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A review by qu33nofbookz
A Minute to Midnight by David Baldacci
1.0
Too many implausibilities piled on top of each other as the plot careens along at a slow and dull pace until the end when it looks like the author was told that the book needed to end so it's wrapped up hastily and with a James Bond like villain complete with mustache-twirling while they give a dialogue on their actions and why and how clever they were.
Too many things going on in general. What is supposed to be the main plot/crime as advertised (and what made me pick this book up) gets pushed to the wayside for other things and I felt a little cheated. The main story keeps getting sidetracked by sub-plots that are completely unrelated and not fully solved to the point we are so far from the start of the story it's left unfinished, leaving me very dissatisfied.
Also, I disliked the main character intensely, Mr. Baldacci can't write a leading women well enough to carry this storyline. He doesn't write half the women in this novel well (or the other two novels of his I have read for that matter). Also, the whole women empowerment thing sprinkled throughout felt straight out of the 60's/70's and was way over the top. Women are already doing these things and it's not a surprise anymore or shocking to see. Atlee (and for fuck sake pick a fucking name and stick to it! She keeps being referred to by her name, last name or nickname even by the same person within just a few pages of dialogue. She even refers to herself in the third person by her last name at times) is also superwoman. She is stronger then everyone in this story, smarter then everyone (even if she makes the stupidest self-preservation moves) her intuition is borderline supernatural, and she can scare ANY man into obedience by a glare. She has a serious attitude, impulse, anger, and behavioral issues that are not addressed at all How she still has her job is anyone's guess. In real life, if she acted the way she does in the book she would be fired very quickly. (I am very very tired of this trope be it a female or male character. Authors please stop doing this!)
I am annoyed that the main plot of this book got sidetrack and is left unresolved by the end. The blurb leaves you thinking you'll be reading one book but then the author gets sidetracked and you don't get what you were offered. It's a complete bait and switch. Very unsatisfying. I hate books/series that drag out a storyline that is advertised to be resolved by its own book and then don't deliver trying to get you to buy their next book that makes the same promises but probably won't hold up the bargain either. I am less likely to continue buying or reading your books for this reason.
I liked Absolute Power, the first book I read by Mr. Baldacci but this one and the first of the Puler Series (Zero Day) are just too implausible and unbelievable for me. I think I am done with anything written by Mr. Baldacci if most of his books are like this.
Too many things going on in general. What is supposed to be the main plot/crime as advertised (and what made me pick this book up) gets pushed to the wayside for other things and I felt a little cheated. The main story keeps getting sidetracked by sub-plots that are completely unrelated and not fully solved to the point we are so far from the start of the story it's left unfinished, leaving me very dissatisfied.
Also, I disliked the main character intensely, Mr. Baldacci can't write a leading women well enough to carry this storyline. He doesn't write half the women in this novel well (or the other two novels of his I have read for that matter). Also, the whole women empowerment thing sprinkled throughout felt straight out of the 60's/70's and was way over the top. Women are already doing these things and it's not a surprise anymore or shocking to see. Atlee (and for fuck sake pick a fucking name and stick to it! She keeps being referred to by her name, last name or nickname even by the same person within just a few pages of dialogue. She even refers to herself in the third person by her last name at times) is also superwoman. She is stronger then everyone in this story, smarter then everyone (even if she makes the stupidest self-preservation moves) her intuition is borderline supernatural, and she can scare ANY man into obedience by a glare. She has a serious attitude, impulse, anger, and behavioral issues that are not addressed at all
Spoiler
that probably stem from her getting her skull fractured and bashed in and nearly dying as a 6-year-oldI am annoyed that the main plot of this book got sidetrack and is left unresolved by the end. The blurb leaves you thinking you'll be reading one book but then the author gets sidetracked and you don't get what you were offered. It's a complete bait and switch. Very unsatisfying. I hate books/series that drag out a storyline that is advertised to be resolved by its own book and then don't deliver trying to get you to buy their next book that makes the same promises but probably won't hold up the bargain either. I am less likely to continue buying or reading your books for this reason.
I liked Absolute Power, the first book I read by Mr. Baldacci but this one and the first of the Puler Series (Zero Day) are just too implausible and unbelievable for me. I think I am done with anything written by Mr. Baldacci if most of his books are like this.