Last Man Standing

I don't normally write reviews. It seems that we all have our prejudices and tendencies that effect our opinion. Most often reviews wreck books that someone might enjoy. But this book is so bad people need to know not to waste their time. The plot is so simple minded and is telegraphed at every turn the crafting of dialogue and descriptive narrative is so juvenile it's unreadable. I read the whole book because I was intrigued just how bad it could get. This book got as bad as feared. Don't waste your time. If it was a high school project for a final grade I would give it a D- if the author was a supermodel with a rich father. Yuck

David Baldacci has been, to government conspiracy, what John Grisham has been to legal system conspiracy. I read the first five of his books (Absolute Power, Total Control, The Winner, Saving Faith, A Simple Truth) with great enthusiasm. Much of the plot in those books (as in his latest) took place in and around DC, and -- when a book is well-written -- it's always fun to "get" the environs and not have to take it as an article of faith that the author isn't just making stuff up. They were good books.
Then, Mr. Baldacci and Mr. Grisham, at nearly the same time (last year) decided (allegedly independently) to write completely off-topic books. I did read Grisham's entry, "A Painted House." I am not completely ashamed to admit that I haven't read Baldacci's "Wish You Well." (...)
Anyway, Last Man Standing (LMS) is still a departure of sorts for Baldacci. His previous books dealt with government intrigue, with occasional forays into other areas. This is a book about an FBI agent. Specifically, and FBI Hostage Rescue Team operator.
Now, yes, I just reviewed a non-fiction book about the HRT (Cold Zero), I know. However, it wasn't until I finished the book and read the very last acknowledgment -- where Mr. Baldacci gives a big old wet kiss to Chris Whitcomb, the author of Cold Zero -- that it hit me how directly he was involved. (Mainly because, unlike the acknowledgments to "bit" players like his editor and agent, he says that he could not have written the book without Special Agent Whitcomb's direct assistance.) I should have figure this out when I thought, while reading, "Hmmm, Baldacci uses the same descriptions of HRT tactics that I read in Cold Zero." But I just assumed that the HRT was a popular topic nowadays and the similarities were just coincidence. Silly me. Unfortunately, the HRT descriptions are executed a bit mechanically... it's a bit of an instruction manual -- no, more like a lecture -- than a novel. The meat is there, but it's just not flavored right.
This book is about an HRT guy who survives a set-up where the rest of his team is massacred -- making the protagonist, as you might suspect, the last man standing. (Though, technically, he's prone for part of that time.) As any good survivor of a massacre, he is then accused, alternatingly, of being a coward and a traitor. He must, as any accused traitor, clear his name. And as any alleged coward, he must also seek psychotherapy.
Thus, Baldacci weaves a plot that brings in FBI investigations, HRT tactics, the narcotics business, horse farming, psychiatry and taxidermy into one book. (Let's see Tom Clancy do that... But first let's see if he wants to.)
As confused as it sounds, it's executed well. The plot, more or less, consists of our flawed hero (but aren't they all flawed? Otherwise they'd be, let's see... Jack Ryan, who apparently has NO flaws. Take that, Mr. Clancy.) trying to figure out who set up his team and how he lived through the event? Suspicion shifts from drug overlords to a variety of FBI higher-ups, to friends' wives to odd neighbors to white supremacists. The author does leave a number of clues -- and red herrings -- throughout the story to make that endeavor more challenging. I had it pretty much cracked -- but not quite -- about 100 pages before the author began to reveal the intrigue. Even then, I didn't see a couple of the last-minute twists, making the last couple chapters much more satisfying than I expected.
The book oscillates, scene-wise, between the rough areas of DC (Anacostia), FBI offices, and Virginia horse country (someone has to have money in these books). We mostly follow the protagonist through the book, so the frequent perspective changes that mark this genre are absent... making it a lot easier for the reader to keep up.
I'd recommend the book, but only if you can buy it at a discount (...) or wait 'til paperback. If I'd paid full price (and I didn't, and generally I don't ever), I would be a bit put off. At 50% off, you get just the right amount of bang for your reading buck.
And it ends with the perfet set-up, should Baldacci break pattern, for a sequel...
For those of you who are intrigued by the genre, but have not read his previous work, I'd pick up one of his earlier books in paperback and see what you think. Absolute Power was 100% better in print than on the silver screen. Total Control was completely engrossing. The middle book -- The Winner -- the middle of those books -- was absolutely fascinating, with more interesting character development than I'd read in a long time. The next two were also very good, but I honestly don't recall my exact reaction... they were also much more chacter-centric (versus plot-centric) than the first two (which were big conspiracy sort of stories).
Happy reading!

This effort from Baldacci is a crushing disappointment. Unfortunately, almost from the opening page, it becomes very clear that this book is not going to be up to his usual quality. In this case, he has committed the ultimate sin for a thriller writer---boring the reader. This novel reads as if the author was being paid by the word and that is rough on any reader, especially when the novel runs 550 pages. That makes this read a long slog through a verbal marsh with occasional pieces of action to advance the story along.
As the novel opens, Web London is with Charlie Team, a unit of the super secret elite Hostage Rescue Team of the FBI. Their mission is to attack and neutralize a building in a crime infested neighborhood in Washington where it is believed that drugs and money laundering is going on. The team is supposed to seize the building and contents as well as taking the men inside, accountants and the like, alive so that they can testify later.
The mission begins to go horribly wrong when Web London freezes as they approach the building. His body locks up and he falls to the pavement, powerless to move in the trash-strewn courtyard as his team jogs into an ambush. Hidden machine guns open up and the team is literally blown apart in front of his horrified eyes.
But, he isn't alone there in the courtyard with the dying and the dead. A ten year old boy and relative of a notorious drug kingpin is also in the area. Web manages to save himself and the boy, only to be later scorned by his superiors, friends, and a hostile media as the sole survivor. Details of his past begin to leak out and he is presented in public and private as, at best a coward and at worst, a traitor who knew what would happen to his team. He is neither but he is unable to explain what happened to him and why.
As he tries to solve what happened to him and his team as well as dealing with survivor guilt, Web enlists the aid of the beautiful, Claire Daniels, a psychiatrist. It soon becomes clear that he will have to deal with painful events from his traumatic childhood as well as a threat filled present and future to survive, physically or emotionally. Unfortunately for Web, the threat comes literally from his own mind as well as various outside forces that are using him as a toy for their own purposes.
As one works through this verbose book, which would have been better if at least 100 or so pages had been removed, one has to wonder if this character could even function in real life. Not as a member of HRT, but as a person selling you your morning cup of coffee or working the register at the grocery store. Beyond all the psychobabble jargon used as he is being treated, this character as written, is a seriously messed up persona. The explanations given for his past and his ability to be a part of HRT are weak at best and the reader must sustain a heavy sense of disbelief for the story to work.
On that level, for this reader at least, it fails. Additionally, with so much time spent pondering various mental issues, there is little action that moves the story forward. When the action does happen, it is weighted down by excessive verbiage, which slows the action to the point of a ponderous crawl. What is left is nothing more than an average to mediocre thriller at best and a great disappointment for this Baldacci fan. Considering that this has been a repeated situation in the last several books, one has to wonder if the author is past his prime and sinking?

Web London, HRT operator, freezes up in a raid of a drug dealer's hide-out and all of Web's friends and co-workers are killed. Web had been a hero from previous ops but is ostracized by surviving wives and FBI officials. The few who believe in Web try to help him discover what really happenned in the blind alley. What they discover is a plot of revenge and a scheme to make millions of dollars in drug money from the sales of Oxycontin and other synthetic opiates.
There are several sub-plots in this long, cumbersome novel including a relationship with a 10 y.o. boy, a relationship with a psychiatrist who has replaced Web's previous psychiatrist who is an expert in hypnosis ( Uh, I wonder if that has anything to do with Web's behavior?), a horse farmer's son who was killed by white supremacists in a school shooting, a porno operation, and Web's two new friendships, coincidentally developed as he needs to solve the case.
Sorry to say, Baldacci missed the boat on this one. Not only was it confusing, it was far-fetched and difficult to believe. It is very frustrating to know how well Baldacci's stories can be, and then wade through this clunker. Hopefully, his most recent release will be much better.

I really like David Baldacci, the great thing about this book is at the end I wanted more of these characters. For some reason I could really connect to these characters, and I would love to hear more about them. I hope that David reads this review and if the spirit takes him he will come with a story that continues the story. Web London is a person that you want to see overcome his challenges. After reading this book it make me want to push through these times that are challenging, I love books with underdogs. :)

In this involving and complicated story, David Baldacci covers everything from drug dealing, to cults, to the FBI, to pyschoanalyis and hypnotism. There's also a horse farm and pornography thrown in for good measure! The main plot deals with the character of Web London, the sole survivor of a botched mission by HRT (Hostage Rescue Team), a part of the FBI; as he and his companions are en route to tackle a drug lord, London suddenly collapses, unable to continue, as if paralyzed. He then is forced to witness his colleagues' massacre as they are shot by remote control weaponry as they enter an urban courtyard. London's determination to discover what happened to him and clear his name makes up the bulk of the novel. In his journey, he is forced to confront childhood abuse, and the possible abuse of his psychiatrist. Baldacci tells the story from several points of view, and should be credited with creating complex and compelling characters who are both heroic and flawed. On the good side, this helps when the plot becomes increasingly complicated; on the potentially bad side, the characters are, not surprisingly, unhappy with their lives, and there's not a `happy' ending for most of them. The pain gets a little much at times, even though the `good' guys win at the end. The end is abrupt, and leaves you wondering if you missed something. Worth reading, just concentrate on the plot, or it will get away from you.

I grabbed this thinking I had read Baldacci before...I think I got my authors mixed up. I was not real thrilled to realize this was not a member of the mystery genre, but was actually and action thriller. Even though I've read plenty of Tom Clancy's books, I don't usually go looking for this type of book. The last few trips down this particular genre have not been that great. Clancy is mass producing books of this sort now, and that usually means the level of writing skill has gone down. Action-thrillers tend to be written by men and for men. That means the language is a little saltier then I like it in comparison to mysteries (especially mysteries written by the British).
This book started out slow, but gained momentum quickly. I was pleasantly surprised to see the language was relatively good, and the writing was excellent (I did spot several typographical errors...don't publishers check for this stuff any more?).
Another reader of this book stated that the plot was ridiculous. I don't think so...after 9/11 I don't think very many plots are impossible or improbable. I am sure many hold the same view as me. If you had asked me several years ago, whether we would have seen the things that occurred at Waco, in Oklahoma, the various men who have betrayed their countries and families, the ability of drug cartels to impact our society, and what happened in September of 2001...I would have said you are reading too much fictional garbage. Now, it is possible to believe the worst, not only of others, but of our society and the priorities we have.
Baldacci seems to be a good writer. I qualify that as I am going to have to read more of his books to see if this is a typical literary excursion for him. His story about the FBI hostage rescue team is extremely interesting. I certainly have not read anything along this line before, and I enjoyed the new information. That he had to do research on much of the book is obvious from all the people he had to thank at the end. Men and women who enjoy thrillers, people with background in the horse breeding industry, anyone who enjoys good writing and needs a break from their everyday existence will find this an excellent book to take on a trip or to the beach.
Karen Sadler

If you a person who enjoys a thriller primarily for its suspense and excitement, Last Man Standing will have the pages flying through your fingertips. While the plot is pretty farfetched and strains credibility, it will most likely hold your interest. However, if strong, believable characters are more, or at least as, important to you as suspense and lots of action when choosing a thriller, then I think you'll feel (as I do) feel that Last Man Standing is entertaining and enjoyable but not fully satisfying. Although it didn't bother me as much as many other reviewers, the "good guy" characters --particularly Web London, the main character-- are too "super hero-ish." Further, Baldacci's characters in general are two-dimensional at best. Despite these flaws, I found Last Man Standing to be a fast-paced an entertaining read; and a book that I think you might enjoy when you're in the mood to read a book to purely escape from reality.

