Last Man Standing

didn't expect the ending

I have read All of David Baldacci books to date and I think he is the BEST EVEN WHEN THEY ARE NOT THRILLERS . I am an 83 years old and I hope I live to a 100 so I can keep reading DAVID BALDACCI!

I've been ordering all the back issues of his different series, and love then all. I can't stop my "Balducci" binge reading. If you are a fan of any of his series, try this one too.

My 80+ year old aunt introduced me to David Baldacci by recommending "The Simple Truth" a couple of years ago. I have since read all of his books and they've cost me a lot of sleep. The main review provided enough details of the plot, so I'll just add a different perspective here. Yes, there are a lot of characters and plot twists. That just means you don't want to put the book down because it's easy to forget names, but I was so drawn in that I didn't want to put it down. There's also a fair amount of detail about HRT training, which I thought was interesting even though I have never thought about owning a gun. Like many of Baldacci's other books, you don't know who to trust and often guess wrong. While the hero is male, some supporting characters are female and they are strong. That's important to me as a female reader--I HATE simpy and stupid women. Baldacci writes scenes that are easy to envision and characters that seem real. That sets him apart from many in this genre. I loved this book and hope for a sequel to keep Web London and some of the other characters alive.

Having taken a pass on Baldacci's departure from the action/thriller (Wish You Well), I welcomed a return to previous form with Last Man Standing. I believe the latest effort was worth the wait. Like his previous works such as Total Control and Absolute Power, Baldacci grabs you at the beginning of Last Man Standing and doesn't let go. The work is another page turner, packed with action, suspense, plot twists and surprises. In the story, the central character, Web London, is a member of FBI HRT (Hostage Rescue Team). Previously decorated for heroism on many occasions, London finds himself inexplicably frozen during a rescue assault that wipes out the entire HRT assault team and leaves him as the last man standing. As the story unfolds, London is left to deal with the aftermath of the situation and attempt to find an explanation. Baldacci effectively utilizes shifts between the present and the past, and provides a broad character set to complement London's character. All-in-all, Last Man Standing is a great read that marks a return to the genre in which Baldacci made his mark originally. Hopefully, he will continue.

Web London leads his elite FBI Hostage Rescue Team on the raid of the drug operation, but the enemy is waiting fully armed with remote electronic modern weaponry. Web's team is wiped out with he the lone survivor. Washington DC Field Office Chief Buck Winters, a key contributor to the Waco fiasco, blames Web for causing a media nightmare. Web's peers and the family members of the dead want answers on why Web lived. Web knows he is the fall guy for this fiasco, but is determined not to just prove his innocence, but learn how his team was set up because this was a high tech precision operation that required a FBI leak to succeed. Web knows that one other witness besides the remote ambushers survived the assault. A ten-year-old boy named Kevin happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He also needs to determine why the other side left him as the LAST MAN STANDING. This trail will lead to some personal revelations that will shake Web to the core of his being. LAST MAN STANDING is an exciting psychological police thriller that contains two interrelated story lines in which separately either one is very powerful, but collectively one takes away from the other. Readers will empathize with Web who in seconds horrifically observed his team eradicated and feel for family survivors. David Baldacci furbishes an exciting thriller that never slows down even as the tale meanders between the twin plots. Still, readers will enjoy this fast-paced different type of psychological police procedural.Harriet Klausner

David Baldacci has done it again, crafting yet another fast-paced, action-packed page-turner. The hero of his newest thriller is tough-but-loveable Web London, a member of the FBI's elite Hostage Rescue Team. When a drug raid turns into a brutal and deadly ambush, Web must try to unravel the mystery of why he is the only member of his close-knit team to survive. The search takes him into the darkest corners of his past, to the mean streets of Washington, D.C., and out to seemingly bucolic Virginia hunt country, where Web meets a variety of unforgettable characters from all walks of life, each of whom sheds a bit of light on the mystery he must solve. Baldacci's seventh novel - like his others - is one you won't be able to put down. Baldacci packs the book with a brilliant plot and more than a few surprises that will knock your socks off, and includes a wealth of detail that highlights his meticulous research skills. I can only hope that we'll see Web and company again in a future Baldacci thriller.