Hour Game
by David Baldacci
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Book Summary Information
Author: David BaldacciEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-09-01
ISBN: 0446616494
Number of pages: 624
Publisher: Warner Vision Books
Book Reviews of Hour Game
Book Review: I loved all the twists, turns and surprises!
Summary: 5 Stars
The book is a kind of sequel to "Split Second" where we met two ex-Secret Service agents, Sean King and Michelle Maxwell. They team up to solve a mystery regarding HER kidnapped politician and end up solving what happened to Sean as well. While not romantically involved at this point, they are a fun team with lots of chemistry. At the end of "Split Second" Michelle persuades Sean to abandon his small law practice and for a private investigation firm.
Our story begins with a man lugging a woman's body into the woods in the pouring rain, posing it, putting a watch on it. We don't know who he is or who the murdered woman is. Early the next morning, Michelle is doing her usually run around the lake and woods surrounding the small town of Wrightsburg, Virginia. She sees two young boys come running and falling down a hill in a panic so she goes to investigate and finds a woman's corpse. She uses her cell to call police and Sean. Todd Williams, the sheriff, calls in Sylvia Diaz, the medical examiner. Michelle, Sean and Todd all notice that the watch on the woman and the pose is like the infamous "Zodiac" killer. The watch time is point to 1 o'clock and has been stopped.
Sean tells Michelle that they need to go see a lawyer, Harry, who wants them to investigate a burglary at the mansion of a very rich family in town, the Battles. Harry's client, Junior Deaver who has been doing handyman work at the Battles' home, is accused of the crime and there is a lot of circumstantial evidence. Harry believe Junior is innocent. As Sean and Michelle begin to question members of the Battle family and Junior and his family, a young high school couple if found dead. The weapon was a shotgun and again the watches are set to 2:01pm on the girl and 3:00pm on the boy. A dog collar is also found in the car - this is now like the Son of Sam killings. Who is this murderer who is imitating other famous serial killers and why is he doing this?
Next a lady lawyer is killed and a watch on her is set to 4:00pm. She is killed in such a way as to resemble yet another infamous murderer. The police are getting stumped and the FBI in the form of agent Chip Bailey comes in to help. Chip Bailey is a friend of the Battles and in fact helped rescue Eddie Battle from kidnapping when Eddie was in college.
Unlike some reviewers, I enjoyed all the twists and turns and trying to figure out what was going on. I love a challenge!! The unveiling of the people in the Battle family and meeting others in the cast of characters was very fascinating. Sean and Michelle's "discussions" and fun opposites (he's extremely neat - she's a slob, for example) and the emergence of Sylvia Diaz as a former romantic interest of Sean's all made for some interesting plot twists. A great read that was hard to put down!
Summary of Hour Game
He's copying famous serial killers and the game has just begun.A woman is found murdered in the woods. It seems like a simple case but it soon escalates into a terrible nightmare. Someone is replicating the killing styles of the most infamous murderers of all time. No one knows this criminal's motives...or who will die next.
Two ex-Secret Service agents, Sean King and Michelle Maxwell, have been hired to defend a man's innocence in a burglary involving an aristocratic, dysfunctional family. Then a series of secrets leads the partners right into the frantic hunt that is confounding even the FBI. Now King and Maxwell are playing the Hour Game, uncovering one horrifying revelation after another and putting their lives in danger. For the closer they get to the truth, the closer they get to the most shocking surprise of all.
Two disgraced former Secret Service officers team up to solve a series of copy-cat crimes in this exciting new thriller by a master of the game. Sean King was momentarily distracted when a presidential candidate he'd been guarding was assassinated a few feet from where he stood, and Michelle Maxwell left the Service under a similar cloud when she lost a "protectee" to an ingenious kidnapping scheme, events told in Baldacci's typical terse, fast-paced style in Split Second. Now partners in a private investigation firm in a small Virginia town, they're hired to investigate a burglary at the home of a wealthy local family. But even before the chief suspect in the break-in meets his death in a gruesome slaying reminiscent of a serial killer long since caught and punished, King and Maxwell get caught up in a string of other murders, each of which copies the techniques of another madman, from San Francisco's Zodiac Killer to Chicago's infamous John Wayne Gacy. While the two protagonists aren't especially complex or well-developed, the action never stops, and Baldacci's trademark pacing keeps the reader turning pages until the denouement, which unfortunately isn't quite as satisfying as the rest of the novel. --Jane Adams
Amazon.com Exclusive Content
Why Hour Game: An Exclusive Essay by David Baldacci 
It's hard not to notice that the majority of fictional serial killers are cut from the same mold. When David Baldacci wrote Hour Game, he went out of his way to create a murderous original. Read this Amazon.com exclusive essay to learn how and why he did it.
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