Beverly Lewis fans and new readers alike will encounter a real treat with this novel. Beverly and her husband, David, create a suspenseful, but inspirational story line --- at times hard to believe --- but very engrossing.
From the first paragraph, readers are taken on an emotional roller coaster as Mellisa "Mellie" James runs for her life from a mysterious visitor from her past. Mellie's husband, Ryan James, is left baffled by his wife's sudden disappearance. While Ryan sets out to search for her, Mellie finds comfort right in the middle of Amish country (Pennsylvania). While hiding out, she befriends one of the residents in the land of simple life, Lela Denlinger. Lela's comforting presence and prayers for Mellie are an example of how Christian's are to be a light in a dark world.
As more is revealed about Mellie's past, the reason for her sudden flight becomes apparent. Even more shocking is how Mellie's husband fits into her past. The match between good and evil is played out very well in this novel!
--- reviewed by Ty for Christian Bookshelf

As far as reviews go most people are pretty accurate with their own reviews above so I will just concur with them. The story was quite long and it just didn't need to be. I'd say a 400 pages read would have been sufficient. The plot was not overly complex either. In fact anyone can really deduce most of the plot from the first hundred pages. There are a few twists that get ya in the end but it isn't as convincing since you already have a good idea about things. Definately not a thriller. The action was good but in between action the story would bog down. Also why is it every woman in this story was absolutely gorgeous, independant, and confident, yet at the same time they all were so reliant on the main character and it is almost as though every one wants him as well. I hate novels that do this. Be a little creative. However it was an entertaining read but nothing I would really recommend to anyone looking for a "great" book.

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 like Baldacci's work, generally, but this one seemed a bit redundant inasmuch as the plot centers around two main characters that seem almost to be clones of similar protagonists in his other novels. His female characters are professional women of strong character and intelligence, who nevertheless, must eventually fall back upon the no-nonsense, macho male to save their bacon. But that aside, the book does offer some interesting sidebars to the main plot and although Baldacci misses the mark a bit on some of his research, there is a building suspense toward the final chapters that does draw one in so you absolutely must find out what happens. I have enjoyed his previous work a bit more, but this is not to say this particular book is not good, it is an entertaining read and moves along quite well. Although this reviewer prefers more introspection and depth in the characters of a novel, it is easy to fill in the gaps with one's imagination as the main players are not overly complicated. I would reccommend this book to readers who are mostly aficianados of law enforcement-type books as the HRT (Hard Response Team) plays a major role in the plot and we learn more than we probably really wanted to know about it's inner organization and workings.
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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.

I like Mr. Baldacci's books. After that it's a matter of subjectivity, isn't it? For example, I prefer Absolute Power and The Simple Truth. But Web London's survival of the horrific ambush of his HRT teammates is what begins this dark journey into Web's past. Along the way we meet Romano, Web's "more normal," Corvette loving friend, the lovely psychiatrist Daniels that Web turns to for help, his (anger issued?) supervisopr Bates, the Canfields, Street, Macy and "Big F," for Francis.

So Mr. Baldacci once again innundates us with interesting characters, both good and evil along with a few morally ambivelant ones. The book has several surprises including the ending, which I both liked and was also caught unsupecting.

I do have to add that this time I was facing a long road trip and decided to get the 19 CD audio version read by Jason Culp. Culp does a wonderful job of reading, assigning characters different reading tones and modulations. He made a long book and trip that much more inmteresting, and while I believe books are to be read, I would gladly "listen" to another Jason Culp read novel. 4 stars. Larry Scantlebury

An English woman fleeing for her life ends up in an Amish community. There she finds refuge and friendship at a B&B. This was an interesting mystery that kept me wanting to read to the end. It is the typical Amish story of unrequited love, the involvement of introducing the troubled one(s) to the Bible and to our Lord Jesus Christ.

To tell you the truth, I had little hope for this book when I opened it up. Baldacci has in my opinion written a few of the biggest stinkers of the last decade. So when this book started off with such an unexpected promise, I was so shocked that I went back and rechecked Baldacci's old work just to make sure this was the same author that I thought it was. Well, all you have to do is read more than the first hundred and fifty pages or so and all of the seemingly unusual plot threads start coming together in groaningly hollywood shallowness.

By the end of this book, if you have any self respect, you will have to agree that this book is a real ugly dog. The plot lines are so unrealistic that its a slap in the face. If this were written as a parody it might have some value, but its really just disgusting.

I am giving the book two stars because I liked the first third of it a lot. If you for some reason enjoyed this book and have not read Harlan Coben, I would suggest that you try out his last few books that don't contain the character 'Myron Bolitar.' Coben is not the greatest author ever, but he reminds me a lot of a modern day Hitchcock.

I have been an avid Balducci fan since I discovered him with his "Total Control," a book I recommended to several friends and family members, who also became hooked. I enjoyed "The Winner," The Simple Truth", along with one or two of his other books. So, when I saw a new novel by Balducci, I ran to get a copy and devour it. What a disappointment! This is by far not only Bad Balducci (which in itself wouldn't be too bad!), but also just plain bad.
At 550 pages, I wallowed along the first half of the book, determined to get through it. It suffered from TMC ("Too Many Characters"---you need a scorecard to keep track of them!) and FTMA ("Far Too Many Anacroyns"), which made the book extremely difficult to follow. At around the half-way mark, I decided to give Balducci two more chapters and then I'd call it quits. Well, suddenly, the book became somewhat of the standard Balducci I was anticipating: a semi-pageturner! But after it was all over, with an overly pat and predictable and too convenient ending, I was disappointed. I felt I had wasted my time. The book would have been much better if it came in at 200 pages less. This was a difficult read.

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.

The book has a good setup. You've got a elite Hostage Rescue Team at the FBI that gets utterly wiped out in a mysterious surprise ambush and one man happened to freeze and survive. That makes two big mysteries and there are another few piled on top of it.
Unfortunately the characters aren't as formed as you'd like and it makes it hard to get attached to them. In fact, almost all the male characters turn out to be your classic tough guy with a kind sensitive interior and tragic past. I found myself just waiting to find out what the next character's childhood issue would be.
The book does its best to pull up a surprise ending by forcing a few disparate stories to become strangely connected.
The book is okay as an action/suspense read. I was entertained throughout, but not moved or inspired in the slightest. I finished unattached to any of the characters and somewhat annoyed at the way four or so plotlines just kind of loosely fall together.

Over the past few months, I've been trying like the dickens to broaden my reading horizons just a bit. My latest foray into the world of fiction was "Last Man Standing," the latest novel by David Baldacci. This is one of those books that I should have loved... but didn't . It falls into the genre of murder mystery/"techno"-thriller... much like Tom Clancy's books minus all of Clancy's geopolitical machinations and neo-conservative posturing. It's an interesting story told by an author with writing skills that can best be described as "nothing special."

"Last Man Standing" is the story of name of Web London, a thirteen-year veteran of the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team, who sees all six of his teammates shot to pieces during an assault on a drug trafficking ring. Web is the only man to escape death. For some reason, when the signal to move forward is given, he finds that he cannot walk, run, or even stand up. It's almost like he's paralyzed. He desperately wants to join in the fight, but he's physically in no condition to do so. He lies on the pavement, fully conscious of the slaughter going on around him, and unable to help in any way.

What follows is Web's attempts to find out why he was left the "last man standing." He's considered by many to be at best a coward and at worst a traitor. He's left feeling guilty and despondent. He decides to seek psychiatric help. The story takes readers on a journey from FBI headquarters in Quantico, Virginia, through some of the seamiest parts of the nation's capital, and to the gorgeous horse farming country of northern Virginia. Readers are introduced to a plethora of characters, all part of a sinister plot against the FBI and Web London in particular. Read the book to find out what happens to our hero!

There are about as many good things to say as bad about "Last Man Standing" On the plus side, the story is well conceived, the premise believable, and the plot nicely developed. Baldacci does a very good job keeping his focus throughout the book's 548 pages. The story never wanders very far from where the author intends it to go. Even those seemingly small sub-plots (and there are a lot of them) tie in nicely at the end of the novel. The book is easy to read and understand.

So much for the "plus" side. "Last Man Standing" is plagued with some significant flaws. First and foremost, I found the characters - all of them - flat and uninspired. None of them engendered in me any passion one way or the other. I tend to like books where I, the reader, can like or dislike characters with a passion. How else would it be possible for me to root for the "good guys" or heap scorn upon the "bad guys?" Without strong feelings for the book's characters, what incentive is there to read on?

Another problem: while the central story line of "Last Man Standing" is well focused, it tends to be very predictable. So predictable, in fact, that I found myself correctly guessing the final outcome of the book by the time I'd reached page 250; I also was able to predict what type of situation would occur a few pages down the road. Baldacci certainly didn't make "Last Man Standing" a particularly suspenseful novel, that's for sure!

My final gripe concerning "Last Man Standing" is Baldacci's writing style. His prose is crisp, clear, and unambiguous, but also too simplistic for my tastes. I like literary prose best when it's edged with a bit sarcasm, humor, pessimism, or a myriad of other stylistic tinges that the most successful authors use. I think fictional prose should challenge the readers' intellect just a bit. Yet, Baldacci's writing is almost completely devoid of these characteristics. It's bland, almost like salt-free popcorn or chips. It provides no challenge to the intellect, no room to stop and think about characters or situations and draw conclusions, no challenging vocabulary or sentence structure to "tickle" the intellect, much as Caleb Carr did so successfully in his novel "The Alienist..."

MY VERDICT: With sincere apologies beforehand if I sound sexist here, but "Last Man Standing" is a "guy" book all the way. Every testosterone-tinged page of this novel is replete with big guns, muscle cars, and guys doing either impossibly heroic deeds or unspeakably villainous ones. In many ways it's a well written book, but it falls far short of being the kind of "rock `em, sock `em, seat-of-the-pants" thriller that I like best. In short, it's a nice, entertaining few days' read, but nothing that says "Read me! Read me NOW!!!"

This review is for the Pocket Books First U.S. Paperback edition, 2002, 548 pages. LAST MAN STANDING was on the USA Today top 150 best sellers list for 24 weeks between November 2001 and November 2002, reaching the peak position of number five.

The story begins as the seven member Charlie Team, part of the FBI's elite Hostage Rescue Unit, is raiding what they believe is a drug gang's operations center. They intend to capture accountants with knowledge of the drug network. But it's a trap. Instead of computers and clerks, they encounter deadly crossfire from automated Gatling guns. All but one of the team is slaughtered. Web London, the last man standing, is alive only because he inexplicably collapsed, paralyzed, just as the attack begins. Five-hundred some pages later we understand why Web collapsed, who set the trap and why. Well, sort of understand. Some motives and actions are not eminently logical.

This story is about alpha men, both the good guys and the bad. It details the Hostage Rescue Unit, the selection criteria for its members, their training, gear and operating methods. There's the inside dope on weapons, night vision goggles, gangsters, hot cars and breeding race horses. Kinda guy stuff, I suppose.

Last Man Standing was only my second Baldacci novel and I was not dissappointed. If you thought he did an excellent job with "The Winner," then you will be doubly thrilled reading this one. The story begins rather slowly and for just a quick second there you're tempted to put it down, but just when you think the story isn't going to take off, ZOOM begins the action. Web London is the center of attention from beginning to very, very end. I love the way Mr. Baldacci handled the ending of this book because you can just feel a sequel coming -- one can hardly wait. And I have to say that Mr. Baldacci did his homework/research on this novel as well. The details found in his descriptions of HRT operations was outstanding. Not to take anything away from Baldacci, however, if you're not yet up on your "Hostage Rescue Team," (HRT) operations, you might want to first read Christopher Whitcomb's book "Cold Zero." Just a tip. Nonetheless, you will absolutely NOT regret reading this book, and you will find yourself tensing up just as if you were watching it on the big screen. You'll root for the good guy(s) and hope that the bad guys get what's coming to them (and they do). Excellent job, GREAT read, worth every minute! Home Run AGAIN for Baldacci!

