Rating: 
Summary: In a word: AWFUL!
Review: The perfect example of a writer whose success has gone to his head and who thinks he doesn't have to keep working at his craft. This is not a thriller. It is not a whodunit. It's a mish-mosh. And in order to keep the plot moving, he switches points of view to show us the villain's reactions. But since it's a whodunit, he can't tell us who the villain is, and so calls him the "Buick guy". Please, please, don't waste your money buying this book. If you have to read it, get it from the library.
Rating:
Summary: That's it for me
Review: I've read Absolute Power, Saving Faith and now this. AP and SF each started out good then turned ludicrous. SS was just plain boring from the get. DB's stories have no depth to em.
Rating: 
Summary: Sadly Disappoining Offering From a Gifted Writer
Review: I like David Baldacci. I think he's an excellent writer. He has a rare gift where his writing spans subject matters and crosses genres yet he still comes off as an expert in that particular field. He writes about lawyers, single mothers, FBI agents and many other topics with authority. Now he takes on the world of the secret service agent. Unfortunately this time he strikes out. Sean King was a secret service agent until a momentary distraction cost the life of his charge. Michele Maxwell is a current agent, but maybe not for long now that her charge was kidnapped do mostly to a single mistake. So now, of course, the two disgraced agents hook up, to the dismay of the Service, local cops, the FBI and just about everybody else. Together the try to solve the disappearance of the Presidential candidate that Michele was charge to look after while also shedding new light on the circumstances behind Sean's disgrace. Hey everyone, it's a mystery. There are so many things that I didn't like about this story. First off, the plot was so complex it was unbelievable and bordering on ridiculous. The "bad guys" motives were very weak. The characters shallow and the tensions created by bureaucratic politics predictable and so over used in today's mystery fiction. The story moved a long at a decent place to the predictable mystery style reveal followed by the bang-bang climatic finish which was anything but climatic. One of the gimmicks that is used in this story is the mystery bad guy following the good guys and commenting on their doings. Here we see an old man identified only by his make of car watching over the shoulder of our hero's. This is supposed to give us the master manipulator, on top of everything feel of our mastermind bad guys, but it comes off as cheesy. I think I may be being a bit overly harsh in my review of this book. It was not utter garbage. It's just when you expect so much out of an author based on his history, you tend to judge his failures harsher.
Rating:
Summary: A waste of time and money
Review: Having read and liked Absolute Power, Saving Faith, and other of Baldacci's books, and some of the reviews on the Internet, I was really disappointed. This one is a total waste of money and time. Baldacci lets the characters talk too much about obvious conclusions and then neglects to drop any real hints. The mystery of the villain's identity was a laughable cliché. The main shallow characters, the unconvincing dialogue, the investigators' far-fetched deductions that just happens to be true are all together insulting to the readers' intelligence. This smells of a way for the author to make a quick buck and I don't think I'll buy another Baldacci book again. It is one of the lousiest books I've read in a long time and I read two to three books a week in this very genre. It went straight into the waste paper basket after I finished it.
Rating: 
Summary: correction to an earlier review.
Review: I have to apologise/apologize to the readers of my previous review of the book (in audio) "Split Second", by David Baldacci. I misspelled Mr. Ron McLarty's name. My apologies for the error as it should be as given in the previous sentence and not McClarty, as I had it in the review. Sorry.
Rating:
Summary: Again, Baldacci scores; with strong characters, great story.
Review: This abridged adaption of the novel, expertly read, as always, by Ron McClarty, is a well written story of assassination, intrigue, suspense, and strong characters. It begins with a political assassination and ends with a betrayal; beyond that, I don't want to give the plot away. Suffice it to say, that Mr. Baldacci's characters are strong, whether good or bad, and Sidney Morse is as about an evil so and so as one might find. Sean King, Michelle Maxwell, and Joan Dillinger (which made me chuckle a little, as I thought it was a play the name "John Dillinger", but it probably wasn't) were all strong, complex, characters. With a tight story and as mentioned an excellent reading by Mr. McClarty, I found the story quite suspenseful. It might make an excellent movie, if done right; which, unfortunately, many books are not. Even so, I think readers will enjoy the story. If one is a fan, as I am, of Mr. Baldacci's work, and I have everything, short of his new book; which hasn't been published, but rest assured, when it is I'll get it, you'll like this story. While Mr. Baldacci doesn't get the "automatic" movie and television deals of a John Grisham, his work (I think) is much better. I have written him, on his site, so. I will definitely be picking up the print version (as well as the audio version, if still in print, around the holidays, of "The Christmas Train").
Rating:
Summary: the writing is very very good and getting better n better
Review: baldacci's writing is very very good and he's also transcended himself by writing better and better one after another. this is the cool and creative writing dude that i won't miss. forget about other peoples' critics or reviews that tried to bash and degrade baldacci, 'cause he's very talented and got guts to test any new territory that he and the readers are both trying to get a grip if possible. his writing technique is so good, the dialogues, the plots, the characters' 3-dimensional development never failed once not to impress me. i've prepared a whole box of the finest cigars for this cool dude and would like to give him one anytime he got a new book published. thanks, man, keep the health, the eyesight and the fantastic imagination to make my life more standable. thank you again, sir.
an afterthought, sir, don't try to create a too complicated scenario and then tried very hard to assemble them together before the end so hastily, and as a male writer, don't try to write something from the angle of a female character, that's bad trying, unless you were another sidney sheldon who turned out out of the closet to be an opposite gender.
Rating: 
Summary: Split Second
Review: I love all of David Baldacci's books, but this is one of my favorites. With its unique plot, typical Baldacci timing, and excellent writing, this "can't put it down" novel will keep you glued to every page. Highly recommended. Also recommended: BARK OF THE DOGWOOD by McCrae
Rating:
Summary: Kept me reading all day long
Review: This is the first novel of David Baldacci's that I have read. As such, it was surprising captivating. Usually, when a novel says "You won't put it down", I have little to no problem doing just that. "Split Second" kept me reading and reading, feeling a need to find just who was behind what I was reading about. It was also refreshing to have a book where the killer isn't revealed right away, and you know all of their motives, etc. I figured out who, maybe 2/3 of the way through, but still didn't know why, or how it would play out in the end. I will definitely be reading more by Baldacci.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't mean to complain
Review: I'm listening to the audio version of this book, and without going into great detail, I say it's worth a three-star rating. The one thing I wanted to get off my chest is that I wanted to strangle the narrator, Scott Brick, about a half-hour into the book. He could be a really fantastic book narrator (actor, really, as in a one-man-show) if it weren't for the irritating inflections he uses at the end of Every Darn Sentence. There are two. One being an incredulous note that, combined with the other, makes all the conversations sound like they are carried on between an old Jewish man and a Valley Girl. I really wanted to reach in there and grab him by the neck. Stop it!
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