Rating:  Summary: What a drag...... Review: Too many characters and sub-plots, filler drivel, and male macho baloney. This is not my first Baldacci book, but unfortunately, my last.
Rating:  Summary: Last Man Standing Review: I'm not a person who reads a lot but by some unknown force...this book called to me and it was a great one! The way David Baldacci writes is simply breathtaking because he puts you right there in the middle of a gun fight. The characters in the book are so awesome....it's nice to take time out from daily routines and be able to cheer for a hero (or two) and that's what this book does for you.
Rating:  Summary: Typical Review: Here is a prime example why I have strayed from contemporary fiction. Does every character in the story have to have a connection with the end result? Although the story was interesting, the plot fast paced, the climax was dissapointing. We get very little depth of any except the main characters. A fun summer read, but not a book you wished wouldnt end.
Rating:  Summary: Implausible story, pedestrian prose Review: Killing time in the local pharmacy while having a prescription filled, I decided to browse the paperback book display, strategically placed where patrons in my predicament tended to wait. I pulled this book from the shelf partly on the strength of the statement emblazoned above the title that it was 'a novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author.' Had I recalled the number of Adam Sandler movies that have topped the box office, I would have been less impressed with any claim of the public having embraced the book. But extended periods of time spent loitering in a pharmacy tend to dull my powers of analysis, and I bought the book - the plot sketch sounded intriguing, and I like a good mystery. To cut to the chase, the story and the writing failed to engage my interest. I found the plot implausible, reminiscent of some of Robert Ludlum's books I'd read decades ago, where the villain has the power to kill or corrupt whomever he pleases. And the writing, well, take heart all of you would be authors out there: you needn't be a Michael Connelly to be New York Times bestselling author.
Rating:  Summary: Routine thriller Review: David Baldacci has made a name for himself writing suspense novels with an emphasis on fast-moving action. Last Man Standing fits right in with this trend.In this novel, Web London, a member of the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) is the sole survivor of a raid gone terribly wrong. Guilt-ridden, he is driven to find the perpetrator's of this crime. There are links to drug dealers and white supremacists and more, but Web does intrepidly figure things out. While written capably enough to be a fast and generally pleasant read, there is little that stands out about this novel. The plot is sometimes overly complex, with the final conspiracy almost ludicrous in its detail. Also, after the initial botched raid, there is little in the way of real action until the second half of the book. There are also too many larger-than-life characters. This fault comes from the fact that Web himself is so physically superior that his adversaries need to be even more so. Fortunately, Baldacci has the skill to overcome these weaknesses. This is a slightly above-average book, just under three-and-a-half stars. For suspense fans, this will not be a disappointing read, but it also will not be a highly memorable read.
Rating:  Summary: Baldacci Has Lost The Knack Review: Nobody could get this book published unless he was already a best selling author. I believe this is the worst book by any multiple-published author in the past 20 years. He fulfilled is publishing contract but not he hopes of his regular readers.
Rating:  Summary: Good read Review: I quite enjoyed it. It's pretty much just what you'd expect it to be - no surprise. It's a compelling read that kept me up a bit too late. If I have any complaints it's that the author seemed to give the ending short shrift. This seemed a bit odd, given that the rest of the book flowed well. Still, I'm happy to recommend it.
Rating:  Summary: Too many good books in the world to waste time with this. Review: Admittedly, I did not read the entire book because I had to put it down after 200 pages. It's that bad. The dialogue is cheesy, the characters shallow, and the plot (near as I can tell at the half-way point) might as well have been outlined by a fifth-grader. And did I mention that it was way too long? I have not read Baldacci before, but this book ensures that I never will again.
Rating:  Summary: A truely awful book Review: Reads like a Chuck Norris movie looks with unbelievable characters and implausable plot. Maybe it gets better in Chapter two but I never got that far and took book back for a refund (something I have NEVER done before).
Rating:  Summary: So many pages, so little time... Review: From all the reviews, and having read four of his previous books, I had expected much more from Mr. Baldacci and Last Man Standing. Like the previous books there was a large cast, a complicated plot, generous body count and general mayhem in the Washington, D. C. - Northern Virginia area. But each of the previous books had characters that one could pull for. Not here. Web London, F.B.I. agent and part of the Hostage Rescue Team is set up to take a fall. He is a shallow, unlikeable man, full of histrionics and completely self-centered. The ending will provide the explanation for that comment. There are, among the multitudes, some interesting characters, but it is hard to really care about any of them except young Kevin. The book is too long, padded with all the things you didn't buy the book to read about. Now, I'm not going to holler and say that Baldacci has turned bad and that I'll never read another of his books; that would put me in Web London's league. But I did find this outing to be so different from his earlier efforts that I hope it was just an abberation. I just hope his next one is more like the earlier books;I need this sort of book to endure the Washington, D.C. Metro every day and I'm sure that Mr. Baldacci has more great books in him. The problem with this book is that, while normally we get characters doing interesting things, a plot that moves more or less smoothly, heroes and heroines who push the limits, here the reader has trouble just figuring out where this thing is going and why. Web London is a law unto himself, does what he wants and gets away with this somewhat childish behavior. In fact, had someone else been on the case, followed the leads instead of running amok, the case could have been solved in 300 pages rather than the Tolstoyan 640 pages it took to get to the anti-cllimactic ending. Cars and guns aplenty. Not much else.
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