I'd never heard of David Baldacci, until my mother recommended I read his work. Last Man Standing is the second book I've read and I must say he is an outstanding author, who mixes Grisham-like plotlines with his own brand of spy intrigue.
Last Man Standing is not merely a page-turner. It explores fully the depth of the human mind with the pyschoanalysis of super-shrink, Claire Daniels. The storylines is pleasantly complex, showing the frail side of tough guy Web London. London can bear the brunt of the physical nature of his job but breaks down at under a hypnotic physical examination.
Readers will also be torn by the paradox of Big Francis. A cold-blooded ruler of the underworld, he pulls out all the stops to save his son from being killed.
The only drawback to this book is the unusual amount of swearing. I realize that with any thriller there are evil men who don't speak Sunday-School language. Grisham, Jenkins, and others have proven that coarse language isn't necessary for a good plot.
Last Man Standing is a good read if you can manage to handle the language. Baldacci is definitely a writer who can both build suspense and distrust of federal agencies.

I have really liked all the other Baldacci books I have read, but this one didn't come close to his usual standard.
-To me, the opening scene was related poorly, without clear details about the surroundings. The city wasn't named and the only description of the physical surroundings was "refrigerators scattered about prevented vehicles from approaching the building." This lack of detail gave the whole thing a surreal effect and a "Mad Max" kind of science fiction feel that took me a while to shake.
-His government characters and descriptions made me feel that he was trying to be Tom Clancy instead of David Baldacci
-The street language used by some characters came off completely unrealistic.
-The plot is so convoluted that by the end each twist generates a weary sigh of frustration rather than a quickened pulse of excitement.
Although I was far beyond caring what happened to this contrived array of characters, I did read until the end to see how this train wreck resolved itself.

To write a good thriller, an author has to include plot twists, but not to the point where the story becomes convoluted. For the first half of the book, Baldacci does a good job of this, providing a nice set-up to the story. However, during the last part of the book (especially the last 150 pages), there are so many plot twists and turns that by the end of the book I felt relieved to be finished.
As a side note, an important part of the book involves the main character's relationship with two different therapists, both of whom are psychiatrists. I had a special interest in how he would develop these relationships, because I am a mental health professional (psychologist). While in the beginning of the book Baldacci portrayed the relationships in a reasonably professional manner, by about mid-story things had descended into the way that therapists are stereotypically portrayed. Even the "good" therapist demonstrates highly unethical/unprofessional behavior in the story, and the scenes describing "treatment" are a joke. I'd encourage Baldacci to do a better job researching the therapeutic process before he again includes it in one of his stories.

There were too many odd coincidences in this book to make it entirely enjoyable. It seemed too contrived, like the author had trouble creating a concise plot and had to draw so many unlikely connections to finally end the thing.
Further, there's not really any surprises, because "the last man standing" is just who you would expect it to be: the hero, the only one consistently referred to by his first name, "Web." The villains (the male villains, that is) are always identified by their last names or entire names (e.g., Nemo Strait, got that?)
On the other hand, until the last 50 pages or so, when the plot unravels in an orgy of violence and unlikely coincidences, it does make for interesting reading. Web's psychiatric experience is different, and the insights into the operations of the FBI were interesting.
The goings-on of a horse farm were entirely uninteresting to me, but if you like horses, you may get a "kick" out of the fact that Web and his "sidekick" spend a lot of time on a horse farm.
What I learned was this: if you read Balducci, you'll got a lot of interesting detail and some character study, but a contrived plot that could be improved upon by a ten-year old.
By the way there's a prominent 10-year old character in this book. He survives, with Web and a few other heroes and heroines. Diximus.

The ending left me wanting more...I guess I am a romantic, and want that sort of ending....but,well you will have to read it to see how it ends.
I always like the believable details that DB includes in his books, and this was no exception...enough detail, but not overwhelming...love the descriptive dialogue. He is just a very enjoyable author...good action, suspense, believable settings and could be cut from the news of the day...a good book to keep you entertained. I have his next book on my shelf and looking forward to getting started with it...however, I need to get some chors done first!

FBI Agent Web London was a member of the FBI�s Hostage Rescue Team Charlie. He is feeling survivor�s guilt after his team was decimated in an ambush leaving him the sole survivor. Web is not sure why he survived or why he froze before the ambush took place. In order to be able to make sense of it all he hires psychiatrist Claire Daniels to help him understand what happened. They uncover a conspiracy involving many players as well as a personal vendetta by one of them.
I read and enjoyed most of David Baldacci�s novels except this one. The story dragged on for too long and I felt things could have resolved in fewer pages. There is too long a gap between characters and there were several setups in the novel which were a little too convenient. The book in itself has no ending. There is a conversation between Web and his psychiatrist in which he feels that he was betrayed. So he storms out. Will there be a sequel? Probably. Hopefully Baldacci�s next work will be better and stronger. For anyone who has not read this author before I strongly recommend THE WINNER and THE SIMPLE TRUTH.

Baldacci writes a good story but at 548 pps it is too long because he goes into detail on any thing that comes up:guns,cars,horse farming,functions of FBI units. I'm surprised he didn't spend 25pps on Viet Nam. I enjoyed the plot and subplots, the characters, and all the action but the bookshould be about 400 pps long. i wasglad to put the book down just torest my mind. The main character isWeb London, the last man standing.He is a member of the Hostage Rescue Team or HRT. There is a lotof action and murders or killings but you won't know why until the end. Drug lords are at each other'sthroats to make money on Oxycontin.a prescription drug sweeping intothe cities. Web and his partner,Paul Romano, are using their ownmethods to complete their assignments and ferret out the plans made by psychiatrists and drug runners and even higher-ups in the FBI. This is a good read but be prepared to plod thru the dullpages to get into the action,

To finish up my troika of weekend reading, I completed the book Last Man Standing by David Baldacci. This was recommended to me by Chris Miller, and he was right... I liked it.
Web London is a member of the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team. During an operation to take out a drug house, something happens to cause London to freeze at the point where they were supposed to rush the location. The operation turns out to be a setup, and the entire team is killed except for him. He has to deal with the guilt over being the "last man standing", along with trying to figure out what happened that caused him to freeze. The deeper he digs, the more he finds that points towards a cover-up or a leak within the bureau.
Pretty good pacing for a book that's over 500 pages. Good character development, and a number of plot twists that you don't see coming. Definitely a time commitment due to the size, but a good psychological crime thriller.

David Baldacci takes on quite a task in his latest novel, "Last Man Standing." He takes such diverse subjects as FBI Hostage Rescue Teams, inner-city drug lords and their environs, drug running, horse farming, and psychoses, weaving them all into a well-told tale. While it was entertaining and informative (though at times sounding like a how-to manual for hostage rescue), the story itself was only average. Not having read any of Baldacci's previous novels in this genre, though I did read "Wish You Well," which I loved, I would recommend his work. The build-up in "Last Man Standing" was admirably executed, though the ultimate payoff seemed somehow disappointing. Engaging and flawed characters and an ambitious plot, "Last Man Standing" will leave you wanting more, but not sure if you're up to reading more.

I gave this book a read since I thought the premise was intersting and was a fan of "Absolute Power." Since I've read almost all the Michael Connelly novels, this one came up as "if you liked xxx, try "Last Man Standing" in a search engine.

WHAT A WASTE OF TIME! It took me about 8 days at the gym to finish it, and I only kept going because I was hoping it would get better. I thought there would be some insight into the FBI's operations and such, instead the author spends 50 pages describing a thoroughbred horse farm!

The main character, Web London, it a clown. When the final twist was revealed about his youth, I wished he went down in the courtyard with the rest of his team.

The psychatrist, Claire, is a character who provides nothing to the plot other than the inevitable "damsel in distress" for our hero (or anti-hero?) to "save."

The other team members of the HRT unit are like those guys you see in action movies that get killed or add nothing to the plot. Everyone of them is a cliche, especially, the one Web "partners" with to observe the Canfields on the horse farm. Even to the point where they run their muscle cars up and down the highways at 140 mph. By the way, how do they afford corvettes and Mustang Mach-1s when the authorclaims they make less than a "Supermarket checkout clerk?"

The drug dealers are just a "red herring" of the plot. What a waste, I thought it was going to be interesting.

Randal Cove, under cover FBI agent (and former Oklahoma running back and NFL prospect!) does nothing for the final plot other than provide the point of view to reveal the true villian.

The true villians seem too stupid to hatch up the plans the author describes.

The Canfields, there isn't really any comment to make about them than other if you've seen any movie or tv show in the last 50 years, they are just like any other rich older husband, lucious young wife with the usual stereotypes.

THIS BOOK WAS JUST A LONG WASTE OF TIME. LUCKILY I CHECKED IT OUT FROM THE LIBRARY!

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 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.

Beverly and David team for an unusual mix, with dark mystery being the prevailing theme. Several times I found myself actually frightened to be alone while reading... I am not accustomed to such evil goings on within a Christian fiction book. Melissa is a young married woman with some serious secrets in her past. He husband Ryan has some skeletons as well. Their marriage was less than open from the start although neither of them knew much. Mellie has to flee on short notice and chooses a Mennonite home in which to take refuge. The story is told by several flashbacks in which the pain of her past threatens to engulf her while the ugliness of the present threatens Ryan. Probably the nicest part of the book centers in Lancaster, PA, an area not spoiled with crime and deceit.
Although this book held my intrigue and refused to let go of my interest, I deducted 2 stars for the often drawn-out scenarios and the unbelievable instances that "just happened" to occur at exact, precise moments. I also was not prepared nor particularly fond of the dark, dark side of this book. I found faith, trust and joy to be far from the characters and nearly out of reach.
I am not certain I would even read a sequel.

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

For all of those who love FBI and enforcement agency books, you can't find a better one than Baldacci's LAST MAN STANDING. The main character, Web London, is truly a web of mystery even as he attempts to solve the ambush of his fellow Hostage Rescue Team members. He's the only one left -- the last man standing. He froze during the mission. His quest for the why of that leads him to a new psychiatrist. The revelations there are astounding. The mystery is tricky and wonderful. The suspense never lets up for Web, the undercover agent, Cove, and Kevin Westbrook, a street-wise kid who becomes a pawn in the deeply plotted story. The one bit of comic relief comes from Paulie Romano, a hot-head who's a lot more than he seems. This is the first David Baldacci I've read. I can't wait to read the others. His writing is wonderful, and this is a superb suspense novel.

David Baldacci has created an interesting character in Web London, an FBI specialist in hostage recovery. He is tough and smart, but also strangely vulnerable because of incidents from his childhood which he has repressed. At the beginning of the book, he participates in a raid where he is the only survivor from the elite Charlie Company of which he is an integral part. His survival guilt drives him to discover who is behind the massacre and why he froze up and thus did not enter the area where the killing occurred. He is helped by Clair Daniels, a beautiful divorcee who also happens to be a psychiatrist. The plot has a satisfying number of twists and turns and is complex enough to take several chapters to unfold at the end. This book has both an interesting plot and a complex hero which makes for a very good read.

FROM THE BACK/CASE: "It took ten seconds for Web London to lose everything: his friends, his team, his reputation. Point man of the FBI's super-elite Hostage Rescue Team, Web roared into an alley toward a drug dealer's lair, only to meet a high-tech, custom-designed ambush that killed everyone around him.

Now coping with the blame-filled words of anguished widows and the suspicions of colleagues, Web tries to put his life back together with the help of his psychiatrist, Dr. Claire Daniels. To do so, he must discover why he was the one man who lived through the ambush-and find the only other person who came out of that alley alive...a ten-year-old boy who has disappeared.

Web's search leads him from inner-city Washington, D.C., to the rolling hills of Virginia horse country-while people connected to him are violently silenced. Acting on his instincts, Web believes he knows where the killer will strike next. Only this time, he may not survive the attack."

This book starts out like a house on fire and has the potential to keep the listener glued to it. Unfortunately, after the initial opening when Web London freezes and watches as his fellow members of Charlie Team of the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) get gunned down this book fizzles. This fizzle is brought on by Mr. Baldacci's need to describe every person, place and thing to the smallest detail. What tends to keep you hanging on are the action scenes that tend to promise re-ignition.

Though this book does slow down, there are only a couple of spots where it drags. Mr. Culp who narrates the book does an excellent job at trying to keep things moving. Fortunately, it seems that when you get to these spots, something exciting or gripping happens immediately following them.

There are several things about this book that I really liked. First, Mr. Baldacci does a good job with the characters. That is to say, he did an excellent job at picking the right type of character for the right part. Mr. Culp helped this by giving the characters the right type of attitude and voice for their role in the story. In addition, Mr. Baldacci takes what are basically several stories to start and does an excellent job at bringing them together as the novel progresses.

