Tick Tock and another one bites the dust (Hour Game - David Baldacci)

Member Name: Tamarind

Product:	Hour Game - David Baldacci
Date:	18/06/09 (111 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good plot with lots of twists and turns

Disadvantages: Sometimes had to reread a few pages to remind myself who was who

A serial killer is on the loose in Wrightburg, Virginia. The killer has a penchant for imitating well known serial killers and leaves clues to this effect for the police to find. With little progress being made by the police, they call on Michelle Maxwell and Sean King. Maxwell and King are ex Secret Service agents who both left the service under different clouds and have joined forces to become partners in their own private investigation firm. Initially they were asked to assist in solving a robbery but, as the killer strikes again and again, the local police enlist them as deputies to help with the murder investigation.

There are a lot dysfunctional characters in this book, most of whom belong to the super rich Battle family. At its head is Bobby Battle, a womanising tyrant who rules his family with a rod of iron, whilst his long suffering partner is Remmy who plays his devoted wife even after he is killed. The rest of their family consists of son Eddie, daughter-in-law Dorothea and daughter Savannah who all have their own demons to face. The whole family are major players in the plot which twists and turns with amazing regularity and more often than not, sends you down a dead end. Every time you think you know who is behind the killings the author throws another spanner in the works and you are back to square one. To complicate matters, a copycat murderer is impersonating the serial killer and he vows to find them and add them to his list of victims.

The killer teases the police by leaving watches on his victims. The watches are stopped at the time corresponding to which number they are on his hit list e.g. victim number three is wearing a watch that has been stopped at 3 o'clock. However, the police are further confused when the killer occasionally sets the watch to one minute past the hour. They realise the killer is far too meticulous to have made such an obvious error but they are at odds to know his reasoning behind this.

It may sound like a complicated plot but in fact, it isn't. The fact that there is an underlying sexual chemistry between Maxwell and King helps lighten the main plot but I will leave you to read the book to find out if this leads anywhere. It is a well written, fast paced book and I couldn't put it down. Like King and Maxwell, the police and the FBI I wanted to know if there was a connection between the victims and, if so, what it was. I was well through the book before I had narrowed it down to two possible suspects. Even then, there was more plot weaving to come. However the author neatly ties up all the loose ends for the reader. This may have been my first encounter with these characters, but it certainly won't be my last.

The other books starring the partnership of King and Maxwell are -

First Family
Simple Genius
Split Second


The paperback price of the Hour Game is £6.99 (ISBN 0-330-41173-X)

Summary: Good read if you like murder mystery books