The Last Mile by David Baldacci

First Sentence:  Mars, Melvin.

      

Malvin Mars receives a last-minute reprieve from judicial execution.  Someone else confessed to the crime.  But why now?  That’s what FBI special task force member Amos Decker wants to know, especially when he realized Mars’ case is similar to his own was.  When one of Decker’s team disappears, and the FBI tries to kill the investigation, becomes even more determined to find the answers in spite of the danger Decker.

      

Baldacci creates a powerful sense of place through his descriptions.  Although one rather expects the initial twist, it is still very effective when it comes.

      

It is nice to have a story that is logically and meticulously plotted, but you felt as though you could see his index cards on his wall.  He did create a good cast of characters.      

      

Plot twists can be very effective unless they are overused as they were here.  The whole thing felt over-the-top, and I shan’t even talk about chapter-ending cliffhangers.  Can an author not just tell a good story without needing “read-my-book” tricks? It's unfortunate as the first book in this series was so much better.

      

“The Last Mile” does keep you reading and has a very satisfactory ending.  In spite of its many flaws, it is a decent read-it-and-leave-it airplane book.

THE LAST MILE (Pol Proc-Amos Decker-US-1949) - Okay

      Baldacci, David – 2^nd in series

      Grand Central Publishing – 2016