First Family
by David Baldacci
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Book Reviews of First Family
Book Review: Slow start, but gets better
Summary: 4 Stars
Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are former Secret Service agents who have become private investigators. King has a special relationship with the First Lady, Jane Cox, who asks them to investigate the death of her sister-in-law and the disappearance of her niece. The scene then shifts to a seemingly maniacal man, Sam Quarry, who is carrying out a revenge plan he has developed over many years. Author Baldacci conceals the motivation and the object of Quarry's plan for a large part of the novel which builds suspense for the reader. Michelle is sidetracked from the investigation by the death of her mother, a subplot which blessedly doesn't combine with the main plot, which often happens in this type of fiction. Perhaps Baldacci is losing some of his creative edge, as some reviewers have suggested, but he still spins a pretty interesting story.Book Review: Nobody does it better!
Summary: 5 Stars
David Baldacci has parked the surviving Camel Club members for a breather and returned to the ex-Secret Service tandem of Michelle and Sean, reaching all the way back to the formula of his first blockbuster by way of including POTUS (here, "Wolfman," more apt that you might think) among his cast of central characters with secrets to be illumined. You think, early on, that you've got the gist of the plot figured out and that surely DB couldn't be that obvious, only to discover, well into the book, that all the seemingly unconnected dots are definitely going to get connected and that what you thought was REALLY going on was barely the half of it.
One doesn't review thrillers by summarizing plots. All I'm trying to tell you is that this is one good read. I got so hooked I read the last 2/3 of the book in one sitting.
Book Review: I like Baldacci, but this wasn't one of my favorites
Summary: 3 Stars
Like most of Baldacci's books, this was a good, entertaining, page-turning read. As others have said, the ending was in some ways too predictable, yet also highly implausible. My biggest disappointment with this book is the time given to fleshing out the details of the President's and First Lady's cover up. Why? Because the cover-up is pretty easy to accept on face value without all the background info. I would liked to have seen more time spent on how Quarry actually dug up and pieced together all the information on his own, because THAT'S the part that was so implausible to me...country bumpkin with aversion to technology manages to dig up all this information that has been buried by people with the means and motivation to do so. So how did Quarry do it? Since he's dead, my guess is that it won't be covered in another book.Book Review: Edge of Good and Evil - As a Man Thinketh
Summary: 4 Stars
David Baldacci questions the edge between good and evil in his newest thriller. And causes us to look inward and realize that each of us has the ability to be both. Like the Coxes and Sam Quarry, our choices define us. It is a page-turner and though it is reminiscent of Absolute Power, it was different enough to keep my interest. I'm also glad he has returned to the saga of Sean King and Michele Maxwell.
Another reviewer said that the action is unbelievable, what thriller is believable? Thrillers are fiction and as such, draw us into a world we do not ordinarily inhabit. Baldacci creates fictional situations with complex characters that entertain us and cause us to stay up late and read. What better praise can you give a book than that? --Thus, it's a real thriller in my book.
Book Review: BASICALLY SILLY
Summary: 2 Stars
As another Reviewer has noted - David Balducci should take some time off - refresh his creative instincts and resources and get back to writing books as exciting as TOTAL CONTROL and ABSOLUTE POWER. This book has a few interesting moments and plot twists - but the story is totally illogical and inane - that is - just silly. The plot does not build up any tension and the characters in the story just do not create any interest The female lead is suppposed to be some super star investigator with "Kill Bill" martial arts skills - who gets cold cocked in her one fight and most of the time is stammering around crying. It just goes on from one silly plot development and cartoon character to the other -There is zero reality to the plot or the characters. Not worth the time or the money to buy it used.