Last Man Standing

I have read Baldacci's first four novels and have immensely enjoyed all of them. This one, however, is just awful. Not only the character's dialogue but even the story itself is written like a really bad detective movie. The only thing I can think of to compare it to is this : There was a series of Calvin and Hobbes cartoons where Calvin imagines himself as a private detective and they are written like the old detective shows, with lame lines like "The gun was loaded, and so was I". That is exactly what this book is like, except it goes on for 400 pages. There isn't a single interesting character in this book, in my opinion. You just have to slog your way through the book to get to the end. It's the Bataan Death March of novels. I hope this is an aberration - I'll certainly give him another try since the first four novels that I read were so good. But one more stinker like this one and I'll drop his name from my reading list.

If you like a thriller, this is probably an OK book. However, the dialogue and characters are embarrassing--every male character is either enormous, unbelievably handsome, or has been through more firefights than they can count. Nowhere does the plot or dialogue feel realistic, and about halfway through the book the effort to suspend disbelief gets to be a real struggle. Come on--spotting a glint off of rifle scope 1,000 yards away in the woods, just in time to get out of the way? Coolly observing that the sniper must be using (among other things) a 10 power scope?? Very cheesy for anyone who's actually been around firearms at all.

That sort of reflects the entire book.

I bought this book in the airport, 5 minutes before my flight was due to take off, to give myself something to read. What an amazing waste of [money].
I'm a fan of the genre in general, but this book is the worst I've read in a long time. Nowwhere near the class of David Morrell or even Tim Green.
Honestly, I gave up and stared at my seatback after 150 pages. I just couldn't take any more. The characters are all one dimensional carictures, the central plot element is asinine (everyone is upset at Web London for surviving an ambush), its description of the difference between a psychologist and psychiatrist was painful, the FBI/military people just don't have realistic attitudes, the dialogue is stilted.... the list goes on.
Save your time and money, skip this book.

I read and enjoyed Absolute Power so when I started Last Man Standing I couldn't believe it was so bad. The characters are cartoonish, the plot is stupid beyond belief, the ending wraps up all the loose ends in a way that sounds like an A Team episode! I forced myself to finish it hoping that there would be something to it, there was'nt. I laughed out loud during the climatic sceene.
This has to be one fo the worst books ever!
This dog gets one star because you can't go lower

I received this book as a birthday present many months ago, and the gift brought a grateful smile to my face since I have enjoyed many of David Baldacci's novels, i.e., Absolute Power, A Simple Truth and others and within a few days I was reading Last Man Standing. Overall, I thought the Web London character was boring and shallow. As an FBI hostage team assaulter he seemed more like a loose cannon rather than a team player which I suspect is the SOP for the FBI. The story is plastered with police that have nothing to fill their time with except to shoot bazookas like guns and love every minute of their destruction. Sometimes I had to laugh because some of the author's scenarios were so bizarre and far-fetched. I won't go into the constant splattering of foul, almost detestable language, which I didn't feel added much to the plot. There were few surprises and I felt I was sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to find out what would happen next.

Anyway, in my opinion Last Man Standing doesn't seem to fit Mr. Baldacci's style of a thrilling mystery novel that is at least realistic to a degree and his intensive research into the subject matter that he noted for. One last thought I think the book could have been shorten by at least 50 or 60 pages. It's not a terrible novel, it's a good read and I wouldn't recommend purchasing a hardcover, but pick up a paperback.

For you Mystery fans I encourage you to take a look at the gripping novel [[ASIN:1419660500 The Monopoly Factor]] by Robert L. Saunders. I finished reading it a week ago and the incredible effort in which the author used in his style of storytelling bring this thrilling mystery to the forefront of an excellent page turning read. You won't be disappointed. It's absolutely a top-notch novel. Have a good day.

...in its mediocrity. I have a hard time believing that David Baldacci even wrote this. Having read and enjoyed several of his other books I at first guessed it was either a very (very, very) early work where he was still a "green" writer or it was a later book where he'd suffered Author Burnout.

The plot isn't too complicated. You have this super-Gman type who, in the opening chapter, freezes during an assault by his team and ends up being the "last man standing," or in this case, lying down. After that, it's basically a story of why his team was set up and why he froze, including a tremendously tedious visit to an - surprise, surprise - attractive psychoanalyst. Then there are some scenes with his coworkers that are trite to the point of agony.

This story has so many things wrong with it, besides what's already been mentioned. First, there are too many point of view characters which makes the story hard to follow. Then there are far too many areas of the book where nothing of interest happens. For example, if you're going to detail a therapy session in a book it'd better be a revealing one - Baldacci's wasn't. Calling the book dull is an understatement.

