Baldacci Slips In Split Second
Split Second by David Baldacci
David Baldacci is fast becoming a James Patterson clone. The younger author is nowhere near approaching Patterson's prolific output, but he seems to have found a rhythm that allows regular releases in a specific genre with tight formulas. He is even borrowing a page from the veteran's gameplan and seems to be writing more for the big screen than the paperback novel.
In Split Second, the best selling novelist creates a mystery within the Secret Service. One presidential candidate is assassinated. Years later, another is kidnapped. With characters straight out of central casting playing the reluctant agents whose careers are shattered by each set of events, Baldacci gives readers a glimpse inside the workings of yet another government agency, this time, the Secret Service.
The mystery seems to have sufficient red herrings scattered about, but the story falls far short of explaining why men and women train under intense conditions for the moment when they might have to put their body in the line of an assassin's fire. Baldacci instead has his main characters flit about the Mid Atlantic and the South, looking for clues like the Scooby Gang (one's a lawyer, one's a jock, one's a grizzled US Marshal).
The Plot In Exactly One Hundred Words
Secret Service agent Sean King is distracted long enough while guarding a presidential candidate for a college professor to shoot the politician. Eased out of the service by damage control experts, he becomes a lawyer in the Blue Ridge Mountains until another agent shows up at his door. This agent, Michelle Maxwell, is in similar straits and persuades the reluctant King to help her get to the bottom of the seemingly unrelated cases. Various minor characters are murdered and suspicion falls on King, who has apparently been framed for the crimes and is helped by Maxwell and a former lover.
What Works Well
The Washington, D.C. and Virginia settings were as accurate as any thriller has a right to be without becoming a travel guide, and the mystery wasn't awful, but caught somewhere in between a traditional mystery and the stuff Patterson and John Grisham keep churning out. There were plenty of red herrings and false leads, which will satisfy casual readers.
What Doesn't Work As Well
Those casual readers had better not be mystery buffs because they are in for a disappointing read. The mystery that lies at the heart of Split Second is simply too shallow and easy for the characters to investigate.
Meanwhile, the pacing is reminiscent of the television show 24. Events explode throughout the story, continually thrusting the main characters into a series of events that would otherwise be life altering but instead become a normal day at the office. This not only leads to the main characters becoming larger than life, but diminishes the effectiveness of any supporting characters.
The other sharp criticism I have of this story is the ease with which Baldacci allows his characters to reinvent themselves. This is especially true of Sean and Michelle, but also happens with Joan and others. I enjoy an economical writer as much as anyone, but have a hard time with novels that depict gun battles in excruciating detail only to then have a character shift personas within a sentence.
The Bottom Line, Dog Earred Pages and All
It will probably be a movie one day so you might want to read it now before Hollywood chops it up even more. This is the perfect book for a beach or a treadmill or other venue where light reading is appropriate.
Five Things To Remember From This Review
1. David Baldacci has written many best sellers set in and around Washington agencies.
2. This time, it's the Secret Service's turn.
3. The suspense is gone from this story, which seems to have verbal jump cuts from scene to scene as though it were born as a screenplay.
4. How many Secret Service agent / Olympian / beautiful women characters can you stomach?
5. The settings are done very well.
