Rating: 
Summary: A Total Disapointment
Review: A Total DisappointmentI have been a Baldacci fan since reading Total Control, The Winner and Saving Faith, all good books and worth the time. But, Split Second? All I can say is, infuriating. An unbelievable plot, a cast of confusing, cliched characters, and an absolutely ridiculous ending. It all adds up to a real waste of trees used to make the paper for this thing. I almost wonder if this wasn't something he wrote in high school and now that he is famous, he thought he could pull it out and pass it off as a "real novel." His editors and agents should have stepped in and stopped this before it got to print. After trying and trying, I did eventually plow though it all, because as I told my wife, "I can't believe how confusing and dumb this is. I just have to read to the end, to see how he is going to work himself of this morass of a plot." In a sentence? The ending was as dumb and confusing as the rest of the book. The few people on here who have given this book four or five stars must work for the publisher, be relatives of Baldacci, or are cult followers ready to swallow the Kool Aid. I've never seen so many negative reviews for a book on Amazon. I only wish I had read them before I started it and not after. If you must read a Baldacci book, go for Total Control or The Winner, they are both page turners. Well actually, Split Second was a page turner also. You had to keep turning them back and forth to try and figure out this confusing mess. I'm sorry to be so negative, but I liked Baldacci, enjoyed his other books, and had high hopes for this story. After reading this I am hesitant to try any of his others, but will probably give him one more chance to make up for this clunker.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Baldacci's Best... Not by a long shot
Review: While I generally enjoy David Baldacci's books, this one was somewhat of a disappointment. It was a relatively entertaining read, but not much else. I thought the characters were a little too typecast and cliched. For example Michelle Maxwell was the perfect ex-jock golden girl. She was practically flawless. Also, the plot ran at an okay pace, but it was nothing to alert the media about. Split Second is all about how a political assassination that happened more than a decade ago links to the kidnapping of John Bruno, a candidate for the presidency of the United States. Bruno is kidnapped as a result of Secret Service Agent Maxwell's error in judgment, and thus she sets out to exonerate herself by linking up with ex-Agent Sean King-- the man who took the heat for the first assassination. The rest of the book is basically all about how the two form a partnership and go about trying to nab the bad guys and clear their name. Its a decent plot, but the characters don't do the plot justice. And there are parts of the story where I felt the evidence was rather weak. At certain junctures it even seemed as though Baldacci had run out of options and was just winging it. So read it if you've got nothing better to do. But if you want a good Baldacci nail-biter, pick up Saving Faith instead.
Rating: 
Summary: One of my top five books of all time
Review: Where to begin with this book. Before reading this book, my top five books were:
1) Roses Are Red by James Patterson
2) 1st to Die by James Patterson
3) The Vanished Man by Jeffery Deaver
4) Silent Justice by William Bernhardt
5) And Then There Were None by Agatha Christe Number five on that list has been bumped and "Split Second" takes a proud stand at number 2 bumping the rest down a bit. This book had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. All the way from the intriguing prologue to the twisted finish of the book, this book had me hooked, staying up nights to finish "just one more chapter." Prologue: 1996--Our first agent takes his tragic downfall after having his attention diverted by......well, you'll have to wait until later in the book for that. Then, the rest of the book starts in current time. Our second agent makes a mistake that ends with the kidnapping? death? of a presidential candidate. Not long later, our two agents meet and begin to realize that these two events are not isolated...they are related. But how? Why? The book throws more and more curve balls at you, leaving you wondering what the heck is going on. Then comes the twist in the final showdown. Then, another twist in there. I mean, wow. All I can say, is read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Good But Not His Best
Review: Secret Service agents had failed to adequately protect presidential candidates in two elections eight years apart. In the first the candidate was assassinated. In the second the candidate was kidnapped. The main characters are the agents who provided the protection for the candidates. Sean King was next to presidential candidate Ritter when he was killed. Joan Dillinger was also on the scene. Michelle Maxwell was the agent in charge when candidate Bruno was kidnapped. These three become involved in trying to determine who was behind the crimes and whether there was a connection between the two. Several people connected in some way to the investigation are murdered as the story unfolds. Usually, a mysterious "man in a Buick" was at the murder scene.
Toward the end of the book it became more a chore than pleasure to finish. The latter part seemed to add confusion rather than contributing a lot to the story. I probably would have given a four or five star rating if the author had seen fit to wrap up the story about one-hundred pages earlier.
Overall though, it was an interesting book to read with much mystery and interesting characters.
Rating:
Summary: Certainly not up to par
Review: Not the quality of writing that Baldacci has exhibited in his earlier books. This read like one long very confusing and unbelievable conversation. As another reviewer said, when spread out over multiple sittings, the plot became more tangled in your mind. In the end, we are supposed to believe that all of the events that happened were for the purpose of fulfilling one man's fantasy. All in all, the book just didn't read right. I don't think David Baldacci can honestly say this was his best effort. Don't waste your money; if you must read it, get it from the library or the used books section. It's selling there for 33 cents; that's about what it's worth.
Rating:
Summary: TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE
Review: I gave this 1 star only because there's no provision for No stars. This is an exceedingly amatuerish book in all respects. YUCK!
Rating:
Summary: Average Pop Fiction
Review: Split Second was a perfect example of a time passer. You won't be blown away by the plot, you won't care about the characters one second after you close it, and you won't recommend it to anyone you know, but the simplistic writing style he chose for this book somehow keeps you turning the pages. Books like these are the quicksand of all book stores. It's displayed every which way you turn, the first 10 pages are as a razor sharp hook, and as with most pop fiction written in the past few years, the ending is so underwhelming you can't help but picture the author realizing that he had waded in way over his head and had no idea how to bring the story home. You imagine him standing in front of a bulletin board filled with the names of all 150 character/suspects he used as page filler and throwing a dart to see who's gonna take the rap in the end.
BUT, like I said, the pages do turn with ease, which is a small treasure in itself compared with all the long winded, snowflake describing, Steinbeck wannabe's that are constantly shoveled into our face by the media these days.
If you like Pop Fiction, this book is more than readable, but you'd be better off omitting the last 30 pages and imagining your own ending. You couldn't do much worse.
Rating:
Summary: too complicated, too many peripheral minor characters
Review: The main characters were interesting & well-developed. The focus on Secret Service agents on presidential candidate protection details is a nice touch. However, the plot is too complicated & implausible, and there are too many vaguely-defined peripheral characters to make this book a hands down winner.
I read quite a bit, and I had a hard time following the plot in this one. Even in the final pages, where the villian explains his entire scheme & motive, things didn't become clear, or the least bit convincing.
this isn't one to put down & pick up again later -- it's too easy to forget where you are & which of the many peripheral characters are involved. It would be a decent fast-paced read best consumed in a single setting, with one's full attention.
Rating:
Summary: A Total Waste of Time...
Review: To give this book even 1 star is overly generous but I had to give it something. The plot, with all of its twists and turns is completely implausable. There is no depth to the characters and the author does nothing to draw you to them. I liked the first book I read by Baldacci. The last one I picked up was bad, this one, worse. Don't waste your time!
Rating:
Summary: Baldacci's worst...
Review: I was very disappointed in this book. I have enjoyed nearly all of David Baldacci's books, but I found this one to be boring, contrived, and silly. It was poorly written and the plot was actually kind of stupid. I don't know what happened with this one. He's a good writer--try one of the older titles.
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