Rating: 
Summary: A testosterone-laden thriller, but not just for men
Review: My 80+ year old aunt introduced me to David Baldacci by recommending "The Simple Truth" a couple of years ago. I have since read all of his books and they've cost me a lot of sleep. The main review provided enough details of the plot, so I'll just add a different perspective here. Yes, there are a lot of characters and plot twists. That just means you don't want to put the book down because it's easy to forget names, but I was so drawn in that I didn't want to put it down. There's also a fair amount of detail about HRT training, which I thought was interesting even though I have never thought about owning a gun. Like many of Baldacci's other books, you don't know who to trust and often guess wrong. While the hero is male, some supporting characters are female and they are strong. That's important to me as a female reader--I HATE simpy and stupid women. Baldacci writes scenes that are easy to envision and characters that seem real. That sets him apart from many in this genre. I loved this book and hope for a sequel to keep Web London and some of the other characters alive.
Rating:
Summary: Another winner from Baldacci
Review: David Baldacci has done it again, crafting yet another fast-paced, action-packed page-turner. The hero of his newest thriller is tough-but-loveable Web London, a member of the FBI's elite Hostage Rescue Team. When a drug raid turns into a brutal and deadly ambush, Web must try to unravel the mystery of why he is the only member of his close-knit team to survive. The search takes him into the darkest corners of his past, to the mean streets of Washington, D.C., and out to seemingly bucolic Virginia hunt country, where Web meets a variety of unforgettable characters from all walks of life, each of whom sheds a bit of light on the mystery he must solve. Baldacci's seventh novel - like his others - is one you won't be able to put down. Baldacci packs the book with a brilliant plot and more than a few surprises that will knock your socks off, and includes a wealth of detail that highlights his meticulous research skills. I can only hope that we'll see Web and company again in a future Baldacci thriller.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Exciting
Review: This was my first Baldacci book, and it is still my favorite. It is a very exciting book and the information you get on Hostage Rescue Team and FBI in general is fun to read about. Baldacci does a good job of putting you in the shoes of Web London. The plot has many twists and turns and each one keeps you hooked. Through the descriptions of his environment, you can feel like you are there better than some of his other books. This book is exciting and more believeable than other fiction out there. Although 4 stars may be overdoing it a bit, 3 stars would definately not do it justice. This is my favorite fiction book in this genre.
Rating:
Summary: ALMOST FIVE STARS
Review: This Baldacci thriller is guaranteed to please his many fans given the nonstop action and convoluted twists and turns as the plot unfolds. Web London, the leader of an elite FBI Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) is the only one that survives a cleverly plotted ambush during one of the team's missions (hence the title)and the facts surrounding the incident are clouded in mystery. The deaths of Web's team members combined with his inabilty to offer a satifactory explanation of the chain of events cast suspicion on him and lead him to attempt to unravel the mystery and also seek psychological counseling from Dr. Claire Daniels. Soon we are faced with a plot involving Earnest B. Free, the head of a paramiltary cult who Web was responsible for sending to prison in a case which involved the death of a teenage boy during a previous mission of the HRT.Additional complications ensue as Francis Westbrook, a black drug dealer, becomes involved due to the apparent role of his ward Kevin during the ambush.And this is all in the first few chapters!
Romance, murder, drugs, race, psychotherapy, high tech action and frequent violence make this a page turner. Even after the villians become clear the outcome remains in doubt and the missing pieces of the very complicated puzzle are only slowly revealed.As a David Baldacci fan who had trouble putting this book down to get to sleep at night, I was tempted to give it a five star rating. However, it is too long, like Tom Clancy Baldacci seems to increasingly believe that the more details and complications the better. This seems a little too much. Second a lot of the detail is incredibly graphic violence which is unnecessary given the intriguing nature of the plot, and while in the opening scene this is both necessary and riveting, it is carried to extremes elsewhere.Remember, read it when you have lots of time, on vacation or a long plane flight.
Rating:
Summary: A Baldacci Classic
Review: I'd never heard of David Baldacci, until my mother recommended I read his work. Last Man Standing is the second book I've read and I must say he is an outstanding author, who mixes Grisham-like plotlines with his own brand of spy intrigue. Last Man Standing is not merely a page-turner. It explores fully the depth of the human mind with the pyschoanalysis of super-shrink, Claire Daniels. The storylines is pleasantly complex, showing the frail side of tough guy Web London. London can bear the brunt of the physical nature of his job but breaks down at under a hypnotic physical examination. Readers will also be torn by the paradox of Big Francis. A cold-blooded ruler of the underworld, he pulls out all the stops to save his son from being killed. The only drawback to this book is the unusual amount of swearing. I realize that with any thriller there are evil men who don't speak Sunday-School language. Grisham, Jenkins, and others have proven that coarse language isn't necessary for a good plot. Last Man Standing is a good read if you can manage to handle the language. Baldacci is definitely a writer who can both build suspense and distrust of federal agencies.
