Rating:  Summary: Interesting -- Intriguing -- Ingenious Review: Once again, Baldacci impresses with his ability to fuse diligent research with an imaginitive storyline. Even the most prolific reader, in spite of the author's subtle foreshadowing, will be surprised by the plot's sinuous turns. The in-depth descriptions of the hostage rescue team coupled with the continuous action of the sub-plots make this the most exciting Baldacci offering since Absolute Power. It is also refreshing to read an author who refuses to produce pablum characters and instead imbues them with authenticity.
Rating:  Summary: It's Baldacci! Review: After a brief and successful sojourn into a new genre (Wish you well) Mr. Baldacci is back with a vengeance, with all the suspense and depth of his thrillers. I think he's even a better writer now than before, if that is possible. I can't wait for the movie.
Rating:  Summary: A great thriller Review: Web London leads his elite FBI Hostage Rescue Team on the raid of the drug operation, but the enemy is waiting fully armed with remote electronic modern weaponry. Web's team is wiped out with he the lone survivor. Washington DC Field Office Chief Buck Winters, a key contributor to the Waco fiasco, blames Web for causing a media nightmare. Web's peers and the family members of the dead want answers on why Web lived. Web knows he is the fall guy for this fiasco, but is determined not to just prove his innocence, but learn how his team was set up because this was a high tech precision operation that required a FBI leak to succeed. Web knows that one other witness besides the remote ambushers survived the assault. A ten-year-old boy named Kevin happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He also needs to determine why the other side left him as the LAST MAN STANDING. This trail will lead to some personal revelations that will shake Web to the core of his being. LAST MAN STANDING is an exciting psychological police thriller that contains two interrelated story lines in which separately either one is very powerful, but collectively one takes away from the other. Readers will empathize with Web who in seconds horrifically observed his team eradicated and feel for family survivors. David Baldacci furbishes an exciting thriller that never slows down even as the tale meanders between the twin plots. Still, readers will enjoy this fast-paced different type of psychological police procedural. Harriet Klausner
Rating:  Summary: Disappointing...A far too complicated thriller Review: Web London heads up the FBI's super-elite Hostage Rescue Team, he is a master at what he does, but on their latest assignment he is not able to predict, or save them from the bloodshed that is about to erupt. Having his men assemble in an alley, Web feels confident that they will bring down the drug dealer they have set out to destroy, but within seconds they are ambushed...everyone killed, leaving Web the LAST MAN STANDING. Trying to cope with the blame that has been placed on him by grieving widows, Web must try to put the pieces of that fateful night together. What went wrong? How were they ambushed? And who was the young boy Web saved in that alley, and why was he there? As these questions plague Web he seeks the help of psychiatrist Claire Daniels, and with her help he will be able to confront his own tainted past, as well as answer the question WHY WAS HE CHOSEN TO BE THE ONLY SURVIVOR? As Web's search begins the young boy disappears, and anyone connected to that fateful night will be violently silenced, but Web is confident he knows where the killer will strike next, only this time he may not survive the attack. 'Last Man Standing' marks the return to thriller writing for David Baldacci, unfortunately the novel is peopled with too many characters, and the plot is far more complicated than it should be. Characters come dropping in every chapter, and the in depth descriptions of weapons, and technical FBI jargon become a distraction rather than an important part to the plot. As with all Baldacci novels his writing is clean, crisp and easy to read, and he CAN spin a good tale, only this time he has too much going on. As the old saying goes "LESS IS MORE". Nick Gonnella
Rating:  Summary: Like The World Turned Upside Down Review: I picked up "Last Man Standing" to have some easy fiction reading as a little interlude while reading Norman Thomas Remick's epic-like, non-fiction, virtual education called "West Point". "Last Man Standing" is another Baldacci winner. David Baldacci writes so realistically that fiction becomes almost heavy reading (though still great stuff). On the other hand, Remick writes true history and philosophy so much like an adventure, it's actually an easier read than most fiction. It's like the world turned upside down. I'm loving "Last Man Standing". You won't be disappointed. But, I'm also looking forward to getting back to the adventure through the history and philosophy of civilization, "West Point", that is actually, unusually, a very light and entertaining read. Meanwhile, allow me to advise you that David Baldacci has another five star hit on his hands.
Rating:  Summary: Long, Whiney Trip to Nowhere Review: In this hefty, overly plotted tale, both hero and villain have a one dimensional take on life: "I'm dysfunctional, you're dysfunctional." After finishing 638 pages --- that alternated between whining, killing and psychoanalysis of even minor characters --- I felt nothing. Other than, whew, it's over. Oh, the many loose ends of this hydra were mostly tied up, but not one character lingered in my mind. Not one scene haunted me. Not one fresh insight stuck. Four stars for technical craft (including excruciating detail on weaponry and equestrian apparatus). Two for excessive body count and anemic soul. Makes three.
Rating:  Summary: Slow to Start but Worth Sticking With It Review: This turned out to be one of my favorite Balducci books. It's action packed and an incredible story. There were scenes that made me laugh out loud. Love the character "Big F." I would say this is a "mans" book, but I'm a 28 year old female and really liked it.
My favorite part was the ending. I felt it had a very realistic feel to it.
Rating:  Summary: ...makes for indifferent reading. Review: Web London, with other members of the elite Charlie Team, go in to a warehouse for a mission. By the time shots have stopped, Web is The Last Man Standing.
The book is spent finding out what caused the fiasco. David Baldacci has a good plot with a twist at the end, and does a nice job of describing the fraternity of Hostage and Rescue Teams (HRT).
Nevertheless, the book is sunk by the incredulity of the creature called Web London. Instead of coming out as victim, he incurs the sneer of the reader, and ends up as unemotional superman.
I don't know much about hynopsis, but in all candor, O Bannon's hynopsis of Web is weak. Maybe that's why it's almost lacking in detail.
Last Man Standing is for those who enjoy action without contemplating the veracity of the plot. Any one else: Switch the channel.
Rating:  Summary: Run Of the Mill Review: I'll summarize the deficiencies of this book shortly. The plotting, while complex, is not believable; too many rugs are pulled out from under the reader, there are too many laughable twists at the end, and too many cartoonish villains. This last problem is one shared by the rest of Baldacci's characters: in a book centered around the protaganist's psyche, he and everyone around him seems absurd, too damaged to function, and too interested in promoting the author's own political musings on the side. The technological and organizational detail is flavorless and lengthy. Finally, the thing that killed the novel for me was the prose. Muddy, clunky, unpolished, unedited--for a specific example look at the number of times he uses the word "however" unnecessarily in the middle of a sentence. It was an infuriating verbal tick of his, and it just made everything else stand out that much more.
Rating:  Summary: Weak Plot, Cheesy Characters and Dialogue Review: If you like a thriller, this is probably an OK book. However, the dialogue and characters are embarrassing--every male character is either enormous, unbelievably handsome, or has been through more firefights than they can count. Nowhere does the plot or dialogue feel realistic, and about halfway through the book the effort to suspend disbelief gets to be a real struggle. Come on--spotting a glint off of rifle scope 1,000 yards away in the woods, just in time to get out of the way? Coolly observing that the sniper must be using (among other things) a 10 power scope?? Very cheesy for anyone who's actually been around firearms at all.
That sort of reflects the entire book.
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