True Blue

David Baldacci is one of those authors a reader can always count on. My favorites are the Camel Club series, but I have read all his others and find his writing interesting, scary at times (when it is too close to the news) but always entertaining and well worth the price. I read the hardbound, but I recently sprung for a Kindle and as looking forward to reading Baldacci on that device.

Maui H.S. Although I do not believe it was one of Baldacci's best. The story moved and was interesting. I think I really liked the ending because, not everything in life works out. This ending left a reality shock. Some of it is a little unbelievable, but why not when you are spinning a story.

An attorney is murdered in Washington, D.C. Another attorney who puts together international deals is murdered. The second dead lawyer is found by an associate Roy Kingman. Kingman a lawyer now, was a basketball star at the University of Virginia. Former D.C. cop Mason "Mace" Perry is just out of prison having spent two years behind bars. Her crime, she'd been drugged (allegedly) by gang members and forced to help in a robbery. She'd like to solve the above mentioned murder(s) and prove that she's worthy to be reinstated. However, the case is being investigated by Mace's sister, who just happens to be the Chief of Police. Mace teams up with Kingman to try and solve the case(s), but you can bet there are sinister forcers at work who don't want them to succeed. There is typical Baldacci tension in this book and it was a better than average read, but I sure as heck liked SAVING FAITH and ABSOLUTE POWER a whole lot better. That's not to say this wasn't a good read, it was.

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!

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.