HOUR GAME by David Baldacci
After a voyage into sentimentality with WISH YOU WELL, and three only so-so novels: LAST MAN STANDING, THE CHRISTMAS TRAIN, and SPLIT SECOND, novelist David Baldacci is back in top form with HOUR GAME. This is Baldacci at his best, writing a story that races at break neck speed to its final installment. You won't have time to sit back and relax while you are reading this book. It is an adrenaline rush that never lets up.
The "stars" of this story are private investigators Sean King and Michelle Maxwell. They are living and working in Wrightsburg, Virginia and have enough work to keep them busy. But then all hell breaks loose as a victim's body is discovered and it appears a serial killer is on a rampage.
The local sheriff brings Sean and Michelle into the case as two more bodies are found. In each case a notorious serial killer's modus operandi has been copied and a watch on the victim's wrist indicates which number of victim they are. It is set for one o'clock for the first victim, two o'clock for the second, and so on.
Eventually it seems the most prominent family in Wrightsburg is somehow involved. The Battles practically own the town and do what they want when they want to. Remmy, the matriarch, is a force unto herself while her two children, Eddie and Savannah, operate in her shadow.
The involvement of the Battles makes this story seem like "Dynasty" or "Dallas" as the setting for the murder mystery. This, however, never cheapens the appeal of the book. Baldacci is careful to make his characters fully drawn ones and never caricatures.
The suspense in the story is unsettling and the reader will race from page to page, chapter to chapter unwilling to close the book and anxious to know who, what and why. But Baldacci takes his time and draws out the mystery in the most pleasing and satisfactory way.
It is great to see a writer as good as Baldacci deliver a superb story one more time. He doesn't make a single misstep in the telling and knows how to be just descriptive enough about the settings and the locales without being boring. Mainly he focuses on the plot at hand and keeps it moving.
If you like mysteries then this is one of the best in a while. David Baldacci roped us into his method of storytelling with the magnificent ABSOLUTE POWER. Now he returns to that top form with HOUR GAME. Don't miss the chance to be thoroughly entertained and amazed by this latest adventure into the mystery of the criminal mind.
HOUR GAME is published by Warner Books. It contains 437 pages and sells for $26.95.