Last Man Standing

“Last Man Standing,” by David Baldacci is a mystery fiction about a man, Web London who was part of a Hostage Rescue team that was ambushed and slaughtered. The team was fed invalid information that a drug operation was going on in the building they were storming. Upon entering the courtyard the team was ambushed and cut down by multiple remote-controlled machine guns. However, Web London froze just before entering the courtyard and dropped just as bullets started passing over his head.

Being on the Hostage Rescue Team, part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation leads for a secluded life. Web had been on the team for a record of five years, which is unheard of because of the stress and danger comes with the job. The Hostage Rescue Team does exactly what its name states, rescues hostages. This team makes up most of life; his friends are from the team. After being called a traitor and a coward by his team’s family members and most of the country, he tries to unravel the mystery that surrounds the ambush. He is led on a wild-goose chase to try to find the culprits for the murder of his team.

David Baldacci is a good writer, and his novels are very interesting. “Last Man Standing,” is a good mystery fiction. Mystery fiction should be written in a way that the reader is kept guessing throughout the novel, and with many possible outcomes. This is exactly what David Baldacci does, which makes the book a very enjoyable, light read.

However, I do have one criticism; there are too many characters in the novel. I constantly had to flip to an earlier passage in the book to figure out who this character was. This was irritating, but I would still recommend the novel.