Another thing the Mr. Baldacci did well was to confuse the reader or listener in this case as to what was going on and who exactly was behind it. At times I found myself thinking that it was an inside job. Other times I thought it was the Frees behind it. When things are finally revealed I was flabbergasted to say the least. Some people don't like it when they can't figure out what is going on or who is doing it. I enjoy it when an author confuses me and keeps me guessing. So many times you figure out who, what, where, when and why with little or no difficulty.

My dislikes for this book are simple, too much description. I'm not one that needs the most intricate detail described to me. Quickly set the scene with as little description as possible and get on with it. Mr. Baldacci, you could have saved a few trees if you would have used less description.

To summarize, this is a good novel that is slowed down by to many descriptive scenes; however, it is saved by the plot, the characters and the narrator.

If you like thrillers then you will like this novel. Just keep in mind that David Balcacci tends to be very descriptive. Though I haven't read or listened to the abridged version of this novel, I would think that is the better route to go and would probably recommend it. I have a gut feeling that I probably would have rated this novel higher then three stars if I had listened to the abridged version.

Mr. Baldacci is a good author and this is the second novel by him that I have tried. The first was Absolute Power which I didn't like and rated two stars and titled my review for it "Absolute Junk".

Mr. Baldacci has never been nominated for any of the main stream literary awards. Based on Absolute Power and this novel, I can understand why. In no way am I trying to imply that Mr. Baldacci is a bad author. On the contrary, Mr. Baldacci is a good author but hasn't written anything that is ready to be nominated for an award.

If you like authors such as James Grippando, Stephen Cannell, John Grisham, Michael Conelly or Kyle Mills, then I recommend you try reading or listening to this novel.

The first couple chapters grabbed me. A heroic lead, heart-pounding excitement, vivid descriptions. Surely a grand plot would follow. I settled in for a fantastic read. Didn't quite happen. The plot got confusing, then annoying. The characters stayed strong, which kept me reading, but _casually_ reading. The ending was predictable enough and my pulse never budged from normal. It wasn't a BAD book, but I have high expectations from David Baldacci and I expected (especially after the first two chapters) to be awake and experiencing plot twists, fast pulse, chills and mental challenges throughout. I actually put the book down once or twice to watch 'American Idol'!!
That said, I'd like to see a sequel. A BETTER sequel. Great characters abound in this book.

My first(and probably last) David Baldacci novel. I gave it an extra half a star for at least starting off well, with an interesting premise, and some believable action scenes and character motives. Then, apparently Baldacci took a long lunch, and let that room full of monkeys bang away on typewriters until they'd finished the story!
Way too many characters, subplots and 'Bet you thought we'd forgotten about THIS!'-style twists and revelations tacked onto the end of the story. Most of the characters and their dialogue, are corny and forgettable. By the time I reached the end, I just didn't care how any of it fit together.
The guy who suggested that anyone who likes this book should try reading Harlan Coben was insulting Harlan Coben. As cliched as Coben's books are, Baldacci surpasses him in stilted prose, and stale cliches.

I must admit that I for the most part enjoyed reading this book while recently on vacation. It is a long book with well developed characters that puts together an interesting and suspense filled mystery plot. Then, as the mysteries and riddles of the story begin to be resolved ... you become dissatisfied by how weak the resolution to the story ends up being. The story becomes weaker and weaker, and more and more unbelievable with every page beyond the midway point. By the end - you are sorely disapointed. SPOLIER ALERT - It would seem like David Baldacci just got bored of writing, since there is no coherent ending to the story. The book just ... finished, in what would appear to be the midway point to a longer story. Not recommended.

I was looking for a real thriller, and thought I would try one by David Baldacci. I had read a very favourable review a while back, and I have also seen and enjoyed the movie version of Absolute Power.

After reading reviews at the store, I picked Last Man Standing. However, I was really disappointed. For me it wasn't thrilling at all. Several times I had to force myself to pick it up again to continue reading. For me, a good thriller is a book you can't stop reading, even if it's getting late and you really, really should try to get some sleep instead of continue reading.

Examples of great thrillers I have read are: The Firm by John Grisham, The Day After Tomorrow by Allan Folsom (nothing to do with the weather-related movie of the same name) and Angels and Demons by Dan Brown.

But Last Man Standing was quite the opposite. Sure it had its moments where it got exciting for a while (the final shoot-out for example), but those times were quite rare.

I've been trying to figure out why I didn't like it, but I can't say I know why. I do think that a lot of what happens in the book is quite far-fetched (especially the reason the hero Web London froze during the ambush) and that the characters are pretty one-dimensional, but that's not enough of a reason. Both The Day After Tomorrow and Angels and Demons have plenty of far-fetch twists and one-dimensional characters, but they were still exciting reads. I can't come up with a definite answer as to why I didn't like Last Man Standing - I simply just didn't care for it.

Writing a negative review like this will probably earn me a few unhelpful votes, but I think it is important to also review books you didn't like. Otherwise you risk getting an unbalanced view. However, I do admit that it is much more fun to review books you really liked.

But to finish, if you are looking for a good thriller, skip this one and try one of the other three I mentioned above.

The most recent review before mine has the spoiler that I am about to discuss and it is about Web London's being hypnotized. I picked up on that quite awhile before it was revealed but there were still many surprises and complexities to the plot that at the end of the day had me involved and intrigued. Baldacci creates a host of rich characters in "Last Man Standing", and I am quite surprised at the relatively weak rating it has here. I mean it is a true page turner, and I can't see how many readers would disagree with this fact. Although many obviously have. Maybe not Baldacci's best novel, but far from his worst as well.

I've read almost all of Baldacci's work, and in some sense I'm impressed with his writing. He does his research, you can't discount that, yet most of his books up to "Last Man Standing" have been repetative, with much of the same plot. I found this a refreshing and new side to Baldacci, and enjoyed it very much, was unable to put it down, in fact.
The only two things which kind of threw off the potential for this to be an exceptional book, was his naive way of explaining things. I found it to be a tad annoying at times, but overall good.
I also feel that the end could have been different, but I give this five stars because it's definitely a worthwhile read.

Teaming with her husband to write Sanctuary, Beverly Lewis's usual style of romance, intrigue and discovery is enhanced by adding mystery, making this a thriller. Melissa James, the main character, runs scared from her secret past, leaving her husband with no warning. She finds sanctuary with a Mennonite woman living in a plain community. Her husband, Ryan, is left in the dark. The plot revolves around Melissa and Ryan individually trying to discover what has happened. Individually they are also faced with their relationship (or rather non-relationship) with God. Their love story is revealed in flashbacks. The plot takes many complicated twists, weaving its way to a surprise ending. Just don't read the end first!

I must confess that at the very beginning of David Baldacci's Last Man Standing I had trouble getting into the novel. Once I did I was rewarded by an excellent fast paced read with believable and fascinating characters. About the time I had things somewhat figured out there would be fascinating twists in the plot as well as the characters. This was a great read.

Baldacci has produces a multi layered story - if it were a cake it wold stand 5-6 feet tall and it seems to me that with allof the people and organizations that are introduced it loses validity. That and then add his tendency to wander off into digressions or small stories which only add pages of fluff and he has a over long story shot full of wonderous occurances.

Baldacci books are required reading in my house! I always start looking for them around Nov 1 and buy the first one I can find. I have read all of these reviews and many from his other books. It seems that most people find a favorite and the rest are disappointing simply because they are not the same. Oddly enough, that's what I find most intriguing about them. It's not always a love story or a lawyer story or an espionage story. They are each unique, well researched, intriguing, thrilling page turners written by a skilled storyteller.
This one has several characters that are easy to relate to and develop a relationship with them. The plot takes you all over-from the inner city to rich horse country and back. There is a child for whom your heart aches but has the brains of a street scholar for handling himself. You spend the entire book thinking, "Okay, I've got this one, now" and David throws you for another loop. Some things seem obvious but are not. Other things would never occur to you and then sneak up to kick you in the teeth. It's great!
If I had a complaint with his books, it would be two fold. First, I wish they came out in October when there was less to do so I didn't spend so many nights up until 2 or 3 a.m. to finish it! Because once I start, I can't stop! (Is there any such thing as a Baldacci addiction?!) Second, I wish they'd give me the book for a week before they publish it so that I could weed out the typo's. They are in every single Baldacci book and they drive me to distraction!! They are obviously proofed by computer and since the word is spelled correctly (albeit the wrong word,) it goes through. But I will say this, I liked it well enough to give it out as Christmas gifts.

Once agan, Mr Baldacci has proven to be one of the best thrill writers out there. I've read all his books thus far, and have yet to be disappointed. I loved this entire premise and only hope to see Web London in a sequel. It begs for a sequel. The surprises just kept coming. My heart was racing through some of the dialogue. Web London was the best. All the supporting characters were so believable, including the bad guys. This book was hard to put down. It kept you interested, even though in some cases I thought there was too much detail. It still didn't detract from the story. I highly recommend. Thank you Mr Baldacci for such a compelling read. Bring on the next (hopefully Wed London) novel.

In this hefty, overly plotted tale, both hero and villain have a one dimensional take on life: "I'm dysfunctional, you're dysfunctional."
After finishing 638 pages --- that alternated between whining, killing and psychoanalysis of even minor characters --- I felt nothing. Other than, whew, it's over.
Oh, the many loose ends of this hydra were mostly tied up, but not one character lingered in my mind. Not one scene haunted me. Not one fresh insight stuck.
Four stars for technical craft (including excruciating detail on weaponry and equestrian apparatus). Two for excessive body count and anemic soul. Makes three.

Only the second Baldacci book I have read. Do not let the length, a whopping 548pp, intimidate you. From the first page to the last, this book kept my attention. Great characters generate interest and short chapters move seamlessly from one character's perspective to another. Baldacci never loses sight of the threads of the story, so neither do you. There are sufficient twists and turns to keep you guessing, but not so many to cause confusion. I think the length of this book allows Baldacci to develop the characters to the point that you really care what happens to them. I am notorious for getting near the end of a book and then speed reading the last few chapters because I can see where it is going, or have lost interest. Not so with this book. He held my attention to the very end.

I was very excited for this book and from the inside flap I thought it would be an exciting book. I
was wrong. The story seemed very slow moving to me and I think that was because there was
not a lot of dialogue in the book. The pages seemed to take forever to get through. Baldacci is a
good writer, almost any other writer and I would have put this one down before finishing. The bad guy seems a bit far-fetched to me and I could have done without all the psychology stuff.
Someone asked for my recommendation on this after I finish, I don't think I will be recommending this one. If you want to read a good Baldacci read "The Winner" or "Wish You
Well."

Baldacci has never matched his first novel 'Absolute Power' but 'Last Man Standing' is definitely better than his last few novels, which I found to be too simplistic. The story deals with a HRT operative who goes into brainfreeze during an operation leading to the massacre of the rest of his team and his personal investigation into all aspects of the incident.
LMS is definitely not light reading. It has a truckload of characters, backgrounds on many of them, several tracks and lots of twists and turns. But it also has a strong story, interesting characters and many suspenseful sequences. More importantly, it ties things together neatly at the end without changing pace and holds some genuine surprises.

Web London, with other members of the elite Charlie Team, go in to a warehouse for a mission. By the time shots have stopped, Web is The Last Man Standing.

The book is spent finding out what caused the fiasco. David Baldacci has a good plot with a twist at the end, and does a nice job of describing the fraternity of Hostage and Rescue Teams (HRT).

Nevertheless, the book is sunk by the incredulity of the creature called Web London. Instead of coming out as victim, he incurs the sneer of the reader, and ends up as unemotional superman.

I don't know much about hynopsis, but in all candor, O Bannon's hynopsis of Web is weak. Maybe that's why it's almost lacking in detail.

Last Man Standing is for those who enjoy action without contemplating the veracity of the plot. Any one else: Switch the channel.

Interesting book, intriguing plot twists albeit somewhat far-fetched in spots -- but what I really had a difficult time getting past (at the beginning and end of the book) were the descriptions of sunsets in the Atlantic Ocean...as viewed from the east coast of New England. I could see if the setting were the UK. I know a certain amount of research goes into writing books to make the settings authentic, but it's hard to fathom anything but sunrises coming out of the Atlantic. Surely between the two of them, Beverly or David should have caught that mistake.

