This author is well on his way to reviving those deductive skills that made him such a popular mystery writer. Of course the agents triumph in the end, but Baldacci keeps the reader guessing with plenty of unexpected twists and turns. King and Dillinger have a romantic past, one that ended with Ritter's assassination, but Dillinger is willing to help with Sean and Michelle's investigation, for a price.īit by bit the plot is uncovered, until the agents find themselves confronted by an unexpected and dangerous adversary. However, he does contact ex-agent Joan Dillinger, who's found success in the private sector. Their combined resources offer a better chance at some solution, although King can no longer use his Secret Service affiliations for information. Once they join forces and compare notes, Sean and Michelle are even more convinced that their cases are connected. There is a particular mastermind behind both the assassination and the disappearance, and Agent Sean King finds a willing co-conspirator in Agent Michelle Maxwell. I have seen this trend across his various books and this one is no exception. It has interesting characters and excellent writing but the plot is a bit weak. This quirk in this latest mystery is a subplot that surfaces when the two Secret Service agents combine their talents to solve Ritter's death and Bruno's disappearance. Split Second is a typical Baldacci first book in a series.
Agent Maxwell is determined to find John Bruno before he's killed, and she is interested in the similarities between her scenario and that of former agent King's. For one split second, King's attention was captured by something other than his assigned civilian, and that critical second led to questions and Sean's denouement as an effective agent.Įight years later, another presidential candidate, this one under the protection of Michelle Maxwell, is kidnapped while under her surveillance. Wounded himself, King kills the assassin, but his career in the Secret Service is in tatters after such a fiasco. In 1996, while on protective detail of presidential candidate Clyde Ritter, Secret Service agent Sean King fails to stop an attempt on Ritter's life during a planned campaign stop. Baldacci recently made a detour into the more emotional territory of the novel, but his real strength lies in the ability to structure a concise plot, using the incisive logic necessary for such a notable effort as Absolute Power. Baldacci introduced us to two disgraced secret service agents in Split Second, Sean King and Michelle Maxwell. In this refreshing return to the source of David Baldacci's early success in the mystery/suspense genre, Split Second is a welcome addition to his body of work. I fell in love with the characters Michelle and Sean.Click here to read Rashmi Srinivas' take on Split Second.
She hires King to help in the search.īesides a couple of action scenes, the sexual tension between the 3 characters carries the novel. King's old flame at the time of his disgrace, agent Joan Dillenger, security firm is hired to locate the missing candidate. Soon after a body is found in King's Office. He takes responsibility for the mistake and leaves the service to become a lawyer in North Carolina.Ĩ years later, agent Michelle Maxwell allows presidential candidate to enter a funeral home unattended to speak to a friend's widow. In 1996, secret service agent, Sean King is momentarily distracted, at which time the presidential candidate he was assigned to protect was shot and killed. CLEMENT from COLLEGE STATION, TX United States
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