Rating: 
Summary: Impossible Crime Scene
Review: Strangely, I looked at the story from the scientific version. The victim was beautiful, blond, great body, had strangulation marks (not the cause of death), was politically connected (wife of a power broker for the President), and the scene was impossibly clean. No hair, no fiber, sheets on the bed were clean, carpet was clean, fingernails were clean, sex organs were clean. Even one of the two bullets that killed her were missing (dug out of a wall; the other was in her brain).
Plus, the place was looted. Vault found was emptied of money and jewels. The victim's jewelry was gone as well. But the evidence showed the thief got in with a combo to the alarm system, and exited via a rope for the bedroom.
The detective involved was frustrated... a totally clean crime scene - no evidence, no witness, no motive.
Shift back to the early chapters and a true rendition of what happened. The President and the young wife of a power broker were going to have sex - at a country estate of hers. As the thief watched from their vault, the President tried kinky sex which was met with violence, which was matched... and ulimately it was her or his life... at which point the secret service entered, and shot the woman. The President's chief of staff ordered the secret service to destroy all evidence.
Shift back to a lawyer... engaged to be married to a power broker's daughter. A friend of the man who saw it all - despite the hatred of his daughter. Trusted with evidence the President orders destoryed - over dead bodies...
Rating: 
Summary: Saw the movie and loved it, but the book is much better
Review: I love Clint Eastwood, but his movie changed the story radically, which is a real crime, because the story itself was wonderful to begin with. The characters are real, most of them are likable and engaging. You won't be in any suspense over who to like and dislike, but there is plenty of suspense in other areas. I hate to use a cliche, but this one is a real page turner, and keeps your interest until the last page. Then you're let down because the book is over. I would have been happy to see it go for another 300 pages, but you can't have everything. Baldacci is a terrific writer, and I am now on a personal quest to read everything of his that I can get my hands on. I read this book cover to cover in 6 hours, and they were 6 of my favorite hours. This isn't literature with a capital L, but it is one of the best thrillers you will ever read. I love you, Eastwood, but you should have settled for producing and directing, and left the story alone. It stands on it's own merits quite nicely.
Rating: 
Summary: I don't think so ...
Review: What a waste of time ... Would someone please explain to me how a man can "satisfy" a woman when he's unconscious? The most ridulous premise for a novel I've ever heard of .....
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, if not a leap over the top in premise
Review: My understanding is that the timing of this books completion coincided with a lot of scandal surrounding the White House, resulting in a first time author getting a huge advance as several publishers were interested. It's a page turner in the fiction category I place it in, far above many of the cardboard character driven popular novels that make it to bestseller lists. It's for that reason I gave it a four, much like I gave The Da Vinci Code a five, not because either book has anything going on that could possibly have happened.
It's easy to come up with a complaint here, the book just pushed the edge too far, too much happened, too many "that could never happen" events and too many coincidences. A few, I'll take, but really, there's a line. Perhaps it could have been much shorter and less complicated with better results.
In any case, it's a page turner and highly entertainingly, I flew through it in a couple of readings and would have no problem recommending it to any that enjoy this type of fiction, murder/mystery with a bit of Grisham type lawyering thrown in for good measure.
Rating: 
Summary: Story is engaging
Review: Here we have a book where the President of the United States is the bad guy.....and the criminal is the man of honor. This book is a thriller with political intrigue and takes place mostly around the Metro D.C. area. The book starts with an aging burglar, Luther, breaking into a billionaire's well protected mansion. He is suprised, but not caught by none other than the President of the good ol'USA. Who happens to be with the billionaire's young wife. Luther who is hidden in a safe with a two-way mirror, watches as the President starts to beat on the young woman. The woman in an act of self preservation, grabs a letter opener and stabs the President. The ensuing struggle and yell from the President, brings the very effective Secret Service Agents into the room. Where they shoot and kill her. The scheming Chief of Staff hatches a quick course of action to start a cover up. But no one is aware of Luther who has watched the whole horrid affair. The story begins to pick up speed when Luther decides he has do what is right and set things straight. You can tell this is Mr. Baldacci's first book. But worth the read. I read Total Control first, and find that book of a much higher quality. I think he will only improve with each book he writes. There were parts in this book where I just had to read one more section before I put it down.
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