After the first chapter the story drags on and on with little or no build up to sustain interest. Compared with the rest of the field it deserves no better than 2 stars. Against Baldacci's other stories it merits less than 1 star. If you've never read Baldacci before, please skip this one.

Web London is a member of the exclusive HRT team-Hostage Rescue Team-part of the FBI. An operation which needed the entire team went tragically and horribly wrong, with Web left as the sole survivor. Something caused him to freeze for just a moment, but long enough for him to escape the carnage which killed all of his team mates.His superior suggests counselling by a psychiatrist who dealt with the FBI operatives and their families. While on this ambushed operation, he came face to face with a small boy, who would have been the only other survivor of this attack but he disappears from the scene.Web sets out to find the boy and to clear up the reason for his inability to function during the operation.He switches from the doctor who had counselled him previously to Dr.Claire Daniels and so begins a deadly search to find the answers to everything. This is a real actioner, a pacy and exciting thriller which I could not put down.

I had read Absolute Power and enjoyed it, but either I have moved on from the genre, or this book is not very good. I kept getting the sense I was reading TV scenes and dialogue, that Mr. Baldacci was writing a screenplay. I also thought the book was too long, mostly so that more scenes could be written.
Just like with James Patterson, Jonathan Kellerman and others that turn out a lot of books, I think that the author suffers from too much writing and ends up relying on cliches (and there are plenty), thin plotlines and simplistic characters.

This Baldacci thriller is guaranteed to please his many fans given the nonstop action and convoluted twists and turns as the plot unfolds. Web London, the leader of an elite FBI Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) is the only one that survives a cleverly plotted ambush during one of the team's missions (hence the title)and the facts surrounding the incident are clouded in mystery. The deaths of Web's team members combined with his inabilty to offer a satifactory explanation of the chain of events cast suspicion on him and lead him to attempt to unravel the mystery and also seek psychological counseling from Dr. Claire Daniels. Soon we are faced with a plot involving Earnest B. Free, the head of a paramiltary cult who Web was responsible for sending to prison in a case which involved the death of a teenage boy during a previous mission of the HRT.Additional complications ensue as Francis Westbrook, a black drug dealer, becomes involved due to the apparent role of his ward Kevin during the ambush.And this is all in the first few chapters!
Romance, murder, drugs, race, psychotherapy, high tech action and frequent violence make this a page turner. Even after the villians become clear the outcome remains in doubt and the missing pieces of the very complicated puzzle are only slowly revealed.As a David Baldacci fan who had trouble putting this book down to get to sleep at night, I was tempted to give it a five star rating. However, it is too long, like Tom Clancy Baldacci seems to increasingly believe that the more details and complications the better. This seems a little too much. Second a lot of the detail is incredibly graphic violence which is unnecessary given the intriguing nature of the plot, and while in the opening scene this is both necessary and riveting, it is carried to extremes elsewhere.Remember, read it when you have lots of time, on vacation or a long plane flight.

this book was recommended to me as being a high-paced (adrenaline rushing) thriller... well, i have read many more exciting books than this, so maybe that's the problem: it's nice enough if you want to fall asleep, though!
seriously, though, this book sucks in many aspects:
the characters lack any depth and believability, and the protagonist is not really very likeable (which my work sometimes, but not in this book) either. every character in this book is just based on (rather ignorant) stereotypes, there's no personality to any of them.
baldacci uses every "spare line" he has to glorify the FBI and it's hostage rescue team (HRT), their professional behaviour and their ability to be the only ones who can deal with certain situations (of the type "where all others fail, we'll prevail!"). not that i doubt that - i expect men in this line of work to be very professional, or else people die - but baldacci's characters lack professional behaviour on every page - even the departement head is always kicking his own subordinates in the balls (in a manner of speaking, of course) and acting like nothing can touch him... if that's professional attitude - well, then i guess we can all be happy we haven't had the need for (baldacci's version of) the HRT come and get us out of a crises situation. not only are the unprofessional, but rather naive as well! as the story goes, we're told at "how surprised" some characters of the book are about the "ambush" of the HRT team (which is kind of the opener to the book). i quote: "I can't believe anyone would have the guts to do this to us!". apparently, these FBI agents expect criminals to just lay back and be arrested when they have been targeted by the HRT - like i said, professional.
did i mention moronic stereotypes? of course, the FBI and DEA agents have a dislike for each other (isn't that a surprise?!). i guess that must be part of the professional attitude as well: you have to dislike all other government agencies to be a professional agent..
the dialogue is another thing! people just don't speak that way... it kind of reminds me of the cheesy dialogue you find in ...... (and i mean REALLY .....) daily soaps - the average (no, the below-average) star trek episode has more quality dialogue in 5 minutes than this book has in total!
the plot itself is rather moronic as well, but for what it's worth (given that some of you might actually want to read this trash), i won't *spoil* that for you: just remember, you have been warned!