Hour Game - A Novel
By David Baldacci
Read by Ron McLarty
Time Warner AudioBooks, (2004)
An abridged recording on 5 CDs
ISBN: 1-58621-703-8
Genre: Mystery
Reviewed by Carmella Cruz - October 26, 2004
The Hour Game is an intriguing mystery that keeps you thinking for 6 hours. There is nothing to allude that this is an abridgement. The story is seamless, absorbing and complex.
Former Secret Service agents Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are partners in a private investigation firm in rural Virginia. They are as different as two people can be, but their diversity makes them a good team and wholly likeable characters in this tense novel.
A series of brutal murders baffles the local police, who enlist the help of King and Maxwell to solve the crimes. Although the murders seem to be random, the killer, or is it killers, leave tantalizing clues for the dynamic duo. At each murder clues are left to link the killing to the modus operandi of past serial killers, i.e., Ted Bundy, the Zodiac and John Wayne Gray among others. However, this killer(s) has his/her own identifying mark, a watch is left at each murder scene.
At the same time, the detectives are hired to investigate a burglary on the estate of the Battle Family. The Battles are an old rich southern family that seemed to have walked out of a Tennessee Williams' play .
There is a lot going on here and the action never stops, but Baldacci weaves the plot and the characters in a beautiful mosaic. I look forward to the further adventures of King and Maxwell.
It is obvious that this is not the first time the reader, Ron McLarty, has recorded a book. His voice transmits the intensity of the novel and gives the listener a true sense of urgency as the plot moves forward. Mr. McLarty has had guest appearances on many television shows, including Law and Order, Third Watch, Sex and the City, and the Practice. Mr. McLarty also has many film credits that include Into the Fire, Mean Streak, and The Postman.
Related Reviews:
Last Man Standing, by David Baldacci.
Part police procedural, part psychological melodrama, Last Man Standing is a fast paced thriller that follows one man's attempt to rid himself of his emotional demons while at the same time tracking down those responsible for the cold-blooded murder of six of his fellow Hostage Rescue Team members.
Still Life with Crows, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.
The FBI's eccentric Special Agent Pendergast is on the trail of a serial killer who is terrorizing a small Kansas town. To solve the mystery, he will need the aid of Corrie, a young tattooed woman, who is as hip as Pendergast is staid.