Rating: 
Summary: Good action, cheesy dialogue
Review: This is the first Baldacci novel I have read, not bad, not great. I was a big fan of Clancy's Rainbow Six, which for those who haven't read it is about a team much like HRT, but while the plot is interesting, the characters are slightly derivative and the twists are not wholly unexpected. The main character, Web London, is real in that he's not some invincible force, but inconsistent in that he goes from being an intellectual and emotional man to a cookie-cutter tough guy. - FBI guy to Web: "If you see Macy on the street, my advice would be to run".
- Web's reply: "I'm HRT, I eat guys like him for breakfast". Come on, that's just weak. That line was used by the current govenor of CA in the classic film "Commando": Tough guy to Arnie: "You ready? Cause this Green Beret's gonna kick your [expletive]".
Arnie's reply: "I eat Green Beret's for breakfast, and right now I am very hungry". I like that the details of HRT, the FBI and problems that seem inherent in the system are dealt with pretty fairly. I don't like that the dialogue in parts seems like it was written for Jean-Claude Van Dam. There are moments of brilliance, like when Web is confiding to his shrink about the letters he wrote at Ruby Ridge, but overall the characters and dialogue pale in comparison to Baldacci's contemporaries. The action is not as good as Ludlum and the characters just don't interest me the way Clancy's seem to.
Rating:
Summary: A Satisfying Hero
Review: This is the first book I've read by this author. I'm currently obsessively craving "thriller" mysteries, and this one "hit the spot". I really enjoyed the character, Web London, because mentally he was so damaged and messy on one level in sharp contrast with how competent and efficient he was on another level. To me, it seemed to be a truer depiction of the way people really are, rather than all one way or another. I especially appreciated that there was no neat, easy resolution between Web and Claire Daniels at the end of the book. I will definitely read another by this author.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I have read
Review: If you are in to these types of mystery books...this one is great. Baldacci does a nice job getting your attention early. A good play on several different plots, but not to complicated to keep you from losing interest. Some good stuff on the politics and inner workings of the FBI. I had not read Baldacci, prior to this, in a while and look forward to his next one.
Rating:
Summary: this is the best creation that this writer ever came up with
Review: i've been reading this one to the page 241 now, it's getting better and better. baldacci actually did lot of good and thorough researches before putting them together and into a novel. the dialogues between the shrink and web london were all top-nothed and very well put. the dialogues? well, they are one of the bests that i've ever read. the only bad thing about this book is the typesetting. it's too tight and congested, making the pages only in heavy blocks of paragraphs, while making the dialogues not so easy to catch on. this is the worst typesetting book that i ever encountered, and i might hold the full responsibility to the editor that did not and simply overlooked such a burden that might hurt the eyes of the readers, shame on him/her! the plot and scenario might be too complicated to some readers but really are eye-candy to a reader like me. i love it. i just don't know why some of the readers have to judge a book's value by not too believable or sometimes gave a low rating due to some of their moral standard or the limits of their nerves. when reading a book, you have to evaluate how much the hardworks and his heart of a writer has put into it. by comparison to some horrible writers like higgings and patterson who just cash in with their old format to produce similar books one after another and produced them three to four books a year once they hit the jackpot of getting a best seller and become famous. these are actually the worst writers who we should shun away. baldacci definitely is not one of them, because so far he's writing books that were so differently each time, even sometimes the plots were a bit impossible to some readers. it's just like religions, gods, faiths, politics, something if you don't believe it, you could always say you don't believe it, but you never get the right to judge it. guess what? the democratic liberals never hate the rightwing conservative republicans to the guts, but the latter always wishes hell to their opponent party. this is what i got the impression from some of the low-ratings of this book. blessed are those who never judge by their own narrow-minded values, 'cause the heaven always belongs to them. amen.
Rating:
Summary: Plot not believable
Review: There were too many odd coincidences in this book to make it entirely enjoyable. It seemed too contrived, like the author had trouble creating a concise plot and had to draw so many unlikely connections to finally end the thing. Further, there's not really any surprises, because "the last man standing" is just who you would expect it to be: the hero, the only one consistently referred to by his first name, "Web." The villains (the male villains, that is) are always identified by their last names or entire names (e.g., Nemo Strait, got that?) On the other hand, until the last 50 pages or so, when the plot unravels in an orgy of violence and unlikely coincidences, it does make for interesting reading. Web's psychiatric experience is different, and the insights into the operations of the FBI were interesting. The goings-on of a horse farm were entirely uninteresting to me, but if you like horses, you may get a "kick" out of the fact that Web and his "sidekick" spend a lot of time on a horse farm. What I learned was this: if you read Balducci, you'll got a lot of interesting detail and some character study, but a contrived plot that could be improved upon by a ten-year old. By the way there's a prominent 10-year old character in this book. He survives, with Web and a few other heroes and heroines. Diximus.
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