True Blue by David Baldacci: A Review

It’s been ages since I read a Baldacci thriller. He made a promising debut with Absolute Power, which I loved, but a couple of his later books didn’t really click with me, and I have pretty much given up on him.

But, of course, if I am running low on books to read, anything will do, and honestly, True Blue was decent enough to fill up a few boring hours waiting at the doctor’s office. Not decent enough, though, to negate some of the awful plot holes and terrible dialogues.

About True Blue

The story is about 2 sisters – Beth Perry – Chief of Police, and Mace – ex-cop and ex-con, who has just finished prison and is out to prove that she was wrongly framed in the crime she was imprisoned for. The murder of 2 prominent lawyers immediately involves the sisters and Mace’s love interest in solving the crime.

What starts out as a simple murder story is an international case involving spies and terrorists. After a lot of extremely lucky breaks and amazingly bungling assassination attempts by the bad guys, the trio manages to solve the crime.

My Review

This book was just about okay. Personally, I dislike thrillers with a political/espionage slant. Mostly because very few are well-written or credible. The plot for this one was flat-out unbelievable. You have to suspend any sense of reality at all to enjoy it.

I was also quite disappointed by the characters. Beth Perry, who is supposed to be a pillar of integrity, lets her sister run wild all over a murder case that she isn’t supposed to touch. And then, she is upset when the DA accuses her of showing partiality to her sister. Well, duh! What do you expect?

Mace Perry is even more annoying than her sister. She deliberately courts danger and stupidly puts herself and the people who love her into sticky situations. Her ambition to solve the case overrode any professional embarrassment her sister was facing or the physical dangers her boyfriend was facing. I thought she was one of the most selfish characters in the book.

That said, the book was easy to read and moved fast enough. The plot is holey, and it’s pretty easy to guess who are the bad guys in the book. But if you’re looking for light reading without giving too much thought to the subject matter, it’s a book you can pick up.

But personally, this book did not work for me. I now officially classify David Baldacci into the James Patterson camp of writers – which is NOT a good thing in my book.