Baldacci definitely knows how to portray the characteristics of a man's man as he does with his main character, Web. Although having the veneer of an alpha male, Web occasionally allows his soft center to come out in the open.
As a member of a special team for the FBI, Web finds himself the only team survivor after a mission is compromised. Thought to be a traitor by some and a coward by others, he sets out to find the culprits responsible for the massacre of his entire team. A fast moving story.

David Baldacci made his return to the thriller after Wish You Well, which I think his best effort. Last Man Standing contains more than enough twists and turns to leave the listener/reader astonished at times. The gruesome gun battles are not for the squeamish, and the psychological analysis of Webb London left me extremely skeptical.
But overall, the performance by narrator Ron McLarty was sensational. His many voices were often as entertaining as the story itself.
John Grisham can only hope his return to the legal thriller is anywhere near this good. These two authors have separated themselves in this genre.

Having read only "Absolute Power" by Baldacci, I wasn't sure what to expect with this latest. Maybe I've read too many Clancy plots, but this one certainly was disappointing. I wasn't even sure I would finish it, finding it so full of cliches and stereotyping that I was aggravated. Seems like the author simply took several "in" subjects and meshed (or is that messed) them together for a plot that was too complicated.
Many characters were shallow, and the two locales of the storyline were also unbelievable. Most irritating of all, however, was that London was so invincible. I will think twice before opening another by Baldacci.

Besides that, I again spotted several typos, i.e., words not caught by spellcheck, that should not have been there. At the end, Baldacci thanks a couple of excellent editors for their "eagle eye" and "superb" editing. Ha. One more instance of consumers paying for flawed merchandise; glad my copy was from the library.

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 <YOUR FAVORITE AGENCY> 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!

Excellent story great plot very good character development. Couldn't put it down I like reading this author because the stories are entertaining exciting and will offered will continue to look for his upcoming works.

I understand how people can see this book as wordy and boring, but honestly I just can't agree. This book was literally picked up by me for its plot alone; along with a few prayers. I got it for my mothers birthday, and I only just read it myself recently but I was truly surprised. Im a sherrilyn kenyon, katie mcalister, kim harrison, orson scott card girl and yet with this book David Baldacci has been added to my list. The book had LOTS of detail, but since it was all stuff I didn't know it didn't bother me, in fact I had fun. My major judgement of a book is the dialogue and the characterization. The dialogue between the main character and the psychiatrist was addictive, and I was in love with the main character almost from the beginning. What can I say? Wounded men (with awesome combat skills and huge hearts) either mentally or physically are sexy. The only time I skipped paragraphs was when they introduced a character who was soon to be dead, but that was a small section of the book, and it had more to do with my impatience in trying to get back to the main character and a twisted plot that I just couldn't figure out. Read this book its totally worth it!

David Balducci here proves the old saying that some writers only have one good book in them. Absolute Power was a knockout, I recommended it to everyone I knew. Following that, he published several disappointments but I kept hoping he'd find the old formula again.
I put this book away with the marker on page 87. Enough is enough. The charactrs are wooden, the set ups preposterous and the action comicical. Balducci expects us to take everything about his character on faith, but gives no plausible reason why we should.
I would love to see him try to diagram some of his tortured run on sentences. Where is the editing? Where is the restraint? Where is Stephen Hunter when you need him?

Okay, this is an interesting book. I looked forward to buying it for a long time (my library never had it). When I finally bought it, I read three or four pages and got disappointed in how boring it seemed. Routines and SOP and blah blah blah. I put it aside and moved on.
I reluctantly came back to it and enjoyed it... until the pointless horse ranch interlude. It took way too much time and took me out of the story. Then, it started to get better again. And the whole thing is ruined in the last chapter by one of the worst endings I've ever read.
So it's an okay book, but I wish I'd waited for it from the library.

I have read many books by Baldacci and have enjoyed every one of them, and this was one is no exception. Last Man Standing was hard to put down, and except for the few pages of personal feelings and the main character`s life history, it was action packed all the way through. I am looking forward to the next Baldacci novel.

Apparently Baldacci decided he needed more action in his books. Well, he certainly went over the top on this one. The book has kidnapping, murder, sex, swat teams, guns, more guns, drug abuse, radical fringe groups, wealth, privilege, anguish, guilt and more of the same. This is a serious page turner whose major theme is dealing with guilt and anger. That isn't going to be obvious until you work through the book. Some solid psychiatric principles were at work in this book. Baldacci writes a truly compelling tale. Read it!

Web London was a very interesting character. I was a bit unclear of the opening scene. I thought it was almost unneccesarily complicated.

I was not too into it from the beginning. I think the story was all right, but it seemed a bit too complicated and I got lost a bit.
There are plenty of other Baldacci books to read. I wouldn't pick this as my first one

How I managed to finish this book is beyond me. I've read "Split Second" and kind of assumed that Baldacci's other works would be similar: fast-paced, enjoyable airplane read. Shame on me. This book was slow and dull.

This has to be one of the longest, more painful "thrillers" I've ever read. My main problem with this is the scope of the book. In my opinion, Baldacci tried to take on entirely too much, too many twists, too many characters, etc. In the end I just didn't care. The characters were lifeless and stereotypical, and not a single one stuck out to me. He tried to be be a bit Clancy, with a dash of Grisham topped off with some Dan Brown, and it didnt' work.

I just can't, in good conscience, allow anyone else to read this book, it was that bad. However, I have enjoyed "Split Second" so if I get the opportunity to read his other stuff from a library, I may take it, but never again will I have the patience that I did with this one.

At last a book that does what it say it will do: entertain, scare and thrill. The outline of the story can be seen in the editorial review section above.
This book is without doubt the product of an above-average story-teller. The plot twists and turns hither and thither; the pace is so fast it nearly burns the page; the action makes the reader hold his breath until the last shot has been fired. Don't expect this to be a relaxing read, for it will cause your blood-pressure to rise at times, and your breathing to stop at crucial moments in the plot.
I found this a rich and detailed novel, full of complexities and a little sardonic humour. The characters are engaging and well drawn; essentially plausible.
A great whodunit!

Here we have Baldacci as he usually is - compelling, literate and surprising. This novel has all of those elements although it does plod along longer than it needs to and then feels rushed as it ties up loose ends at the end.
Sadly, many writers suffer from the problem of creating interesting set ups that pale when the contrivance is explained. Grisshom was the first to do this and it seems he is not alone.
There were many good bits here but much of the motivation, action and resolution was weak. That brings this book down to the level of pulp and no more than that.

Good guys, bad guys--black /white, no shades of gray. Lots of passive writing style.
I've never seen such two dimensional characters in a book that is so popular.
His use of English is very amateurish--I was tripping over his writing style--very distracting -- I had no empathy for any of his characters.
I'm a Clancy, Ludlum, Follet fan with a taste for Stephen King sometimes. They are master storytellers with wonderful grasp of the English language. Their characters are three dimensional and have complexity.
Baldacci's characters make comic books look like classics.

Too many sub plots. Some very unbelievable situations. Jerome and grandma's house going from pig sty to immaculate and complete change of living just didn't fit. Not an ending either. I would not read a sequel if it came along. Having read a couple other of Baldacci's book I was quite disappointed in this one.

What the heck happened? I got this book because I absolutly feel in love with "Total Control" a very good book.
This book on the other hand seems not to really have anything resembling a plot, at least not anything as intricite and in-depth as "Total Control".
What I mean is you could try and read it if listening to a HE-MAN super sniper is your idea of a good time, but I personally couldn't stand the boo. It just didn't make an sense and I gave up after about 65 pages.
overall-If you really, really like this author go ahead and read this book, as for myself I'm reading "Total Control" agian.

An FBI Agent, point-man on a hostage rescue team, is desperate to find answers to why people connected with him are being silenced.
Last Man Standing, is a techno-thriller minus the jargon; it is an adventure, a fantastic psychological thriller, & Baldacci has convincingly combined the elements of all these sub-genres in an action-packed book.
While the action is not past paced, it is thick & furious. London is a real fallible hero, similar to the protagonists in many Frederick Forsyth novels, which makes the character & the story totally believable.
Web London has many features of a series character, & I wouldn't be surprised to catch him in any future Baldacci novels.
I enjoyed this punching chiller-thriller.

A very interesting read - enjoyed the audio as this is a fast paced thriller! Action packed with suspense, plot twists and the main character Wed, a member of FBI HRT--leaving him the last man standing after a wipeout of the team. Taking you from the past to the present as you learn more - as he unravels the mystery with colorful characters along the way --- great job from Baldacci!

I agree with what many others have stated -- this is not an "easy beach read" book. It is a "read while flying overseas" or while recuperating from surgery book, while you have a lot of time to read. I almost gave up early in the book and am so glad I didn't. Lots of plot twists and it definitely does not go where you expect it to go.

I would rank this as one of the top 20 "who dunnit" books I have read in the last 10 years.

Really fun to read, great pace and highly entertaining. The thrilling and complex story has great characters and ample twists and turns. I stayed awake for long hours to read the book and the story kept me guessing until the very end.

Unfortunately I cannot say that the solution for Web London's misery is completely convincing or really believable for me. Therefore I could not rate the book with the full 5 stars.

Nevertheless I really recommend to read the book - you wont regret it.

I started this book with the expectation of reading a good action thriller and the first chapter proved to be just that. However the remainder of the book seemed bog down with narrative dealing with the central character's emotional problems. I also found too much emphasis on the "machismo" of the HRT members. The story concept was sound, but it was about 100 pages too long. The ending was too predictable and abrupt. I think the conspiracy aspect of the plot could have been better developed.

this is my first david baldacci's book and it was dissapointing...

i don;t have the heart to finish this book..i fell asleep a few times while reading...

this book is just too macho for me..and sometimes the description is too long

if jeffrey archer were to write this book no doubt i'll finish it in one day...

it was just too much and the pace is too slow..for a thriller, slow just doesn;t work...

sorry but i just can't see myself finishing this book

Compared to his other novels, this one was a bust to me. Way too many subplots. Who cares about a horse farm or going to dinner with the survivors wives or his personal demons. We want ACTION when we read a Baldacci novel. We want hero who is above all this. This one cut have been cut in half. Not one that is going in my collection. This one goes to Goodwill.

I'll summarize the deficiencies of this book shortly. The plotting, while complex, is not believable; too many rugs are pulled out from under the reader, there are too many laughable twists at the end, and too many cartoonish villains. This last problem is one shared by the rest of Baldacci's characters: in a book centered around the protaganist's psyche, he and everyone around him seems absurd, too damaged to function, and too interested in promoting the author's own political musings on the side. The technological and organizational detail is flavorless and lengthy. Finally, the thing that killed the novel for me was the prose. Muddy, clunky, unpolished, unedited--for a specific example look at the number of times he uses the word "however" unnecessarily in the middle of a sentence. It was an infuriating verbal tick of his, and it just made everything else stand out that much more.

Web London is a member of a Hostage Rescue Team called Charlie Team. (FBI) One night, in a dark alley, an operation which needed the team went wrong, leaving Web the only one left of Charlie. Something caused him to freeze, like he had been hit with a tazer gun, but what??? He gets shot in the hand from a deflected bullet, but otherwise comes out without a scratch. HRT sends Web to a psychiatrist to probe this area of his life, but soon he is sharing other parts of his life as well.....a father in prison, an abusive stepfather, on and on.
B-o-r-i-n-g! Too much detail and about 300 pages too long. In fact, I skipped 300 pages just to get to the end. I failed to connect with the characters and each scene was dragged out in agonizing detail. Too much useless information that could have been eliminated to make the book shorter and better. I have read all of his books and with the exception of "Wish You Well", have enjoyed them all. This book ended in such a way that it is obvious there is a sequel planned. I do not intend to read it. Just the thought of another book about Web London and his messed up life makes me shudder.

FBI agent left as only survivor of an ambush tries to find the truth behind the incident.
Very pacy story with a good background on Hostage Rescue (the author had help from Chris Whitcombe in this area) this book only lets itself down in the last fifth where too many co-incidences and links come together rather too quickly.
Okay there is some dialogue that is weak but although some of the twists were a little signposted, some of them do still surprise. This is not an exceptional book, but if you like the authors previous works then I suspect you will like this one too.

