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Split Second [Mass Market Paperback]

David Baldacci (Author)
3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (118 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Publication Date: Sep 1 2004 | Series: King & Maxwell
Watch King & Maxwell, TNT's new series based on David Baldacci's blockbuster novels, on Mondays at 10 p.m. (ET/PT)

The world can change forever in a single...

SPLIT SECOND

Michelle Maxwell has just wrecked her promising career at the Secret Service. Against her instincts, she let a presidential candidate out of her sight for the briefest moment, and the man whose safety was her responsibility vanished into thin air. Sean King knows how the younger agent feels. Eight years earlier, the hard-charging Secret Service agent allowed his attention to be diverted for a split second. And the candidate he was protecting was gunned down before his eyes. Now Michelle and Sean are about to see their destinies converge.

Drawn into a maze of lies, secrets, and deadly coincidences, the two discredited agents uncover a shocking truth: that the separate acts of violence that shattered their lives were really a long time in the making-and are a long way from over...

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Product Description

From Amazon

Split Second is David Baldacci at the top of his well-informed game, with a real sense of what the Secret Servicemen who protect the President and presidential candidates think about the job and how it feels to fail. Sean King looked away at the wrong moment and a man died; his career ended and he has spent eight years rebuilding a life. When Michelle Maxwell makes a similar mistake, she becomes convinced that there is a link between the man she lost to kidnappers and the man Sean failed to protect--and the more she learns, the more she can prove.

This is an odd couple thriller--Sean and Michelle have radically different attitudes to the job they both did well--and ingeniously put together in terms of what it tells us about the shadowy villain manipulating events and what it delays telling us about the past. It is a well-informed thriller which wears its research lightly--it has a sense of how it feels to see every large room as a potential killing ground in which you have to protect very vulnerable public men, and some charming scenes of budding romantic comedy. --Roz Kaveney --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

"We just solved a huge, complicated mystery," says one protagonist to another in this latest novel from the bestselling author of Last Man Standing, Absolute Power, etc. And that is the problem: this story of two disgraced Secret Service agents who come together to solve two campaign-trail crimes doesn't play to Baldacci's strengths, which are suspense and action (as well as strong characterizations; here's one thriller author who writes people that readers care about). The novel is primarily a mystery, with lots of talk and untangling of clues, and a less than gripping one at that. It begins in 1996, when Secret Service agent Sean King is distracted-by what isn't revealed until near the book's end-just when the presidential candidate he's guarding is shot dead. Eight years later, agent Michelle Maxwell lets the candidate she's watching enter a funeral parlor room alone; he's kidnapped. Then a body appears in the office of King, who's now a successful lawyer in North Carolina. Maxwell sees King on TV and decides to look into the event that caused his disgrace, so similar to hers. Meanwhile, King's old flame, Joan Dillinger, an ex-agent whose security firm has been hired to find the kidnapped presidential candidate, hires King to help in the hunt. The narrative ties binding the characters don't loosen much over the novel's course, as curious cross-currents flow between the two cases, all leading to a cinematic but off-the-wall denouement that reveals a villain who is more cartoon than human. What saves this novel are a few strong but brief action sequences and, above all, the interplay among the principal characters, particularly the romantic tensions among King, Maxwell and Dillinger.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Well structured thriller Jun 16 2004
By johndoe2412
Format:Hardcover
The book puts the reader in the middle of the action within the first 20 pages. Two similar events, 8 years apart, involving both a Secret Service agent, apparently unconnected, quickly come together into a single story with many characters, events, surprises, in this past paced thriller. Overall a well structured story, keeps you reading, and you better do or you'll forget some of the pieces of the puzzle. I enjoyed it. Only minor point: the author includes sometimes too many "thoughts" of possible theories/plots that tend to confuse.
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5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read Jun 19 2013
By Paulineisafan
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
David always has gripping plots and keeps you spell,bound right to,the end.
Can't wait to read them the next one.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars A Total Disapointment July 16 2004
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
A Total Disappointment

I have been a Baldacci fan since reading Total Control, The Winner and Saving Faith, all good books and worth the time. But, Split Second? All I can say is, infuriating. An unbelievable plot, a cast of confusing, cliched characters, and an absolutely ridiculous ending. It all adds up to a real waste of trees used to make the paper for this thing.

