Zero Day

By: David Baldacci

Narrated by: Ron McLarty, Orlagh Cassidy

Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

From David Baldacci - the modern master of the thriller and number-one worldwide best-selling novelist - comes a new hero: a lone Army Special Agent taking on the toughest crimes facing the nation. And Zero Day is where it all begins....

John Puller is a combat veteran and the best military investigator in the U.S. Army's Criminal Investigative Division. His father was an Army fighting legend, and his brother is serving a life sentence for treason in a federal military prison. Puller has an indomitable spirit and an unstoppable drive to find the truth.

Now, Puller is called out on a case in a remote, rural area in West Virginia coal country, far from any military outpost. Someone has stumbled onto a brutal crime scene, a family slaughtered. The local homicide detective, a headstrong woman with personal demons of her own, joins forces with Puller in the investigation. As Puller digs through deception after deception, he realizes that absolutely nothing he's seen in this small town, and no one in it, are what they seem. Facing a potential conspiracy that reaches far beyond the hills of West Virginia, he is one man on the hunt for justice against an overwhelming force.

David Baldacci is one of the world's favorite storytellers. His books are published in over 45 languages and in more than 80 countries, with over 110 million copies in print. He is also the cofounder, along with his wife, of the Wish You Well Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting literacy efforts across America. Still a resident of his native Virginia, he invites you to visit him at www.DavidBaldacci.com and his foundation at www.WishYouWellFoundation.org, and to look into its program to spread books across America at www.FeedingBodyandMind.com.

©2011 David Baldacci (P)2011 Hachette

loved the story...and the performance

I love Baldacci books...particularly read by these actors...they're FABULOUS! I love Puller and enjoyed Sam Cole and Drake, WV...looking fir the next one

Excellent story.

Where does Zero Day rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This novel is among my top 20 favorites. I will probably listen more than once.

Who was your favorite character and why?

John Puller is a character I'm looking forward to in future novels. He has a strong resemblance to my favorite Lee Child's Jack Reacher.

Have you listened to any of Ron McLarty and Orlagh Cassidy ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This was my first and enjoyed the 2 narrators very much. ( 2 narrators is also a first for me).

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Secrets in West Virginia.

David Baldacci is the master

Very strong story with wonderful characters. The book flowed seamlessly with lots of twists and turns. A very good read (oops) a really food listen!

What you would expect--mostly

Puller shows several Oliver Stone-like qualities. He is a bit more nostalgic, but is not nearly as dark as Stone. He's a hero with lethal skills and a high IQ who occasionally gets nasty with bad guys, but only if they are really asking for it. The plot and twists are not too difficult to figure out, but Zero Day was a fun diversion nonetheless.

I am very much looking forward to the next book where we won't have to spend time on development. There are a few moments where background and explanation of terms gets a little tedious, but one should expect this from a first book of a series. Baldacci is on very familiar territory with the setting in rural WV. It has shades of "Divine Justice", but only in the bit characters and description of the area.

The body count is fairly impressive given the small town and seemingly unrelated events so the action is above average in parts. The inventive murder methods were somewhat refreshing as well. Baldacci may be accused of a slight overuse of the "almost blown up" device, but he ends up making it work in the dialog. The effort to tie up all loose ends does require the listener to give the author a certain amount of latitude, but as usual, I don't mind.

The performance is a no-brainer for me. You either love Ron McLarty or you don't. I do, so it would be unfair for me to go on about the voice acting. I could listen to him read a phone book. Again, he's probably not for everyone, but as most of us know once you find a voice you like, you tend to be loyal just as you are to your favorite authors so enough about that. Orlagh Cassidy has been with him on several efforts recently and I like what she brings to the performance.

As critical as this story review may seem I can tell you that other than my "do I sit in the driveway finishing a chapter" test, I also employ the "will I ever listen to this book again" test. Well, this book passes on both because I did and I will. Based on those simple metrics, I have to give this a four star rating.

Hopefully this is the start of a long successful series for Puller. He's likable and so are many of the characters around him. Good luck and remember to let yourself have fun escaping the real world with this book.

I mean...Yeah he's pretty Reacher-ish.

I don't know enough to be able to jump on the Jack reacher knock off bandwagon. I can just say that I enjoyed the book and pace. Thumbs up for fun popcorn.

It's okay

I think the author is great, but for this book it just felt like lots of story and not much character development. After finishing the whole book I know little about the main character. It made me not really care about what happened.

great book!

I was hooked and on edge in this one! I really enjoyed the detective books with all of the military aspects added.

You'll always be entertained by David Baldacci

Quality writing, superior characters and one hell of a read. Nice thing about David is he doesn't write bad books.

One you will finish at 3:00am.

Typical Baldacci, you can't put it up and end up listening to it way into the night. As good as any listen in a long time.

Almost perfect...

Would you listen to Zero Day again? Why?

No. The use of Orlagh Cassidy would prevent me from listening to this book again and will keep me from others with her narrating. I would much rather Mr. McLarty read the women's parts. She is terrible and completely unnecessary.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Ron McLarty and Orlagh Cassidy ?

Ron McLarty is a very good narrator. Orlagh Cassidy is terrible, distracting and unnecessary.

Any additional comments?

The story was interesting and exciting. I am from WV and I really appreciated the fact that the characters weren't all ignorant rednecks. Some were just rednecks.