This book took about 100 pages before it really captured my interest. However, even then, there are just too many subplots and details to make this a fun read.

Given the way the story unfolds, it's almost amazing that Baldacci was able to tie up almost all of the loose ends in the final 100 pages.

You can tell that Baldacci is a very talented writer, but subtelty is not part of his repertoire. This story was more complex than it really needed to be.

This was a real disappointment. I have had many good reads from Baldacci. This book took so, so long to get off the ground. I almost abandoned it several times. I stayed with it because of my prior positive experiences with Baldacci. But it was laborious, tedious, and while the payoff finally came, it took an awfully long time to get there.

is what you will get with Baldacci's latest effort. It is the story of an FBI Hostage Rescue Team member who is the sole survivor of a SWAT team type mission in the inner city of Washington, DC. Our hero, Web London, must try and figure out what happened, why, and why is he still here to wonder. As usual with a Baldacci book you get lots of plot turns and bigger than life characters. The book is very fast paced and action oreinted just like the main character. The story involves drug lords, white supemacists, covert agents and lots of surprises. It is a book to read and have fun with. Could make a great movie, too.

I listened to a audio version of this that I downloaded from my library. Even though it was free, I felt disappointed. Very weak. I considered abandoning several times but slogged through it. Don't bother with this one. There are lots of great books out there.

This is the first book I've read by this author. I'm currently obsessively craving "thriller" mysteries, and this one "hit the spot". I really enjoyed the character, Web London, because mentally he was so damaged and messy on one level in sharp contrast with how competent and efficient he was on another level. To me, it seemed to be a truer depiction of the way people really are, rather than all one way or another. I especially appreciated that there was no neat, easy resolution between Web and Claire Daniels at the end of the book. I will definitely read another by this author.

I am a Baldacci fan hoping for the author to recover from "Wish You Well," a book that was not his signature thriller style. This book is the start of hopefully another run of Baldacci thrillers. With a satisfying and unpredictable ending, I forecast he will have a scorcher the next time around. However, I had to get through a slow moving and unfocused beginning. For example, I could not figure why the plot lingered around Randall Cove's home. I found Cove to be fundamentally irrelevant to the book. Perhaps Baldacci was using his character to trash the FBI. Cove's big exit was at a drug bust, the lone FBI agent, with no cell phone. Could the FBI be that stupid? But then in real life there is John Walker, Aldrich Ames, Jonathan Pollard, and Robert Hansen, spies who easily eluded the FBI and CIA making a laughing stock of USA's espionage efforts. Maybe this is close to real life and Baldacci is bringing that ineptitude to light along with the story line of the FBI bureaucracy intent on career building at the expense of real results.
By and large the book seemed a bit flat. Or perhaps the edge was taken off this and other thrillers out this season by 9/11, the real thriller.

Web london was somewhat likeable. He just has too many daddy issues for my taste.

I was also not that convinced that the antagonists couldve pulled off what they were supposed to have pulled off.

Two stars because some characters were ok - kevin, romano, big F.

some authors have a gift of convincing the readers without too much telling. David B. isnt one of them.

This wasn't Baldacci's best but it was a good read. The story is big and it becomes a bit convoluted in an effort to bring it all together. If you are a fan, you should read this book for sure. If you are just getting to know Baldacci's stuff, there are better places to start.

Realizing that Lewis's books can often be preachy, they are still mostly enjoyable with well-drawn characters and good plots. This one is sub-par for Lewis, however. The plot is contrived and the preaching comes very heavy-handed. I found the Christianity to be inserted in odd ways and conversions less than believable. I usually love Lewis's work and her Amish characters in particular, but this one was definitely not her best work. Perhaps it was the influence of her husband? I'm glad I've got the newest in the Abram's Daughters series to look forward to or I'm afraid my interest in Lewis would end with this one.

The plot was good, however the first 50 pages were difficult to get through. There was way too much detail on types of guns and other equipment the main character used. If you can plow through that, you will be rewarded with a page turner with lots of twists and turns.

This is the first Baldacci novel I have read, not bad, not great. I was a big fan of Clancy's Rainbow Six, which for those who haven't read it is about a team much like HRT, but while the plot is interesting, the characters are slightly derivative and the twists are not wholly unexpected. The main character, Web London, is real in that he's not some invincible force, but inconsistent in that he goes from being an intellectual and emotional man to a cookie-cutter tough guy.
- FBI guy to Web: "If you see Macy on the street, my advice would be to run".
- Web's reply: "I'm HRT, I eat guys like him for breakfast".
Come on, that's just weak. That line was used by the current govenor of CA in the classic film "Commando":
Tough guy to Arnie: "You ready? Cause this Green Beret's gonna kick your [expletive]".
Arnie's reply: "I eat Green Beret's for breakfast, and right now I am very hungry".
I like that the details of HRT, the FBI and problems that seem inherent in the system are dealt with pretty fairly. I don't like that the dialogue in parts seems like it was written for Jean-Claude Van Dam. There are moments of brilliance, like when Web is confiding to his shrink about the letters he wrote at Ruby Ridge, but overall the characters and dialogue pale in comparison to Baldacci's contemporaries. The action is not as good as Ludlum and the characters just don't interest me the way Clancy's seem to.

Baldacci has a "thing" about the FBI, Secret Service and the criminal world. This one kept me the edge of my seat until the end, then shaking my head at the mystery of the last sentence.
Can't wait to start another Baldacci book.

In my opinion, this is the best David Baldacci book to date. It started out with a lot of detail that I just skimmed. As I got into the book more, I found myself going back to re-read things I missed. It was like putting a puzzle together.
Web London, senior member of the elite Hostage Rescue Team of the FBI, has led a very complicated and tragic life. As we explore parts of his childhood through his psychiarist, we see what led to the tragically failed mission in the very beginning and his unwitting part in it. All of this plays a pivotable role in the book and should not be skimmed.
There are a lot of characters and events that seem at first (to this reader anyway) unrelated. Again, I found myself going backwards and re-reading as the full picture began to develop.
This book is well worth the hard cover price. I'm sure I will re-read it several times.

Don't listen to the other folks who gave this powerful book a thumbs down. It is a great book.
Webb London is on the elite sniper team of the FBI. He has done many dangerous missions; a few he barely walked away from with his life. A school hostage situation with white supremicists left his face blown away. Mysteriously, on a routine sniper mission, he freezes and his entire team dies. His current mission is to find out why he froze, what happened to the child who witnessed the scene in the alley and who did in the Charley team.
Webb and his pal Romano are assigned to guard the parents of the little boy injured in the school hostage situation. Things get very strange from here. No spoilers.
This book is a page turner. Lots of macho gun play and he-man antics. Baldacci takes his writing and research very seriously. You will learn lots about guns, FBI, cars, horses and taxidermy, to name only a few items. Plot? This book is riddled with several plots that only come together on the last pages of the book. Very exciting and well paced book.

I have read all of Baldacci's later books. You can definitely tell this is an early work. There is a significant amount of detail and "setting the stage" in this book. I definitely think it could have been shorter and been a bit better. He just seemed to ramble on about things that were'nt necessarily needed in the book. Plot was great, and I enjoyed it, but it was just a bit long.

Baldacci really drew me into the plot in spite of boring me to tears with his idealization of the F.B.I. Hostage Rescue Team. That's quite a feat. The trick was trying to figure out who was behind the massacre of the hero's HRT unit and why. It all came together at the end. Too bad it turned out to be so silly.
All in all, if you have the time to read all 640 pages and don't mind an implausible plot, the book is entertaining.

I found this book to be right along the Baldacci line. I expected a good read and got it. Alot of things going on in Web's world, enough to keep you occupied as the story plays out. As always, there are great characters to add to the main one. The insight and knowledge that Baldacci uses add more than we knew prior to picking up the book. I recommend it to fans of Mr. Baldacci and to those who like an action packed book.

After reading and enjoying Baldacci's other novels, I was disappointed and perplexed with this facade for an action, suspense thriller. The "last man standing" - Web London - was complex indeed. Fact is, he was totally unbelieveable! And his friend and co-HRT member, Ramano, was another version of Superman with emotional hangups. The plot, trying hard for action and intrigue with strange, intricate subplots came off like "Ken and Barbie Visit Star Trek". The heroes and villains were plastic to the point of being ridiculous. Even the females; Web's mother, his shrink Claire, and Gwen of the horse farm subplot were unexplainable, unrational characters. Too bad! I was so tempted to leave LAST MAN STANDING unfinished, but I kept hoping for some redemption of the book. Never came! The writing style was shallow...almost a Danielle Steele quality to it. Hard to believe this author penned "The Winner" and "Total Control" or else, maybe he didn't. Possibly a ghost writer?? Whatever, David, please take some time off - rest - enjoy life. Your other books were too good to have this one limping haltingly along.

Having read all of Baldacci's books, I looked forward to another great read, but ended up suprisingly disappointed at this weak effort. It seems that Baldacci packed as many story lines into this one as he could possibly think of -- which were both uninteresting and unbelievable -- then expounded on them in repetitious detail (seemingly to show off how much he knows about so many things), only to have them all come together in an all-to convenient and unconvincing ending. Even more disappointing were the 2-dimentional characters and equally flat dialog. It's hard to believe that this is the same author who penned such rich characters, settings, and plots in his other novels. I only hope his future efforts return to prior form. Skip "Last Man Standing" and wait for the quality stories we have come to expect from Baldacci. In the meantime, try reading Vince Flynn, starting with "Term Limits" ... you won't be disappointed.

What a waste of time. This book is good for one thing. It reminded of something I need to work on. My stubbornness. Sometimes I can be just too stubborn for my own good. When I was reading this I just wouldn't quit and had to go all the way to the end. This will teach me. Thank you Mr. Baldacci!

Here is a synopsis of the book: "A" is the biggest strongest man in the world. No way! "B" is the biggest strongest. How can they be if "C" was in the most awesome group of men in the world? Then they try to catch a bad guy who thinks he is the biggest, strongest and smartest of them all. Thank you again David!

This would have received a 1 star except I was reminded of the lesson I needed.

This is the 1st Baldacci Novel that I almost stopped reading. It is far from his best. The psychiatrist character is very weak and takes up too much of the book. It has a great opening for an action novel and gets exciting near the end but there was never any doubt in how it would turn out. I easily figured out the ending long before half way. I will still try his next book but I think he fell down here - it is not a page turner.

If I can spot the hynosis on disc 3, right after Clair mentions that OBannon hypnoyises college students, why can't Webb London? I'm guessing the kid's statement is a trigger or the final go assault code is. The hyperbole is silly, "Webb London could kill you in 100 different ways.." The book is silly, but I find myself looking forward to climbing back into the car to listen to and from work. Oh well, I still watch Smallville and that has devolved to total crap too.

When a mysterious hesitation causes a single member of an elite Hostage Rescue Team to be the survivor of an ambush, you have the jumping-off point for more intrigue, interagency deception, and downright criminal acts than you can shake a stick at. Once again, David Baldacci delivers a fast-paced, hard-hitting book that's engaging, interesting, and gives you that little "tickle" in the back of your brain that won't let you put it down.

Again, I can only Thank David Baldacci for his phenomenal writing ability. Thank so much for sharing your ability and expertise in writing FANTASTIC pieces of fictional literature. Can't wait to read the rest of your novels.

Sincerely,
John H. Kuhl

I have read and enjoyed Baldacci (The Winner, Saving Grace...) but this book is shallow, filled with high caliber guns and the muscle-headed lawmen who love them. It is almost silly and laughable at times. I felt somewhat embarrased by the languaging and style of the writing. I left this story hoping that the simpleminded characters were not in any way indicative of actual FBI and police, but were just artifacts of a too-fast effort on the authors part. Recommendation: leave it behind on the shelf, and hope the author does not become another Clancy, he seemed capable of much more in earlier efforts.

At 540+ pages this novel could easily have lost one third of its bulk. The author beats the reader to death with the hero's mental problems and ruminations about a mysterious black child who disappears from the scene of a horrendous shootout where six FBI Hostage Rescue Team members are slaughtered. Contrary to other reviews, one of the few areas of the book that kept me interested was narrative about HRT training, weapons and assorted war stories. New characters pop up every few chapters, leading to confusion and boredom. My first (and last) Baldacci book.