I almost wonder if this wasn't something he wrote in high school and now that he is famous, he thought he could pull it out and pass it off as a "real novel." His editors and agents should have stepped in and stopped this before it got to print. After trying and trying, I did eventually plow though it all, because as I told my wife, "I can't believe how confusing and dumb this is. I just have to read to the end, to see how he is going to work himself of this morass of a plot." In a sentence? The ending was as dumb and confusing as the rest of the book.

The few people on here who have given this book four or five stars must work for the publisher, be relatives of Baldacci, or are cult followers ready to swallow the Kool Aid. I've never seen so many negative reviews for a book on Amazon. I only wish I had read them before I started it and not after.

If you must read a Baldacci book, go for Total Control or The Winner, they are both page turners. Well actually, Split Second was a page turner also. You had to keep turning them back and forth to try and figure out this confusing mess.

I'm sorry to be so negative, but I liked Baldacci, enjoyed his other books, and had high hopes for this story. After reading this I am hesitant to try any of his others, but will probably give him one more chance to make up for this clunker.

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Most recent customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Steamy
I agree with another reviewer that the best aspect of this book is the love triangle--steamy! My only hesitation with this work was that a few of the twists and turns didn't need... Read more
Published on Aug 4 2004 by "wallacefeytag999"
5.0 out of 5 stars One of my top five books of all time
Where to begin with this book.

Before reading this book, my top five books were:
1) Roses Are Red by James Patterson
2) 1st to Die by James Patterson
3) The... Read more

Published on July 13 2004 by Emgee
1.0 out of 5 stars horrible
Baldacci, is a bad writer, all his production except the very first one (Absolute Power, which was average) was well below average, but this one is truly beyond the pale. Read more
Published on July 10 2004 by Does Not Matter
2.0 out of 5 stars Not Baldacci's Best... Not by a long shot
While I generally enjoy David Baldacci's books, this one was somewhat of a disappointment. It was a relatively entertaining read, but not much else. Read more
Published on July 7 2004 by wing_a
3.0 out of 5 stars Good entertainment if not for the bad ending
I really liked the novel until the final. It doesn't let you put the book down and, therefore, it's a good mistery thriller. Oh, if only the ending would make any sense. Read more
Published on July 5 2004 by Vahania63
2.0 out of 5 stars The worst Baldacci book I've read
I am a big fan of Baldacci but I just finished this one today & must say i was disappointed. I found myself skimming the last 1/3 of the book just so I could finish it. Read more
Published on Jun 28 2004 by E. Beratlis
3.0 out of 5 stars Not Baldacci's Best By a Long Shot
This is a convoluted tangle that doesn't do Baldacci justice. It has too many parts that just don't hold up. Read Saving Faith and Absolute Power instead!
Published on Jun 24 2004 by C. A Zepeda
2.0 out of 5 stars what a bore
i knew it be a matter of time before the grishman/baldacci style of writing junk for the masses would get to me. well, it has. Read more
Published on Jun 22 2004 by Badri Radhakrishnan
2.0 out of 5 stars Dissapointed )-:
As a fan of David Baldacci, I looked forward to this book after ordering it from Amazon. The premise was fine, but there was no real character development, there was at least one... Read more
Published on Jun 21 2004 by Tom Arnold
5.0 out of 5 stars Baldacci bags another win!
Secret service agent Sean King will never forget the day a presidential candidate he was guarding is gunned down. Read more
Published on Jun 6 2004 by Beverly J. Scott
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