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riveting thriller Oct 27, 2009 (59 of 68 found this helpful)
In David Baldacci's thriller "True Blue," former cop Mace Perry teams up with lawyer Roy Kingman to solve a captivating double murder involving Diane Tolliver, Roy's colleague at a private law firm and Jamie Malden, a powerful U.S. attorney known for previously defending mobsters. The action is set in the dark underworld of Washington D.C., full of criminals and politicians holding their own sets of agendas with danger lurking at every corner in the streets.
Mace Perry has just gotten out of jail after serving two years for a crime she never committed and being stripped of her police credentials in the process. She accepts a lucrative offer to serve as wealthy Professor Altman's research assistant, but will do anything to be given a chance to become a cop again--even risk her own life to solve the case that has formally been assigned to her sister, police Chief Beth Perry.
In the meantime, Roy Kingman, who worked closely with the murdered Tolliver, decides to help Mace with the investigation--risking losing his own job. As Perry and Kingman try to discover what really happened and attempt to follow clues left behind by Diane, such as an odd e-mail sent to Roy and a key mysteriously hidden in an old law manual, they become hot targets for the killers and come face-to-face with an impostor posing as Diane's escort. Circumstances get further complicated, when a homeless vet is detained as the lead suspect in the murder but Kingman, confident in his innocence and suspecting the evidence was planted, decides to act as his defense lawyer in court despite a new clue confirming his guilt and Kingman on the verge of being fired.
This is the first Baldacci book I read, but was left impressed by the plot. The action throughout this book is non-stopping and leaves the reader constantly on the edge. There were a lot of unpredictable turns in the plot, such as when the police are told they're not authorized to investigate Malden's murder despite his high status as a prosecutor, and several plot sequences happening behind-the-scenes where Baldacci actually shows the bad guys spying and planning to kill Mace with Roy, which eventually help piece together the mystery. Baldacci also questions whether, in some cases, the doings of criminals or politicians are above the law. Overall, this was a quick and riveting read.
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Not bad but not vintage Baldacci either Nov 1, 2009 (24 of 26 found this helpful)
David Baldacci quickly became one of my favorite authors. I'm not the biggest fan of his Camel Club series but all of his novels are typically good reads. He definitely took a step backwards with this one. It's not a bad story but you have to suspend all sense of reality to enjoy it. You have to believe that a police chief would invite her disgraced ex-con, ex-cop sister to a crime scene investigation. You have to believe that an ex-cop and a corporate lawyer with no investigative experience can out maneuver the police. And you have to believe that the just out of prison ex-cop would willingly break the law - while on parole - in the belief that an ex-cop just out of prison could get her job back through such tactics. This plot is more suited for a short-lived TV series than for a Baldacci book. That being said it's not badly written but also definitely not worthy of the praise that Baldacci fans will give it just because it's a Baldacci book. This is the juncture where Baldacci can buckle down and bring back riveting stories or he can go the way of other massively successful authors (Grisham and Patterson are good examples) who realize anything they write, regardless of quality, will be an instant best-seller and they seem to put in the effort lately to prove that point.
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You always remember your first... Oct 27, 2009 (16 of 21 found this helpful)
OK so, there's this guy at work who has been after me for years to read David Baldacci. He swears by him and I would call him a `groupie' if it wasn't for the fact that he's 70-years old! He told me that I needed to start with `The Camel Club', but I wasn't in the mood to start a series. So when I heard that Mr. Baldacci had a new book coming out that was NOT part of a series, I figured I'd give it a shot. Turns out this book gave ME a shot!
I immensely enjoyed this read! Like I said, this was my first book by David but if this is how he normally writes, I can see why my friend at work was so persistent. To grab AND keep my attention a book must have blistering fast action, loathsome, captivating, notorious characters, a driving non-cheesy storyline, and a hint of bravado. `True Blue' has that times ten.
Mace, a former cop, just got out of jail after spending two years for a crime she did not commit. She's hell bent on proving her innocence and will do pretty much anything to clear her name. These "anything's" include severely ticking off her Chief-of-Police sister, getting on the wrong side of a brutal street thug, and getting into a cat-fight with the battle-axe Mona. Speaking of Mona, the cast of evil-bad characters in this book was phenomenal. I got a real thrill reading about Psycho, Mary Bard scares me, and Mona... Mona, Mona, Mona. If I called her a snobby, arrogant, bitchy, hellcat it wouldn't come close to describing to you what she really is. That being said, her parts in this book were very entertaining.
I don't know if this will become a series, but I hope it does because I sincerely enjoyed this book. Nothing would make me happier than to be a voyeur into the lives of Mace, Beth, Roy, Psycho, and Mona once more. If this was a one shot deal, then what a romp it was!
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totally disappointing Nov 5, 2009 (13 of 17 found this helpful)
I have enjoyed all of Baldacci's books and eagerly wait for each new one. What a disappointment this was. This was not an all night read as his others have been These characters had so much potential, but it was never fulfilled. The plot was mediocre and poorly developed. A writer of this quality may have to meet contractual obligations, but this just seemed to be just that. A contract fulfilled. When so much talent is wasted, it makes me wonder if he's decided to just go the way so many other fine writers have when they decided to just turn out books after finding success. Boring, insubstantial, waste of potentially good ideas. Very disappointing.
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What happened, David? Nov 8, 2009 (8 of 10 found this helpful)
What a disappointment! I felt as though I'd been dropped into book three of a Mace Perry series and missed the first two. Poor character development, mundane dialog, reality suspension needed. I'll stick to the Camel Club books.