“True Blue” by David Baldacci – a dreadful book!
Saturday, June 19th, 2010I don’t usually make it a habit of reviewing a book I haven’t finished but, in the case of David Baldacci’s latest, “True Blue” I had to make an exception. This is a dreadful, poorly written book and I cannot for the life of me figure out how it got published. Oh, yeah, Baldaccui’s name.
The book started with an interesting premise. Mace Perry (her parents named her Mason – Mason Perry – Perry Mason, get it? Oy),is getting out of prison. She was a cop and served a two year term for burglary. While in prison, she did what prisoner do – she got buff. Okay, her older sister Beth, is the Chief of Police for Washington DC and got Mace (I HATE this name!) out two days early to avoid publicity. Mace is determined to clear her name and get reinstated with the police force. She’s DYING to get back on the force and we know this because she tells us, over and over and over and….but we really never know why she has SUCH a passion for the job.
Things start to go downhill with this novel almost immediately. Beth managed to save Mace’s Ducati motorcycle so as soon as she can, Mace jumps on the bike and roars around DC – lamenting the fact that she’s no longer a cop. When she gets home, big sis Beth who remember is the Chief of Police, gets called out on a homicide. Ah, no, I don’t think so. Chief of Police is an administrative post. Chief’s do not investigate crimes. That’s what they have detectives for! Not only does Beth the Chief go to the crime scene, she hauls Mace along with her! And of course because Mace is obnoxious, she starts asking questions at the crime scene! Can you hear my eyeballs rolling around in my head? There are so many mistakes in this book I’m just dumbfounded.
Beth takes Mace out for dinner and they both have a glass of wine. That’s nice but….Mace is on parole. Parolees are not allowed to drink, take drugs, carry firearms or hang out with other convicted felon. Doesn’t everyone know that??? I guess everyone but Baldacci. Later once again, Mace is in a bar with another character and she’s sipping a beer. She goes to the ladies’ room and encounters Mona, a gorgeous, wealthy U.S. District Attorney who hates Mace and railroaded her into prison. They exchange harsh words. Mace goes back to her companion, picks up and finished her….Coke! Did anyone edit this book? At that point I couldn’t stand it anymore and gave up, not even half-way through the book. I had tried to push my way to the end, but when I went to Amazon.com to see if I was nuts, I discovered that almost everyone hated this book. Additionally the author never reveals who framed Mace and put her in prison! After that I figured why bother finishing.
First of all, I hated Mace. She’s extremely masculine and not the least bit believable. Some men can write a credible female character – Baldacci can not. None of the female characters were the least bit real. Mace uses all kinds of slang words (cops are blues, bad guys are bandits and on, and on, and…) Real law enforcement people do not talk like that. I’ve been around a lot of them, I know. None of the characters were believable and the dialog was awful. I won’t even go into the plot because it’s typical Baldacci – a big government cover up where the bad guys are killing folk and getting away with it. Blah, blah, blah.
Save your money – save your brain cells. Do not bother with “True Blue.” It’s a poorly written, poorly researched book by an author can do better.
