LAST MAN STANDING

Last Man Standing, David Baldacci, Warner Books, 2002, 638 pp

Last month I made a trip to Michigan to help my mom who was ill. This was my airplane read. I had forgotten to pack books in my carry-on, so I bought this in the airport. It is no where near as good as the other two I've read by Baldacci but it got me through the flight.

Web London is FBI, part of a team of snipers who go into danger spots and recover hostages or take live prisoners who will testify against drug lords. The story begins with Web's entire team being killed in a drug raid. He is the last man standing because he experienced a moment when he froze, could not move, so that when he overcame it, he was not in the cross-fire.

There is trouble in the Bureau and it appears that the traitor is inside the organization. Enter shrinks, horse dealers, an undercover agent and the 10 year old son of a local drug dealer. Web has issues due to being abandoned by his father when he was 6 and abused by his stepfather.

So it goes, it all gets solved. The reader knows more than the FBI, Web suffers Bruce Willis style and I was almost bored by page 600. It is a wonder to me how a writer gets worse. Defies logic.