This is perhaps the worst book I have ever finished. The only reason I read it all the way through is that I was on vacation in a non-english-speaking country and had nothing else with me.

This book reads like the fantasy of a gun-obsessed 10 year old boy. The characters are, without exception, cliches. Everyone is the best of the best at what they do -- super-elite hostage rescuers, graduating at the top of their class from ivy league institutions, world-class horse breeders, the best drug dealer around.

The plot makes absoutely no sense and is slowed down by numerous digressions into wholly irrelevant material, like computer cookies, horse trailers, and target practice.

I like books like this, but I will never ever read a David Baldacci book again. The author should be ashamed of himself for putting out this embarrassing piece of trash.

It seems that every chapter contains a death. As soon as a character becomes pivotal to the plot they get killed off in hopes that suspense is created. Come on, you have to be able to create suspense a little more emotionally and creative. It was a very fast paced book and I did want to find out who was behind everything. But I quickly got tired of being teased.

I have read all of Baldacci's books and was incredibly disappointed by this latest novel. The book was choppy, did not flow well, and was incredibly too contrived. I have never read a book where everyone was bad in one way or another and everyone had something to do with it. There are no good characters, I did not even like Web London very much. The only character I enjoyed was Romano and unfortunately we did not see enough of him. The 200 or so pages in the middle of the book were slow moving and uninspired; just filler. The scenes on the horse ranch were boring and I found that I had to force myself to finish the book, expecting some major surprise. Unfortunately, no major surprise came. The main bad guy is too predictable and you figure him out when he is first introduced.

This book is so ridiculously predictable that it would have been better if he'd left out chapters. (If you buy it, please skip chapter 21 as from there on... well, you'll get the idea.) At times you felt like the writer wrote himself into a corner and had to backtrack and insert a chapter to help the book make sense. Even then - the absurdity of all the pieces coming together - as they do in the end - is laughable. This guy writes nothing like Ludlum, Grisham, etal, and should not, however remotely, be considered to be in the same class. It is a beach book at best.
NB: The review by Kristen White is one of four, three for Balducci, that she has written. Clearly she is his publicist, publisher, sister or in some way connected to Balducci. There is no way a review for this book, like the one she has written, is put forth without some outside motivation.

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.

This book is a little disappointing for me. I've been a fan of Baldacci since a few years. I've read Total Control, Brethren, Wish you well and The Winner. If you're familiar with Baldacci and expect something out of the usual then this is the book but unfortunately I find the story to be illogical and the facts are being supplied and the explanation a little to "amazing" for me to believe in. If you're a big fan, pick the book with a discount as I did (20% off). If you're new with Baldacci definitely you should pick his early and better titles.
The Winner would rate 5 stars and Total Control as well. Brethren would be 4 stars and This last book would be around 2.5 to 3 stars. =)

I read this novel over five years ago. Since then I have read almost every one of Baldacci's books and not to be too critical, Last Man should have been his last book. It is by far the best of his work. It was a real page turner and I have not found another of his books that didn't seem a little too contrived or cookie cutter like to hold my attention like Last Man Standing. Not to say that his current writing and latest books aren't good beach reading as they are. Just not up to the standard set by Last Man.

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.

Baldacci's previous books have been outstanding and I have loved everyone of them. This one is good, but is not a well written as his others. Normally I can't put a Baldacci book down until I have finished it. With Last Man Standing I did not have that problem. It is still worth buying but I was disapointed that it was not as good as his previous work.

Web London is the single survivor of a well planned government drug bust and he is hot water for it. As he strives to understand the why of his survival and the evil that arranged the dramatic episode, he is lead on a chase with more twists than a slinky. As his mission unfolds, readers will lose track of who is good and who is evil. Baldacci plots never disappoint.
Beverly J Scott author of Righteous Revenge, Ruth Fever and Jena's Choice

Is David Baldacci a good writer? No. Did I finish the book? Yes. It's a badly written page turner. It's filled with SO MANY mind numbing facts (2 pages of horse trailer models, 3 pages of boring details about a horse spread and a page of irrelevant facts concerning computer "cookies"). Neither me nor my girlfriend ever visualized the book's characters. Maybe the main character is a joker. Maybe he's akin to Tokien's Aragorn. Who knows? But... I did finish the book. I can't say that about every book. It's a page turner. The plot provides enough for the reader to keep turning the pages. But... would I recommend it? No. Suspense and Action books are "in" and there's enough good writers out there to spend you money on. Don't spend your money on this one.

This book was off the hook! If you dig on Baldacci, then this one is required reading. I bought it the day it came out and finished it in 3 days. I lost sleep over this book. Serious sleep. I have read all his novels, including Wish You Well, which actually wasn't that bad. I'm not going to say much about the book, except that it is sweet, because I don't want to ruin it. DON'T LISTEN TO THE BAD REVEIWS! Read this book!...I give this book my seal of aproval. A perfect TEN!

I am going to have to side with those that do not think much of this book. I found myself skipping lots of pages as this story just kind of drug along. I would skip it. There are much better reads out there.

This is a good book but again, I know he must want the book...at the very end, just leaving all these troubling issues O u T ??? Are you sure I read it all...cannot believe this is it. Is the publisher on a deadline and needs something to publish? Puzzling and troubling , someone wanted a quick book....Balducci usually doesn't leave us hanging like this. This is an awful way to end, too many unresolved issues. Color me disappointed.

Last Man standing is about a FBI agent named Web London in a division called HRT or Hostage Rescue Team. He is a grizzled veteran in the department that somehow avoided being killed with his comrades and friends in a ambush style killing in DC. Accused of cowardice in a now scandalized department, a now disenfranchised and disillusioned Web London sets down a path to clear his name that at a point branches off into 3 separate stories before converging back into one in a highly dramatic and well written novel. I never read anything by David Baldacci before Last Man Standing however after finishing the book it leaves me wanting to read more from him. It is truly a book that you will not want to put down.

After 500 pages of learning about the ultra-brave, ultra-smart, ultra-dedicated, ultra-sensitive, and ultra-caring Web London, I was actually hoping the bad guys would kill him.
The author constantly needs to remind the reader that Web can kill you ten ways with a toothpick, while trying to make you feel sorry for him having a pathetic lifestyle stemming from child abuse. At least the book is a fast read. However, after 400 pages of set up, the hero solves the mystery involving about 5 different bad-guy characters in less than 10 pages. My favorite part is when Web discovers someone may have tried to kill him by finding a wound from a tack(!) on a horse's back twelve hours after the event. Give me a break!!!! You could not find a tack wound on a poodle 12 hours later. As I said, this book is a quick read, but be careful if you have a sixth grade education or higher.

This very long novel seems to be both a different style than Baldacci usually writes and also not as good as most of his other books. My favorite part involved the interaction between the female psychiatrist and the surviving agent.

Was once tricked into reading one of his earlier books because an editorial claimed he was the next Ludlum, a complete falsehood. Newsflash - this guy ain't even Blue in Blue's Clues!

So I am recovering this summer from surgery and on a bookshelf at the Cape is a mystery novel. Not paying attention to the author (foolish me) I start reading. On a tough night, because of new meds and pain I get several hundred pages into this droner before I realize that it is again Balducci...

Bottom line - he is unidimensional, incapable of misdirection and providing anything but dead obvious foreshadowing. His dialougue could not possibly be any more trite: "thank god they started making water bottles, they make stakeouts easier because you can pee in them..." the line wasn't even written that well. Even with a lack of any thought provoking plot, more often than not he writes himself into a corner and has to go back and undo what he's written earlier and/or add in pages to cover his tracks.

This guy is getting paid to write books??? Will miracles never cease??? Folks taking english as a second language may find some use for this guy - other wise, don't waste your money. He is trite, uninspiring and writes for 5th graders.

The Last Man Standing is disappointing. The hero is so interested in what has happened to him and his own self-analysis is so detailed that it's hard to maintain any real interest. Baldacci's previous books were page turners. This one sat around for a long time waiting to get a page turned.

After reading 300+ pages, no one enjoys a cliffhanger. And unlike his other efforts (Stone Cold comes to mind...), this Baldacci cliff ends with a whimper, not a bang. While I love the "pulpiness" of his writing voice, this one was a waste of $10. Sorry.

Last Man Standing is a good read as long as you are able to overlook some typical faults in Mr Baldacci's writing style. IMHO, many of his charaters are two dimensional and flat and especially so in Last Man Standing. Much of the charater interaction is also two dimensional, with so many "hard stares" that it should become a college drinking game.

I almost quit on this book halfway through as some of the reasons why Web London froze are obvious, but I stuck with it and the pace picked up in the last third of the book.

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.

Superhero stuff centered totally around one character. The author tries to make him more than one dimensional by putting him in therapy. Shades of "The Sopranos". Some books you enjoy and think they would make a great movie. This just seems to be written for the movies and not a very good one at that. It's Bruce Willis or Arnold Schwarzenegger territory. Not up to Baldacci's best. I should have given up after the first few chapters. As an American living overseas, I'm afraid the most enjoyable parts of the book were the descriptions of my native Virginia.

First, I chose this book because of the Author David Baldacci.. He is GREAT.
Second, I wanted a single book instead of a series this time.
Finally, This sounded interesting.
I really enjoyed this story & I look forward to more of his books.

There may be all of the elements of a good story here, but it got lost in the telling. I found the writing to be confusing, the characters to be without depth and the plot to be aimless. Since his first few novels, Baldacci has clearly been off his game and this effort only continues his troubles.

Okay, so you're willing to suspend your disbelief and give the central character all the tough-guy attributes coming to him in this kind of novel, but the end of the story is even hard to swallow given your aforementioned acceptance of his SuperCop status.
Look elsewhere for compelling tough-cop fiction.

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.

I can't say enough bad about this book. Fortunately I only paid $1.00 for it at a used book store. A silly story written to please those with execessive macho proclivities, I guess. Given that he had written Absolute Power on which the movie was based, I stuffed the urge to throw it away many times as my reading progressed, thinking I'd come to some redeeming value. I didn't. Now I'll throw it away.

I have a 60 minute drive to and from work every day so I "read" countless books on CD. Mostly, I listen to these books to stay awake so I'm always looking for something fast and exciting that I don't have to think hard to comprehend at 5:30 am. This book was the perfect fit. The characters are developed, but not too deeply where it's confusing who is who, etc.. Unlike other thrillers that I've read, you really begin rooting for the main character because of the opening scene. Big F is a great character too that always keeps you guessing.

I recommend this book definitely as a way to get the blood flowing a little bit in the morning or at night.

Really, really dissapointed in the ending... Was amazing 1500 pages on my I pad... till the end... What a let down....just sat there saying "what" was that... Love, love Baldacci...just cant believe it ended like that....

Have you ever seen a movie that had a great beginning and a great ending and everything in-between was lacking...well, that's what this book was like. You could have cut the book down by about 200 pages and it would have been a great book. I gave it four stars because overall it was good, but had too many fillers.

This is not one of my favorite books by Beverly. Only because it is hard to follow. One minute you are reading about Melissa and then the next chapter you are reading about Ryan.I also dont understand why everybook that Beverly writes is about the Amish. I really like her books. But I with that she would write something that doesnt talk about the Amish

stunned by the negative reviews of this fabulous book...i shared this with four other people, male and female, who all thought it was completely engrossing. i listened to this via audiotape, and i found myself sitting in my car, waiting to hear what happened next.
i agree, it ranges far and wide; but the research on each subject, from horse trailers to inner-city life, was interesting and entertaining.
i've read "saving faith", "absolute power", "the winner", and "the associate" and
this - just in my opinion, now - is far and away the best.

The overwhelming of the unknown had a way of worming it's way into me as I read this book. How well I know the pain of someone else's sin in my own life, and reading this book put into words much of what I have lived though since a very young age. The fear, the need to hide and the pain of knowing that someone you love might not only have put you in danger but also might be trying to kill you. Sometimes we just need to be reminded that God it there and waiting, we only have to open our eyes and our hearts to Him. A very good book, it has reminded me that although there is such evil and danger, there is also God and the SANCTUARY of Gods protective hand.

