Last Man Standing

By: David Baldacci

Narrated by: Jason Culp

Length: 22 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

It took 10 seconds for Web London to lose everything: his friends, his team, his reputation. Point man of the FBI's super-elite Hostage Rescue Team, Web roared into a blind alley toward a drug-dealer's lair only to meet a high-tech, custom-designed ambush that killed everyone around him.

Now coping with the blame-filled words of anguished widows and the suspicions of colleagues, Web tries to put his life back together with the help of his psychiatrist, Dr. Claire Daniels. To do so he must discover why he was the one man who lived through the ambush - and find the only other person who came out of that alley alive...a 10-year-old boy who has since disappeared.

Web's search leads him from inner-city Washington, DC, to the rolling hills of Virginia horse country - while people connected to him are violently silenced. Acting on his instincts, Web believes he knows where the killer will strike next. Only this time, he may not survive the attack.

Last Man Standing is an explosive psychological thriller about a man desperate to find answers - from the secret terrors he has kept from himself to his unbearable guilt. His fight to save himself and those he cares for will come at a high cost...and threaten everything he has grown to believe in.

©2001 Columbus Rose, Ltd., All Rights Reserved (P)2001 Time Warner AudioBooks

Critic reviews

"Impressive...immensely interesting...Baldacci's most accomplished thriller." ( Publishers Weekly)
"Has the essential elements of a terrific novel: a tough but tender-hearted hero, dirty dealings in the nation's bureaucracy, and a roller-coaster plot." (Amazon.com)

Great book

I am definately confused. I read the first couple reviews for this book and saw that they were decidedly against this book. But after reviewing a couple others I saw promise. So I listened to the book and can't understand the first ones. The book was well written and definately well develeped without wasting too much time on details. The details do however bring you into the world of Webb London, the protagonist. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it.

krmsy couldn't have been more wrong!

I hesitated getting this book based on the comments that it was too detailed and boring. I am so glad that I listened to the other reviewers and got this book! It was excellent. The detail was important in many cases, showed the author had done his research, and painted a picture that was realistic and easy to follow. This was a great book and kept me interested the entire way. If you like action/mystery/suspense type of books, this is a good one to get.

I liked it, but not for everyone

A lot of complaints about this book are about the detail. Personally, I didn't find that at all disturbing. The protagonist is a fully developed character that the reader comes to know very well. I was surprised by the ending, and I wondered why I didn't suspect it. It did get a little longwinded for my taste at the end, but there were many loose ends to tie up, and even though not every storyline is resolved, I felt satisfied with the ending.

Reviewed by ReadersViewpoint.com

What an excellent piece of work! While I counted a few more than six degrees of separation, each spirals into a smooth, satisfying, suspense filled, thrill ride that I found hard to put down.

I was impressed by the various scenes going on, the amount of research that went into the various facets. For example, there's extensive knowledge shared with regard to horses and horse farms; some Civil War era history; various types of guns and their use within factions of the FBI; psychiatric techniques; and more.

Web London, who?s part of HRT (Hostage Recovery Team), survives an incredible tragedy that sends him seeing a shrink, or rather, mental health professional, Claire Daniels.

A couple of HRT missions are compromised and now everyone?s trying to find the mole.

A psycho killer escapes from prison, then a judge, and two attorneys who sat on his case wind up dead.

One of the FBI?s deep cover agents gets his cover blown while working on information regarding the drug underworld of which Big F, a well respected and highly feared drug dealer, is prominent. An event occurs which gets several members of HRT killed, Big F?s little brother goes missing, and Web London looks like he?s gone coward and left his team to die.

There?s lots more mayhem, that?s better left discovered by the reader?

Absolutely the worst

I have listened to between 400 and 500 audiobooks in recent years and this is the only one I didn't finish. After 2 hours of wasting my time with minute details of every weapon's firing pin and what-not, the author still had not bothered to tell us the reason for the character's mission. It took over an hour just to find out he was an FBI agent. I like details, which is why I get unabridged books, but 'Last Man Standing' was THE most boring book I have ever read. I made it through about 4 hours - thinking he might pick up the pace, but no; the author found another gun to talk about for 20 minutes. I will say I am still curious about the story itself, but not enough to endure hours and hours of unnecessary details that have no bearing on the storyline. This would make a good abridged book - perhaps 3 hours would do it.

The detail didn't bother me

This is easily the best book I've heard since signing up. Better than From a Buick Eight, where King seems determined to tell us every old guy insight he's ever come across. Here the detail helps us understand the characters and their world. It was a terrific, long and complex thriller that I couldn't outsmart.

One of Baldacci's better books

I liked the story, characters and narration. This book was fast paced, action packed and filled with twists and turns (although some were perdictable). Web London would make a good character for a series of books much like Mitch Rapp in Vince Flynn's novels. If you like the Rapp series you will enjoy this one.

An absolute

Granted, the 1st 2 hours are a little slow but then hang on for the ride. Excellent character development, incredible plot development. Keen insight into all details. A real 5 Star "off the graph" read. Most highly recommend.

Should have been abridged

The plot in this story isn't bad, though implausible in spots. The writing? Terrible! What a bunch of macho malarky. There are significant portions of the book in which the author demonstrates his 'expertise' on diverse subject matters -- from horse farming, hypnosis, psychological defense mechanisms, the MMPI and web cookies to painstaking and oft-repeated details about night-vision goggles and 'ordinance'. These descriptive interludes feel like instruction manuals rather than natural parts of the story. This book could use substantial editing.

His Best offering

Definately THIS authors Best offering to date. Once I started it, I did not stop for some 16 or so hours. You don't run across books this good this often. Baldacci is good, but never this good. The charachters are put together, and intertwined so well, you'd think you had a James Clavell Novel in your hands. It is definately a keeper.