Library Journal
With sales of his first novel, Absolute Power (LJ 11/15/95), topping 300,000 copies and a movie version scheduled for release in spring 1997, Baldacci is living high on the hog. In this second effort, a woman seeks the truth about her husband's death in a plane crash.
Publishers Weekly - Audio
Sidney Archer is sent reeling when she learns that her husband Jason, an executive at a top technology conglomerate, was aboard a plane that went down with no survivors. Then she gets some good news: Jason didn’t make the flight. And some bad news: he’s on the run from the FBI, which suspects him of causing the crash. And now, Sidney is being chased by Lee Sawyer, a hardboiled FBI special agent who is falling in love with her, and a resourceful, relentless assassin, who isn’t. Jonathan Marosz narrates this audio edition with a high energy, breezy style that not only maintains, but intensifies, listener interest. He alsomanages to clarify the author’s detailed explanations of how various cutting-edge technologies work by vocally emphasizing key points. Marosz selects voices that match the attitudes of the novel’s many characters, from the puzzled but determined Sidney to the equally determined and logical Sawyer, whose gruff delivery softens as his feelings for Sidney intensify. A Vision paperback. (Apr.)
From the Publisher
"Harrowing...powerful."—Associated Press
"Part Crichton, part Ludlum."—Detroit News and Free Press
"Fast and scary."—Cosmopolitan
"Moves at the pace of a flying bullet...suspense at high speed."—Orlando Sentinel
"Fast-paced, complex, and totally enthralling."—Arizona Republic
"A crackerjack thriller...Baldacci keeps the paranoia at a fever pitch."—Flint Journal
"A lightning-paced thriller...moves along with splendid pace and believability."—St. Petersburg Times
Library Journal - Audio
The night that a plane crash kills 181 souls including her husband, Jason, Sidney Archer is unwittingly thrust into a tailspin of her own. When the FBI fingers Jason as the plane’s saboteur, other deceptions are revealed, and Sidney is forced to seek the truth. After receiving a shocking phone call from Jason telling her that he is innocent and to trust no one, Sidney employs her skills as a high-powered corporate attorney on a dangerous quest to prove her husband’s innocence. Sidney avoids the FBI and skirts those who would see her dead. Her only hope is a password-protected floppy disk containing information that can prove her husband’s innocence. Given that Baldacci published this best seller in 1997, story elements central to the plot are quite dated, making the novel somewhat anticlimactic. Narrator Jonathan Marosz reads well and gives this outdated tale the energy it needs to keep listeners intrigued.
Verdict Not recommended for small libraries with limited space and budgets. However, libraries collecting a larger scope of popular authors’ works might consider adding this audiobook for their die-hard Baldacci fans. —JoAnn Funderburk, South Garland Branch Lib., TX
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DEC/JAN 99 - AudioFile
The author of Absolute Power, Baldacci has set this thriller in the colliding worlds of high-tech, law, federal economics and the FBI. A multitude of characters intertwine to propel the plot. George Guidall is Jason, who speaks the language of advanced technology. Guidall gives voice to the law, a mother, and a bereaved mate through Sydney, Jason's wife. Amazingly, Guidall sweetly calls for "Daddy" and cries over "Mama's boo-boo" for Amy, their 2-year-old daughter. George Guidall differentiates and con-vincingly portrays both the innocent and evil. He's irresistible as he binds the listener to Baldacci's sinister story, full of violence and unlikely coincidences, to the end. R.N. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine
