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Last Man
Standing by David Baldacci Recommendation: •• |
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Last Page Turning Weighing in at 550 pages, David Baldacci’s
new novel, Last Man
Standing, gives a reader the impression that there’s a lot to enjoy on
those pages. By the time I turned the last page, I had survivor’s guilt myself.
Why hadn’t I stopped reading sooner? Where was the editor who could have
chopped away three hundred of those pages? Protagonist Web London is a member of the
FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team, an elite cadre of special operations
professionals. While on assignment, everyone on Web’s team was killed, except
him. That action takes place in the opening pages. The remainder of the book
gives Baldacci plenty of room to meander as London tries to find out who
killed the team and why. Along the way, we meet a score of forgettable
characters and a few interesting and memorable ones. London is more
caricature than developed character. As for writing, Baldacci masters neither
dialogue nor language, but his plot was riveting, just slower moving than I’d
like in a thriller. Here’s an excerpt of a conversation between London and an
undercover FBI agent named Cove: “ ‘What you do
for a living, I never could. I don’t know how you guys do it.’ I didn’t indicate which character was
which in the above excerpt. It doesn’t really matter much; Baldaccci doesn’t
necessarily change voice from one character to another. The plot is creative,
and contains enough twists to keep a reader somewhat interested, despite the
weak dialogue and limited use of the language. When you’re hard up to tune
out and enter into a world of action, take a few hours to thump along with
Baldacci’s Last Man
Standing. Steve Hopkins, December 5, 2001 |
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ã 2001 Hopkins and Company, LLC |
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