True Blue

True Blue introduces a new central character Mace Perry. You have to suspend belief further than normal with this storyline. Mace is a (supposedly) framed ex-con cop who has a sister that is chief of the DC police. On her release from prison Mace and her sister committ felony after felony to solve a murder that Mace has no connection with other than her sister is the chief. Mace also teams up with a lawyer and solve the case faster than the entire police squad. There are also ridiculous scenes where the lawyer saves their lives from a killing gang in the bad side of town by challenging the gang leader to game of a basketball. The FBI and CIA also make their way into the story in a way that only the most ardent conspiracy theory buff would appreciate or believe. The largest drawback to me was that I did not like the Mace Perry character. She was porrayed as a action first, think last character with bad judgement. Her actions and reckless behavior were not worthy of a real policeman and she continually placed those close to her in danger for poor reasons. Read the other Baldacci books for much better story lines and characters you can like.

Baldacci has always been one of my favorite crime/mystery writers. His past efforts have always been based on plausible circumstances as a base starting point.
It is hard to believe that this book is written by that same author.
Absolutely none of it is even remotely based on any reality.
The entire story including the characters actions are foolish,unbelievable and not grounded upon even a grain of plausibility.
A definite miss by a normally good writer.

Count me in the club of disappointed Baldacci fans. I bought the book on the strength of his previous books. This one was weak.

The plot resorts to Baldacci's usual formula of corrupt politicians up to their usual skulduggery. It takes a long time for the plot to unfold, and there are parts of it that don't hang together. They're caught in their corruption by characters that are flat and two-dimensional.

Mace: I could care less, send her back to jail. The escape from the refrigerator? Puhleeze! Not even a crumb of believability on the shelves. Roy: what's his motivation? The Captain: a familiar Baldacci stereotype. Beth Perry: why in the world would a police chief not just protect her felon-sister in full public view, but allow her at murder scenes and give her access to investigative data, and why is it that she never gets pulled up short for it? Mona: how would such an unlikable and marginally competent attorney achieve such high office? How is it that she gets her heel caugth in the grate, but Beth doesn't?

While I'm busy savaging the characters, Mace's underlying story is a perfect example of how thin the plot is and how it lacks basic plausibility. Her felony conviction based on her kidnapping and subsequent forced drug use and consequent acts doesn't have the ring of truth. Even a character as despicable as Mona would be able to get to the truth of that one. Plus, the law doesn't support the conviction.

The narrator: one of the worst I've heard and I've been listening to audiobooks since they were only available on cassette. Hard to tell which male character he's voicing since they all sound the same.

This audiobook was a total disappointment. I may have to wait for reviews of his next book before buying, and if they're as bad as they are for this book, wait for it to go on sale.

especially from an author I have enjoyed in the past. What happened? It is so poorly plotted and the characters not as described. I would think that Mace really would have been a gritty, hardened police officer turned con. THAT character would have been interesting. Wish I had read Roberts review before purchase.

Well done very entertaining.......great story line. Build around characters I want her hear more from and soon.

I usually enjoy Baldacci's books, and this one started out as interesting -- a framed cop survives two years in prison and comes out, determined to regain her badge. But the character of Mace is essentially a macho pig -- yes, even though she's a woman -- with such ridiculously bad judgment that it's amazing she ever got out of the police academy. Every encounter is about her showing how tough she is instead of about using whatever brain she must once have had. It's as if this character is some male fantasy of an admirably tough broad, but she's just plain offensive.

Baldacchi tries too hard to paint his main character as a hard-bitten maverick. For example he spends an entire chapter trying to show how little his heroine, Mace, cares about her rich mother and step-father. A character who really was a bad-ass maverick and cared so little for these people would never give them a second thought, let alone take the time to visit them.

Maces sister is the Chief of Police in a large metro city who investigates murders personally? Not likely. Even more unbelievable is that the Chief would allow an ex-con to accompany her to the scene of a murder where news media and political opponents would observe this??

The more I listened, the more I felt like I had wasted my money. Im surprised that Baldacchi would submit this kind of dribble for publication.

Either Baldacci did not write this book, or he is seriously losing his grip. Formulaic, predictable, and hackneyed. Save your money.

I disliked this one. I found the main character, Mace to be one of those snarky, loud chip-on-the-shoulder females authors are churning out these days. The mystery just didn't enthuse me, as did her relationship with the basketball player. Meh. There are better action novels out there. Avoid

This audio book was a struggle for me to listen to. I knew so little about each character that I didn't find reason to really care about any of them. I certainly didn't believe the bone-headed things they were doing. Disappointing.