Rating: 
Summary: TMC and FTMA
Review: I have been an avid Balducci fan since I discovered him with his "Total Control," a book I recommended to several friends and family members, who also became hooked. I enjoyed "The Winner," The Simple Truth", along with one or two of his other books. So, when I saw a new novel by Balducci, I ran to get a copy and devour it. What a disappointment! This is by far not only Bad Balducci (which in itself wouldn't be too bad!), but also just plain bad.
At 550 pages, I wallowed along the first half of the book, determined to get through it. It suffered from TMC ("Too Many Characters"---you need a scorecard to keep track of them!) and FTMA ("Far Too Many Anacroyns"), which made the book extremely difficult to follow. At around the half-way mark, I decided to give Balducci two more chapters and then I'd call it quits. Well, suddenly, the book became somewhat of the standard Balducci I was anticipating: a semi-pageturner! But after it was all over, with an overly pat and predictable and too convenient ending, I was disappointed. I felt I had wasted my time. The book would have been much better if it came in at 200 pages less. This was a difficult read.
Rating: 
Summary: David Baldacci's 'Last Man Standing' or "Chris Whitcomb Stri
Review: David Baldacci has been, to government conspiracy, what John Grisham has been to legal system conspiracy. I read the first five of his books (Absolute Power, Total Control, The Winner, Saving Faith, A Simple Truth) with great enthusiasm. Much of the plot in those books (as in his latest) took place in and around DC, and -- when a book is well-written -- it's always fun to "get" the environs and not have to take it as an article of faith that the author isn't just making stuff up. They were good books. Then, Mr. Baldacci and Mr. Grisham, at nearly the same time (last year) decided (allegedly independently) to write completely off-topic books. I did read Grisham's entry, "A Painted House." I am not completely ashamed to admit that I haven't read Baldacci's "Wish You Well." (...) Anyway, Last Man Standing (LMS) is still a departure of sorts for Baldacci. His previous books dealt with government intrigue, with occasional forays into other areas. This is a book about an FBI agent. Specifically, and FBI Hostage Rescue Team operator. Now, yes, I just reviewed a non-fiction book about the HRT (Cold Zero), I know. However, it wasn't until I finished the book and read the very last acknowledgment -- where Mr. Baldacci gives a big old wet kiss to Chris Whitcomb, the author of Cold Zero -- that it hit me how directly he was involved. (Mainly because, unlike the acknowledgments to "bit" players like his editor and agent, he says that he could not have written the book without Special Agent Whitcomb's direct assistance.) I should have figure this out when I thought, while reading, "Hmmm, Baldacci uses the same descriptions of HRT tactics that I read in Cold Zero." But I just assumed that the HRT was a popular topic nowadays and the similarities were just coincidence. Silly me. Unfortunately, the HRT descriptions are executed a bit mechanically... it's a bit of an instruction manual -- no, more like a lecture -- than a novel. The meat is there, but it's just not flavored right. This book is about an HRT guy who survives a set-up where the rest of his team is massacred -- making the protagonist, as you might suspect, the last man standing. (Though, technically, he's prone for part of that time.) As any good survivor of a massacre, he is then accused, alternatingly, of being a coward and a traitor. He must, as any accused traitor, clear his name. And as any alleged coward, he must also seek psychotherapy. Thus, Baldacci weaves a plot that brings in FBI investigations, HRT tactics, the narcotics business, horse farming, psychiatry and taxidermy into one book. (Let's see Tom Clancy do that... But first let's see if he wants to.) As confused as it sounds, it's executed well. The plot, more or less, consists of our flawed hero (but aren't they all flawed? Otherwise they'd be, let's see... Jack Ryan, who apparently has NO flaws. Take that, Mr. Clancy.) trying to figure out who set up his team and how he lived through the event? Suspicion shifts from drug overlords to a variety of FBI higher-ups, to friends' wives to odd neighbors to white supremacists. The author does leave a number of clues -- and red herrings -- throughout the story to make that endeavor more challenging. I had it pretty much cracked -- but not quite -- about 100 pages before the author began to reveal the intrigue. Even then, I didn't see a couple of the last-minute twists, making the last couple chapters much more satisfying than I expected. The book oscillates, scene-wise, between the rough areas of DC (Anacostia), FBI offices, and Virginia horse country (someone has to have money in these books). We mostly follow the protagonist through the book, so the frequent perspective changes that mark this genre are absent... making it a lot easier for the reader to keep up. I'd recommend the book, but only if you can buy it at a discount (...) or wait 'til paperback. If I'd paid full price (and I didn't, and generally I don't ever), I would be a bit put off. At 50% off, you get just the right amount of bang for your reading buck. And it ends with the perfet set-up, should Baldacci break pattern, for a sequel... For those of you who are intrigued by the genre, but have not read his previous work, I'd pick up one of his earlier books in paperback and see what you think. Absolute Power was 100% better in print than on the silver screen. Total Control was completely engrossing. The middle book -- The Winner -- the middle of those books -- was absolutely fascinating, with more interesting character development than I'd read in a long time. The next two were also very good, but I honestly don't recall my exact reaction... they were also much more chacter-centric (versus plot-centric) than the first two (which were big conspiracy sort of stories). Happy reading!
Rating: 
Summary: Good
Review: This is a solid thriller, and probably the best I've read since Craig Furrnas' THE SHAPE. Murder, mayhem, intrigue. What more can you ask!
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: So sorry. Usually, I love this author but this novel was a major disappointment for me. Web, the main character was boring and the book way too long.
