Split Second: David Baldacci

After numerous urgings from my husband, I finally read a David Baldacci book. My husband finally convinced me because he kept telling me about the main characters, Secret Service Agent Michelle (Mick) Maxwell and former Agent Sean King. I needed a fast paced book after my last read and I was tempted to find one that was a reliable standby, but I decided to be risky again.

The book I chose was Split Second, which is one of many of Baldacci's Michelle Maxwell books. Not that I didn't believe my husband's assessment of the book, but what finally got me to pick up the book was the fact that it supposedly had a strong female protagonist (my husband knows what a sucker I am for a girl who shows the guys how it's done). He was right. Michelle kicked butt and took names.

The story jumps around a bit between an assassination that happens under the security of Agent Sean King and then it jumps to a kidnapping that takes place on Michelle's time supervising a presidential candidate. One thing leads to another and the two agents become entangled and help one another even though their styles are different, but they realize that they're both being set up.

There are romantic tensions between Maxwell and King, but they merely flirt with the idea because they both become too involved simply trying to crack the case and protecting themselves from the "madmen" making attempts on their lives.

Toward the end of the story, it became complex enough that I had a little difficulty following who was motivated to do what and why they were so motivated. Usually I'm pretty good keeping such things straight, but there were enough stretches of motivation that I had to suspend my disbelief a bit and I just went with it. Did everything end up neatly tied with a bow? Yes. And I liked it that way. Sometimes it's just nice to have that feeling that the good guys will win. Was Michelle Maxwell a bit much to believe (Olympic rower, 4th degree blackbelt, etc.)? Yes. Was the "bad guy" unreasonably bad? Yes-- even to the point where I wanted him to be more human and less mechanically bad. My suggestion to make the bad guy scarier: follow the Joker's lead and allow the villain to calculate without over analyzing and enjoy the messiness more.