Having read all of Baldacci's book I was disappointed in the quality of this story. It was an unbelievable plot and insulting to the reader. Maybe the author needs to take a rest from "thrillers" and go back to writing books more like "Wish You Well"

Excellent book! You won't be able to stop reading, and while you are reading you will never guess who are the bad guys and who are the good ones until the very end, the book never goes out of the story and it doesn't have any love story just to fill pages, but it has to many coincidences, but that doesn't take any star, enjoy this book, but you have to have in mind that if you start reading it you won't be able to stop it till the end.

I usually love Baldacci. This one was worth skipping. It was disconnected (except by far too frequent "oh, by the way" fill-ins) and seemed, in fact, to have been patched-together by an inexperienced author, a poor stylist, and an overworked editor. The final acknowledgment to an FBI hostage rescue team operator and would-be writer may tell the tale. Baldacci wishes him every success in his writing career. So do I -- but I hope Baldacci rediscovers his muse.

I've read textbooks that were more entertaining. Reading a novel is supposed to be fun. The long boring paragraphs that take up half a page would have put me to sleep if I had not given up after page 12. Am returning it to Mystery Guild in exchange for one by McBain. Now, there's my kind of writer. Last Man was my first for this writer--and my last.

This review relates to the audio version of Last Man Standing. I listened to 22 hours of this book only find it had the worst ending ever. The budding romance that had been developing throughout the book, even up to the last chapters, died so suddenly that I was sure there was more to come, until the reader's next words were, "The End." It was as if David Baldacci got tired of writing this book and decided to finish it off quickly. This was my first attempt at a David Baldacci and I think it will be a long time before I get the courage up to read/listen to another. My sympathies to anyone currently listening to this story.

I quite enjoyed it. It's pretty much just what you'd expect it to be - no surprise. It's a compelling read that kept me up a bit too late. If I have any complaints it's that the author seemed to give the ending short shrift. This seemed a bit odd, given that the rest of the book flowed well. Still, I'm happy to recommend it.

Web London heads up the FBI's super-elite Hostage Rescue Team, he is a master at what he does, but on their latest assignment he is not able to predict, or save them from the bloodshed that is about to erupt. Having his men assemble in an alley, Web feels confident that they will bring down the drug dealer they have set out to destroy, but within seconds they are ambushed...everyone killed, leaving Web the LAST MAN STANDING.
Trying to cope with the blame that has been placed on him by grieving widows, Web must try to put the pieces of that fateful night together. What went wrong? How were they ambushed? And who was the young boy Web saved in that alley, and why was he there?
As these questions plague Web he seeks the help of psychiatrist Claire Daniels, and with her help he will be able to confront his own tainted past, as well as answer the question WHY WAS HE CHOSEN TO BE THE ONLY SURVIVOR?
As Web's search begins the young boy disappears, and anyone connected to that fateful night will be violently silenced, but Web is confident he knows where the killer will strike next, only this time he may not survive the attack.
`Last Man Standing' marks the return to thriller writing for David Baldacci, unfortunately the novel is peopled with too many characters, and the plot is far more complicated than it should be. Characters come dropping in every chapter, and the in depth descriptions of weapons, and technical FBI jargon become a distraction rather than an important part to the plot.
As with all Baldacci novels his writing is clean, crisp and easy to read, and he CAN spin a good tale, only this time he has too much going on. As the old saying goes "LESS IS MORE".
Nick Gonnella

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 turned out to be one of my favorite Balducci books. It's action packed and an incredible story. There were scenes that made me laugh out loud. Love the character "Big F." I would say this is a "mans" book, but I'm a 28 year old female and really liked it.

My favorite part was the ending. I felt it had a very realistic feel to it.

I read Absolute Power and was looking for his next novel.
Last Man Standing is very mediocre.
Huge plot holes.
One example, page 488 (out of 548), Kevin (a nine year old) picks a locked door with parts from a pen - right, I believe that ~ not!...P>It's not a bad book, just not a very good book.
Easy to read, just hard to visualize real people doing some of the things in it...

I am now reading page 434 of Last Man Standing. I kept on reading this book trying to make this a good book with a good plot, interesting characters, etc. So far, it has none of the aforementioned qualities. I thought I would check out other reviews. Didn't want to be the only one to think this book was a waste of time. Thankfully, I bought it at a used book sale for a dollar. I'm not sure it was worth even that, though it does have a nice-looking jacket.

having read most of his books,I found this to be a real change in his writings. This is a Clancy style (Rainbow Six) Action type novel. Really enjoyable,and plotted out quite cleverly. I always enjoy his writing and will continue to read all that he produces.

i think this book is really great. maybe even a must-read. i borrowed it from my grandma and am thinking about reading it a second time. although i don't think the main character melissa should have went back to her husband after he unbelievably betrayed her so. bye.

This is my 3rd Baldacci book. The book is good. Kept me interesting throughout the story line. Didn't figure it out til the end. However... my fav Baldacci book so far is THE WINNER. Now THATS an EXCELLENT BOOK!! Highly recommend it.

Nobody could get this book published unless he was already a best selling author. I believe this is the worst book by any multiple-published author in the past 20 years. He fulfilled is publishing contract but not he hopes of his regular readers.

At the beginning ,action every 100 pages, and boy do those pages drag. The plot is movie style convoluted and not close to reality based. How come we keep witnesses alive so long, when all that is intended is their demise?

Heavy on action and light on plot, I was dissapointed. I have not read Baldacci before, but expected an intelligent and appropriate mix of plot, character development and action. What I got was just repeated thundering about how "tough" and "bad" the main character was and the brand names of a dozen guns that do nothing for the actual story. Futhermore, the plot was hardly original, I picked out the primary antagonist the first time he appeared within three pages. Don't pick this one up with high expectations.

I picked up "Last Man Standing" to have some easy fiction reading as a little interlude while reading Norman Thomas Remick's epic-like, non-fiction, virtual education called "West Point". "Last Man Standing" is another Baldacci winner. David Baldacci writes so realistically that fiction becomes almost heavy reading (though still great stuff). On the other hand, Remick writes true history and philosophy so much like an adventure, it's actually an easier read than most fiction. It's like the world turned upside down. I'm loving "Last Man Standing". You won't be disappointed. But, I'm also looking forward to getting back to the adventure through the history and philosophy of civilization, "West Point", that is actually, unusually, a very light and entertaining read. Meanwhile, allow me to advise you that David Baldacci has another five star hit on his hands.

I thought overall that this was an interesting and well written book. The psychological intrigue was more interesting than the action storyline and there are some unpredictable twists coming at the end. I was entertained by this book.

I am extremely disappointed in this book. I thoroughly enjoyed all of his other books (especially "The Winner"), but this one was slow & uninteresting. I have read 225 out of 548 pages and have finally given up on it.

Outstanding Book! I devoured all 548 pages and hated to put the book down. I thought nothing could top Absolute Power and The Winner but this did! I loved the main character who is truely an Alpha-male in search of answers professionally and personally.

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'm not a person who reads a lot but by some unknown force...this book called to me and it was a great one! The way David Baldacci writes is simply breathtaking because he puts you right there in the middle of a gun fight. The characters in the book are so awesome....it's nice to take time out from daily routines and be able to cheer for a hero (or two) and that's what this book does for you.

I thoroughly enjoyed Baldacci's previous books and was looking forward to this one, but I was very disappointed. The book is excruciatingly slow: I am on page 340 out of over 500 pages and struggling to finish. Nothing much seems to have happened since the opening scene, and the plot doesn't make much sense. The writing is poor, and the characters are mostly not very interesting or believable. So far, the best word to describe this book is boring.

OK, so I exaggerate. But only a little. I can't believe (1) Baldacci actually submitted this for publication knowing his name would be associated with it, (2) a publishing house actually paid for the manuscript, and (3) I was dumb enough to read it. I think I'll take a pass on the author's other efforts.

I found this to be a horribly violent and depressing book. Sure, life can be violent and messy, but I don't have to go to fiction to experience that. This is a real nightmare of a mystery, all too well depicting the ugly underbelly of our world today. But if you like that kind of thing, you'll probably enjoy the book. It's just not my cup of tea.

The story provides an interesting look at an FBI SWAT on steroids. These Alpha males push the envelope to get it done.Their problems keep the"shrinks" in the money as the secrets get sold to the highest bidder.

Admittedly, I did not read the entire book because I had to put it down after 200 pages. It's that bad. The dialogue is cheesy, the characters shallow, and the plot (near as I can tell at the half-way point) might as well have been outlined by a fifth-grader. And did I mention that it was way too long? I have not read Baldacci before, but this book ensures that I never will again.

I have enjoyed all of David Baldacci's books, this one is one my favorites by far. Just when I thought I had it all figured out,
he changed things. The characters were likeable and believable I couldn't put it down. Although, the ending was a littledisapointing, I hope one day he will continue the storyline, of Web London. I look forward to his next book.

This is a different sort of novel for Baldacci, but he weaves an intricate storyline deftly. Although there are a few cliches underlying his storyline, the main character is someone you cannot help but root for as he unravels the sinister plot into which his life and friends have become involved.

I found this book confusing. It never explained some of the characters fully. After I got used to that I read it all in one sitting. I enjoyed it beleive it or not. I did not find it very beleivable but still enjoyed it

This book is absoluetly incredible. It started off with action right from the beginning, and it kept me interested. I would have to say that this book kept me guessing until the very end. There was so much suspense and drama, I couldn't put the book down, I ended up reading the book in one day. If anyone wants to purchase this book you will not be disappointed!!

I can't believe this is the same guy that wrote 'Saving Faith'. It is probably the worst book I've read in ten years. It is so convoluted not to mention totally improbable, that I got to the place where I didn't even care how it turns out.

After a brief and successful sojourn into a new genre (Wish you well) Mr. Baldacci is back with a vengeance, with all the suspense and depth of his thrillers. I think he's even a better writer now than before, if that is possible. I can't wait for the movie.

This book was really good, once you have opened it you aren't going to want to close it. There is so much action you won't want to close it. I liked how much will power Web London had to stay alive. I also liked how the author liked to deep the bad and good guys a secret.It is a great book and I think you should read it.

my 10 year old could have written a novel that was less simplistic, unrepetetive, and more interesting than this. I wish i could send this hardback copy i have back to the author for a refund. terrible novel.

Unbelievably bad. Many of the characters have laughable names, there's repetition of the plodding plot for readers too dumb to keep up, a lot of it is predictable and the writing is so bad there are exclamation marks sprinkled here and there to remind you that you should be excited. Appalling even for trash airport fiction. As another reviewer alluded, I spent time watching my bare in-flight seatback which was considerably less teeth-grinding an experience. Shame you can't rate a book with no stars.

I thought this was a fantastic book! It was fast paced and all of the seemingly far fetched elements came together quite believably. I would recommed this book to anyone who enjoys mystery/thrillers, and I will anxiously await Mr. Baldacci's next effort.

Wow...this book was excellant!!! Once you thought you figured out what was happening it turned around. I couldn't put it down. It had the feel of a Beverly Lewis book, but had a little extra, put in by her husband. They should write more books together!! It was great!

Very well researched book, very good writer, and excellant plot. Only disappointment was the unneccessary vulgarity which kept it from being a great book which could be recommended to a wider audience.

Not only was this book a waste of time-it was a lot of time. I kept plowing through it hoping it would get better, but it just never did. I was disappointed as I usually like his books. And then the ending...Well, again, talk about a waste of time.

Being an author myself, I don't have much time to read other authors' works. This was the first book by Mr. Baldacci I've read and it's just fabulous. A really great thriller that holds interest for the reader. I recommend this one!

I found this book to repetitive. It just keeps going on and on, on how bad Web feels about the death of his 7 team mates. Also, it has harsh racist descriptions on some characters that don't really add to the story at all. It just adds to the stereotype of how life is in Annacostia, Washington DC. One such description is that of the black grandmother of the missing kid. She is described as a big black woman about the sides of a small car with big breast and lives in a house full of rat excrements. I don't recommend this book at all, but if you are a narrow minded white male, who thinks that he is at the top of the hill looking down on the rest, this book is for you.