Rating:
Summary: Tough to get through
Review: I was very excited for this book and from the inside flap I thought it would be an exciting book. I
was wrong. The story seemed very slow moving to me and I think that was because there was
not a lot of dialogue in the book. The pages seemed to take forever to get through. Baldacci is a
good writer, almost any other writer and I would have put this one down before finishing. The bad guy seems a bit far-fetched to me and I could have done without all the psychology stuff. Someone asked for my recommendation on this after I finish, I don't think I will be recommending this one. If you want to read a good Baldacci read "The Winner" or "Wish You
Well."
Rating:
Summary: Recovering from Abuse, Deadly Risk-Taking and Revenge!
Review: Caution: The Last Man Standing is not for the squeamish or those who have nightmares about what they read. The book has many scenes of extreme violence and mayhem aimed at good guys and bad. The book's language is also laced with virtually every common swear word that you know. What differentiates Last Man Standing from the standard shoot-em-up thriller is that Mr. Baldacci explores the mind as much as he does the physical. Providing that context makes the book more intense, meaningful, and complex. The book's hero, Web London, is also someone you will find interesting and admirable. At his job as a Hostage Rescue Team assaulter for the FBI, he is bold, brave, and extremely capable. But, it has come with a price. He has an unattractively reconstructed face from wounds that makes him seem like Frankenstein to some, a body covered with bullet scars, and no family life. As you will learn in the book, he also had a trouble childhood that makes personal connection seem risky to him. So, his fellow team members and their families have become his family. Imagine, then, the blow that comes when the six other assaulters are all mown down by machine gun fire during a raid on what was thought to be a drug organization's accounting operation. What makes it worse is that he froze at the start of the assault, or he would be dead with them. Imagine the guilt! To make matters worse, he is suspected of either being a coward or having been paid off. Life gets worse. It becomes apparent that someone has been leaking confidential FBI information, or this slaughter could not have occurred. Who is it? Why would they want to wipe out a hostage rescue team? How was it accomplished? These are just some of the many mysteries that are brought forth. Soon, others are dying in a pattern that seem to tie back to the escape of Ernest B. Free (leader of the Free Society) from prison. Free had been the cause of the crisis that had led to the death of a little boy hostage in the assault that had cost Web London his face. Mr. Baldacci has a strength as a story-teller in that he saves up lots of revelations for you, and deals them out frequently . . . like discount tickets to return to a theme park. This quality first becomes clear at page 99, so keep going in the beginning if you are wondering why people have liked this book. The surprises come more frequently after that. So you will want to keep turning the pages. As the story evolves, Mr. Baldacci also provides the reader with information that the FBI doesn't have so that you can appreciate the conflict more as it develops. You will know who did what and why long before the end of the book, but the resolution of the conflict will be interesting enough that you will want to continue to the end. The book's weakness is that the writing could have been tightened up quite a bit. There are about 200 pages of extra material in this book that should have been edited out. One of the problems of becoming a best-selling author is that you get too much power over the editors, and the amount of editing declines. With proper editing, this book could have been one of the top thrillers of all time. Without the editing, a clever concept, interesting hero, and entertaining story are allowed to clank along awkwardly for long sections where neither character nor story development occur. Mr. Baldacci, less is sometimes more . . . especially in writing! Why do you do the work that you do? What kind of family life do you want to have? If things aren't the way you would like them in your work or family life, why aren't you changing them?
Rating:
Summary: Last man standing or so you think
Review: I found this book confusing. It never explained some of the characters fully. After I got used to that I read it all in one sitting. I enjoyed it beleive it or not. I did not find it very beleivable but still enjoyed it
Rating:
Summary: A Disappointingly Weak Effort
Review: Having read all of Baldacci's books, I looked forward to another great read, but ended up suprisingly disappointed at this weak effort. It seems that Baldacci packed as many story lines into this one as he could possibly think of -- which were both uninteresting and unbelievable -- then expounded on them in repetitious detail (seemingly to show off how much he knows about so many things), only to have them all come together in an all-to convenient and unconvincing ending. Even more disappointing were the 2-dimentional characters and equally flat dialog. It's hard to believe that this is the same author who penned such rich characters, settings, and plots in his other novels. I only hope his future efforts return to prior form. Skip "Last Man Standing" and wait for the quality stories we have come to expect from Baldacci. In the meantime, try reading Vince Flynn, starting with "Term Limits" ... you won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: 4 1/2
Review: Baldacci returns to his starting form thriller, but this time he throws in a little more emotion and feeling and takes away a little more action.
Web London is a 37-year-old HRT specialist for the FBI. He is well respected and thought of as a hero. On his latest mission this all changes. He has unknowingly led his squad of 6 into an ambush and they are all killed. He survived. The bad thing is, he froze before entry and he doesn’t know why. This squad included his many good friends. Few know the truth, but most look at him as somewhat of a coward, including the media. His personal job now is to find out who was behind this ambush. Was it a group of neo nazis? Could it have been the local drug kingpin? Many different issues are touched on in this well-rounded thriller. The character study of Web London is lengthy and in depth. Yes, in this thriller Baldacci gets more touchy-feely than his other thrillers, but this also is a bonus in that it adds depth --great depth-- to the character. The challenges of the HRT (hostage rescue team), of the FBI are touched on and quite interesting. A satisfying story with some unique characters. Highly recommended for Baldacci fans as well as thriller fans.
Rating: 
Summary: One of his Best
Review: I have enjoyed all of David Baldacci's books, this one is one my favorites by far. Just when I thought I had it all figured out,
he changed things. The characters were likeable and believable I couldn't put it down. Although, the ending was a littledisapointing, I hope one day he will continue the storyline, of Web London. I look forward to his next book.
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