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A review by jerbee02
The 6:20 Man by David Baldacci
2.0
I can’t help but wonder if this was Baldacci’s attempt to use ChatGPT to write a book. It’s simply doesn’t have the same feel as his earlier work.
I listened to the audiobook format of this title, and I’m glad I did, as the number of times I was rolling my eyes would have really interrupted reading a print version. Generally speaking, I enjoy David Baldacci books - and have for decades. This is by and far the worst one I’ve read. Travis Devine is an interesting character with a backstory that I think has a lot of potential, but this book just felt incredibly stilted and the supporting characters totally one-dimensional. Some of the dialogue made me physically cringe.Normally, I have no problem with suspending my disbelief for a good book. This title didn’t ask me to suspend it, but to totally eliminate it. Other reviewers have mentioned the plot, so I’m just focusing on how I felt reading it. For me at least, it was a swing and a miss. It’s not a total one star, but neither is it 2. Which is why goodreads needs fractional ratings (or at least 10 total) - this would be around 1.5/5 for me, so I’ll round up to 2 (3/10).
On a totally separate note, I drove my aunt home and the book started playing. She asked what it was and when I said “the 6:20 man”, she let me know that started it but DNF for much the same reason as me. I suppose I was just invested in it and didn’t want that time to be wasted (sunk cost fallacy), plus I didn’t want to go to the trouble finding another book to listen to for when I was driving around doing errands… if it had been a physical book, I would’ve put it down then picked up something else within the first 10 chapters.
I listened to the audiobook format of this title, and I’m glad I did, as the number of times I was rolling my eyes would have really interrupted reading a print version. Generally speaking, I enjoy David Baldacci books - and have for decades. This is by and far the worst one I’ve read. Travis Devine is an interesting character with a backstory that I think has a lot of potential, but this book just felt incredibly stilted and the supporting characters totally one-dimensional. Some of the dialogue made me physically cringe.Normally, I have no problem with suspending my disbelief for a good book. This title didn’t ask me to suspend it, but to totally eliminate it. Other reviewers have mentioned the plot, so I’m just focusing on how I felt reading it. For me at least, it was a swing and a miss. It’s not a total one star, but neither is it 2. Which is why goodreads needs fractional ratings (or at least 10 total) - this would be around 1.5/5 for me, so I’ll round up to 2 (3/10).
On a totally separate note, I drove my aunt home and the book started playing. She asked what it was and when I said “the 6:20 man”, she let me know that started it but DNF for much the same reason as me. I suppose I was just invested in it and didn’t want that time to be wasted (sunk cost fallacy), plus I didn’t want to go to the trouble finding another book to listen to for when I was driving around doing errands… if it had been a physical book, I would’ve put it down then picked up something else within the first 10 chapters.