Hour Game

Rating:
Summary: Deeply Flawed.
Review: Baldacci uses his characters allegorically to teach character-building lessons to his readers 'for their own good'. This preaching would be bad enough, but he apparently assumes his reader is a slightly backward 8-year-old. In this book, there are two main types of characters, the ugly people and the beautiful people. The beautiful people are handsome, clear-eyed, endlessly driven, improbably athletic, hard-bodied, smugly cultured, self-righteously polite, superciliously intelligent and deeply convinced of their superiority. Oh yeah, they are also Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent. The ugly people are shiftless, hostile, treacherous, (...) drunken, boorish, fat, larcenous, selfish, unmannered, speak with their mouths full and generally don't understand how inferior they are to the beautiful people. The good news is that Baldacci assumes his reader is one of the beautiful people too.

It is not merely that Baldacci glorifies a particular kind of pompous, relentless ambition (common among lawyers), but that in doing so he also denigrates all the 'little people' who somehow don't measure up. The book reads like Baldacci is trying to get back at all the incompetent waitresses, surly cab drivers, listless housecleaners and feckless personal assistants who ever failed to give him the service and deference a Virginia gentleman deserves. If Martha Stewart ever wrote a catty novel about her fellow prisoners, it would probably read like this.





Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Former Secret Service Agents, Sean King and Michelle Maxwell previously introduced in SPLIT SECOND, now run a detective agency. They have been hired to investigate a domestic burglary at the estate of an old Wrightsburg, Virginia family. What seems to be a simple burglary turns into any but simple. The prime suspect is murdered, then another killing takes place. Soon it is evident that a serial killer is on the loose. The overworked sheriff deputizes Sean and Michelle to help him solve the killings that are piling up by the day.

I have waited a week to write a review of this book. It a strange book to review because I enjoyed reading it, but can't quite figure out why. I love the chemistry of the two protagonists even though there is no romantic involvement. There were a lot of characters in this story and that was a good thing because one was getting murdered almost every chapter. The plot was totally ridiculous. At the end to tie up the many loose ends, the author goes through a laundry list of items in scene that served no other purpose than to answer question that should have been answered as part of the story. It seemed so out of place that I wondered if an editor made him add that scene. I can't recommend the book, but I would love to see these characters back in a book worthy of them.


Rating:
Summary: Very descriptive
Review: Hour Game is a novel with a deep look into the mysterious world of a killer's mind, full of dark passions and morbid fear. The cold bloodedness of the killer is entirely credible. The way David Baldacci portrayed him gives us a clue as to how to figure out killers in society. Though rich, the characters in this book are predictable, dreary and mean. The plot of revolving around this psychopath is rich. Based on Sean King and the Michelle Maxwell who are determined to catch the serial killer, this page-turner will keep you on the edge of your seat to the final page. The book has enough suspense and mystery to thrill a reader

You can also read DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE.

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing but muddled
Review: I have always enjoyed David Baldacci's novels. I found Hour Game less satisfying than its predecessor, Split Second. Baldacci has created an intiguing novel about a serial killer who is killing victims in a manner which replicates the methods of a whole series of serial murderers. Interwoven with this are the complex interpersonal dynamics of a wealthy and dysfunctional Southern family, the Battles. To complicate matters further the author introduces a second murderer who appears to be replicating the work of the first.

Former Secret Service agents Sean King and Michelle Maxwell have their hands full as they assist the police in trying to track down the killer. The interplay between their characters adds to the flavour of the novel but romance has not yet blossomed. They have their hands full in trying to avert more murders but they rise to the challenge.

Baldacci has adopted the James Patterson technique of short chapters but it does not seem well suited to this long and complex novel. This time the identity of the villain became clear to me well before the end, largely because the other likely villains had already been killed off. In that respect the author might have been wise to muddy the waters by keeping alive some other viable suspects.




Rating:
Summary: Disappointment
Review: I have read all the major works of David Baldacci. I rushed to consume all of his works. Suddenly I hit a brick wall. Hour Game is true to it's title: it has a theme of hours and has your interest for about an hour. It is terribly disjointed, seems written by several authors, and struggles for sense for the last 20 percent of the read. I was terribly disappointed to see this as a Baldacci writing. I'm on a diet and will move on to a new menu.

Rating:
Summary: Had to put down
Review: I liked the two main detectives, but thought the added story of the burglary stalled out the lack of depth on the serial killer's story. I just couldn't keep reading about one murder after the next.

Rating:
Summary: Farfetched and uninteresting
Review: I'm done with novels about a beautiful and intelligent woman hunting a serial killer in small town America. Even the American Idol tryouts are better than this!

Rating:
Summary: Okay At Best -- And I'm being Generous!
Review: I've read all of David Baldacci's books, although in my opinion each new book is a little less good than the one preceding it. And, having read Hour Game, I may be ready to give up on Baldacci -- or, at leat no longer consider him to be one of my 'must read' authors. The Hour Game starts off with a lot of promise, interesting plot and lots of mystery and excitement. However, the book never lived up to its potential. The plot became too muddled and confusing, too many characters were involved and the interval between anything exciting happening was much too drawn out. While Baldacci's latest is just good enough to finish, it's not a book I'd recommend highly to you.

Rating:
Summary: Our Game
Review: Two Secret Service agents turned private investigators, Sean King and Michelle Maxwell, have been hired to prove a man's innocence in a domestic burglary. As the two investigate the burglary, they are pulled into a separate case, one involving a series of murders based on the criminal methods of the most infamous killers. As the bodies begin to pile-up, Sean and Michelle race to stop a killer, as well as save themselves, but just as they are about to uncover the truth they are hit with one last surprise... 'Hour Game' is a can't-put-it-down, up-all-night page turner that truly deserves to be called a page turner. I don't want to spoil any of the surprises by going into the plot any further, however, I will say that the novel is a bit of a venture into new territory for David Baldacci. This time around Baldacci has decided to write about serial killers, with some forensic detail thrown in for fun and he does so flawlessly. Full of suspense and interesting characters, 'Hour Game' proves David Baldacci is a master of his craft and ranks as one of his best books. Expect to see 'Hour Game' dominating the top spot on the bestseller lists. A MUST read!
Also recommended: BARK OF THE DOGWOOD and a book called GOOD GRIEF