End Game

*.5

Almost nothing in this book makes any sense, from the premise to the plot to the characters. It's sloppy and lazy, insultingly inconsistent and contrived, with atrocious dialogue, and a story line hacked together from elements explored in the previous books. I had compared the earlier books to a Hollywood action movie, this one is on the level of a Scooby Doo episode. A disappointing end to what started out as a promising series.

David Baldacci's 'End Game' is probably the 'end game' for me with Baldacci novels. Totally pedestrian writing, wooden dialogue, unrealistic action, and a bunch of situations that should cause readers to say 'huh?', combine with a fairly silly plot to create a book I couldn't wait to finish. I thought about bailing several times, but thought it might improve.....not.

In this installment of the Will Robie series, Robie and Reel, two kick-ass CIA types, are called in to locate their 'boss', a.k.a. 'Blue Man', who's disappeared somewhere in eastern Colorado while on a solo vacation. He has tons of government secrets that must be protected at all costs (which would lead to my first major question: why send only 2 agents?). In short order, show more the agents arrive at the small town that was Blue Man's vacation base as well as his original home town, seemingly without possessing any real advance intelligence about the area and its inhabitants (again, they work for one of the most sophisticated and capable areas of US law enforcement and they venture to a remote area blind?) and manage to piss off virtually the entire population. Since that population seems to be largely comprised of skinheads, 'sovereign citizens', and various other nutcases, fully armed, that might be problematic for most people, but not Robie and Reel. They're apparently never outnumbered and they never miss when they shoot!

Is 'Blue Man' found? Does he survive? Is the sexual tension between Robie and Reel ever resolved? How about between Robie and the local female sheriff? Unfortunately, if you really care you need to slog through about 400 pages of mediocre writing to find out. Don't say you weren't warned. show less

Definitely not the best book in the series--in fact, at one point, I thought I was going to have to write "everybody dies" as my summary. (Not quite, but quite a few people die.)

I guess having tackled the family issues of Jessica Reel and Will Robie in previous installments, they decided it was now time to reveal some of the history of Robie's and Reel's handler "Blue Man" (AKA Roger Walton).

If I were ever to disappear, I could only wish to have friends as skilled and as loyal as Will Robie and Jessica Reel to come find me.

Other than that, the plot was pretty odd. Robie and Reel wander around for much of the book with no real idea what is going on or where to look for their boss.

The mystery element and the red herrings were well done. The end felt like a let down as it went the cliché route of the big bads explaining their evil plot to our heroes and then of course making the mistake of giving the heroes a "fighting chance" to escape alive with the expected result. The lead in was good though.

I listened to the audiobook and Kyf Brewer and Orlagh Cassidy do an excellent job covering all of the voices, giving each of them their own inflection or affectation. Also, somewhere along the way, whoever used to add all those annoying sound effects and music cues to the David Baldacci books has been kept away from the production.

The sixth Will Robie, Jessica Reel novel. This time, they team up to find their handler, Blue Man, who has disappeared in the wilds of Colorado where skinheads, neo Nazis, and other vigilante groups hang out. There is lots of shooting and action that stretches one’s credibility. This is not my favorite Baldacci series, but if you enjoy it, you will like this addition. In the future, I think I will skip this series.

David Baldacci is a master when it comes to this kind of thriller. The story has all the excitement and twists you expect plus some issues beginning to be resolved for our two stars...Will and Jessica. Also learning more about Blue Man's backstory simply added to the intrigue. All of DAvid Baldacci's series are outstanding. The only problem I have with them is that he gets you into the characters...makes you love them...then cuts the series off at 4 to 5 books.

The cover and tag line of this book is played out in the very first chapter. Has NOTHING to do with the rest of it. Poor choice, jacket designer.

That said, I read this in one sitting. I did figure out one of the big baddies pretty early on, but still impressed with all the surprises.

Also, who knew Baldacci was such a sucker for “love wins in the end?”