the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team, award-winning writer Matt Whyman charts the journey of the Silver Arrows as they face their greatest challenge: the race back to the front. Once untouchable, the winner of seven Drivers' World Championships and eight consecutive Constructors' World Championships confront the reality of no longer being F1's top dog. 

Whyman, fully embedded across the 2023 and 2024 seasons, follows decorated drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, Team Principal Toto Wolff, and the extraordinary men and women that design, build and race the team's cars as they fight back – on and off the track. 

From the tension of pre-season testing to the thrill and glamour of race weekends – including blue riband events such as Silverstone, Monaco, and the first-ever Las Vegas Grand Prix – the book provides fascinating insight into the world of the fastest sport on earth and one of its most successful teams. Whyman reveals the pressure cooker environment of elite competition, shares the secrets of teamwork and high performance, and foregrounds the remarkable individuals who push to the limits in their quest for victory. The book will also include never-before-seen photographs of life inside the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team. 

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame podcast
from News Talks atb.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
It is time to talk books and I'm joined by
Catherine Rains. Good morning, Catherine, Morning, Francesca. David Baldacci has
a new book out.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
He does and this is this third in his Travis
Devine series. And Travis has a very impressive background. He
served as an arranger, he's worked on Wall Street, and
he's currently what they probably term a fixer with Homeland Security.
And he's also because he's this kind of guy trying
to evade an assassin on his trail who's only known
as the Girl on the Train. And Travis is sent

(00:44):
to Seattle by his boss to for what seems a
very straightforward job helping the FBI escort a young girl,
a twelve year old named Betsy odum So, meeting with
her wealthy business man Danny Glass. And Glass is accused
of racketeering drug smuggling and he awaits charges a trial
on model charges in Washington State, and he's seeking custody
of Betsy following the death of her parents in a

(01:06):
suppose a drug overdose. And as Travis de delves deeper,
he suspects for our player around Betsy's parents' death. There's
things that don't add up, and what's Betsy's saying about
what happened really doesn't add up. And so what starts
as a really routine mission all of a sudden escalates
into something much darker and more dangerous, and he starts
to uncover this web of secrets. And it's an action
packed story with lots of twists and turns and an

(01:29):
enormous dose of tension, and it's a great page turning thriller.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
Okay, So if someone gave me this for Christmas and
I hadn't read the first two books, would it matter?

Speaker 1 (01:37):
No, it doesn't matter at all, and pick them up anywhere.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Okay, brilliant. Now, Matt Wyman, he has co written books
with some of the world's leading figures in sport, and
he has been embedded with the Mercedes IF one team
for twenty twenty three and twenty twenty four, and he
has ered a new book out.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
He does so he after writing many of the books
that he did, and you know the research that he's done,
he's now very focused on the Mercedes AMG Patrona's IF
one team and he spends as you said, a year
embedded with him, and he chronicles individual race weekends and
story with his time with the team's personnel, and he
packs Mercedes at a time where they had won eight

(02:16):
Constructors Championships and it ended for them in twenty twenty one,
and so this book covers a period when the winning's
over and Mercedes are really on the back foot, and
he talks about their culture and determination and that resilience
of the team. And the first sort of chapter includes
a lot of scene setting and background information about the
team and the support of F one, And I felt
like the book was targeted at a much wider audience

(02:37):
than just F one a personality. So probably all of
us that watch Drive to Survive on Netflix would be
this is the perfect kind of book. And it's told,
as I mentioned before, the backdrop of those races across
that season and focusing on the individuals and their particular
roles in the team. So he talks to mechanics and
engineers and strategist and the pit crew and lojastics and
pr folks, and then he also talks with Toty Wolf,

(02:59):
who's the principal of the team, and he captures all
of those personalities, and what's really interesting is some of
the personal backgrounds of the people on the team and
the passions and why they're in F one. And so
with the interviews with people like the team principal Trader
Wolf and the drivers George Rushl and Lewis Hamilton, and yeah,
really interesting tales. And also included in this was Hamilton's

(03:20):
surprise move to decide to sign for Ferrari, and so
it's covered in lots of detail from both Hamilton and Wolf.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
So that's right up to date, right up to date.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
And yeah, it's written really well and you feel like
you have not part of the team, but you know
part of the inside knowledge of how the team works
because previously, before really Drive to Survive, these teams were
very private. So actually you find a lot of information
and a lot of things that you wouldn't necessarily get
to see or hear about, and you know how things

(03:50):
work and what goes on behind an F one team.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yes, and if you're an F one aficionado like my
sixteen year old daughter is, then she will tell you
that you don't really get the full story watching Drive
to Survive.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
So no, you don't know, No, you don't. So This
has a lot of the behind the scenes, you know,
how the driver testing works and the simulators and all
that sort of stuff. So because you're a little bit
more insight than yeah, Drive to Survive if One does brilliant.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
Thank you so much, Catherine. Are those two books that
Catherine mentioned there to Die For by David Baldacci. And
also I must mention that he is actually coming to
New Zealand. He is doing one public event. It is
on Thursday, the thirtieth of January. It is happening in Auckland.
It has been presented by the Auckland Writers' Festival. So

(04:35):
if you are a fan of David's gripping suspense novels
and taught legal thrillers, you might want to come and
see him in person. So as I mentioned, that event
is on Thursday the thirtieth of January twenty twenty five
and you can get your tickets from ticketmaster, dot co
dot NZ. The other book that Catherine mentioned there was
Inside Mercedes if One by Matt Wyman. It is eighteen

(04:59):
to twelve. News Talks ab for more from Saturday Morning
with Jack Tame. Listen live to NEWSTALKSZB from nine am
Saturday or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio,