Editorial Product Review:Item Description:As a series of brutal murders darkens the Wrightsburg, Virginia countryside, the killer taunts police by leaving watches on the victims set to the hour corresponding with their position on his hit list. What's more, he strives to replicate notorious murders of the past, improving on them through savage attention to detail. Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are already investigating a crime involving an aristocratic and dysfunctional Southern family, but when they're deputized to help in the serial killer hunt they realize the two cases may be connected. Adding to the tension is the appearance of a second killer, this one imitating the murders of the first. Soon, the two killers are playing a game of cat and mouse, with King and Maxwell racing to solve the intricate puzzle of their identities-before the body count escalates.
Amazon.com Review:Two disgraced former Secret Service officers team up to solve a series of copy-cat crimes in this exciting new thriller by a master of the game. Sean King was momentarily distracted when a presidential candidate he'd been guarding was assassinated a few feet from where he stood, and Michelle Maxwell left the Service under a similar cloud when she lost a 'protectee' to an ingenious kidnapping scheme, events told in Baldacci's typical terse, fast-paced style in
Split Second. Now partners in a private investigation firm in a small Virginia town, they're hired to investigate a burglary at the home of a wealthy local family. But even before the chief suspect in the break-in meets his death in a gruesome slaying reminiscent of a serial killer long since caught and punished, King and Maxwell get caught up in a string of other murders, each of which copies the techniques of another madman, from San Francisco's Zodiac Killer to Chicago's infamous John Wayne Gacy. While the two protagonists aren't especially complex or well-developed, the action never stops, and Baldacci's trademark pacing keeps the reader turning pages until the denouement, which unfortunately isn't quite as satisfying as the rest of the novel.
--Jane Adams
Amazon.com Exclusive Content
Why Hour Game: An Exclusive Essay by David Baldacci
It's hard not to notice that the majority of fictional serial killers are cut from the same mold. When David Baldacci wrote Hour Game, he went out of his way to create a murderous original. Read this Amazon.com exclusive essay to learn how and why he did it.
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Buyer Reviews
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Customer Rating: 
- Our Game
In the second of the King & Maxwell series, Michelle Maxwell and Shawn King, former secret service agents, and partners in a private detective firm are hired to assist in the defense of Junior Deaver, a local handyman, accused of burglary of the Battle family mansion. In the meantime, several apparently copycat (of the infamous Zodiac killer) murders take place. That's the setup. As the novel develops, there are additional murders (in the style of other infamous serial killers), the numerous eccentric Battles and staff are introduced, and many unexpected connections between various towns-peoples and the Battles are revealed.
There is NO annoying "introductory flashback" or "flash-ahead". The purpose of this loathsome device (which has become "standard" in most popular novels) is to snag potential purchasers, who are skimming first chapters in bookstores, with up-front action. Often such "flashes" have virtually nothing to do with the story. More typically, they only become comprehensible to the reader near the end of the novel, by which time the details have been forgotten. THANK YOU DAVID BALDACCI! "The Hour Game" opens with Michelle's discovery of the first-"Zodiac" bodies. This serves the purpose of an "introductory flash-", but is an integral part of the story rather than an afterthought.
With mystery, action, intriguing characters, romantic tension, tragedy, and even some humor, this masterfully written novel has everything a reader could want. In the world of popular fiction, this, and most other Baldacci novels, stands heads and shoulders taller than most other 5-star rated novels.
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Hour Game
David Baldacci is a prolific writer with a keen imagination. This story keeps you going, wondering what in Heaven's name will happen next. Buy it, read it, enjoy it. Charles A. Reap, Jr., author, "Devil's Game," and "My Friend Sam."
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Not Baldacci's Best
Baldacci writes a good story. I particularly like his Camel Club series. This book deals with Sean King and Michelle Maxwell, both ex-secret service agents. The book does have some stereo typed southern folk that was a bit tacky but nevertheless entertaining. I wouldn't rank this as one of his best. Still it was a good mystery and a good read. I enjoyed it.
Customer Rating: -
Hour Game
Baldacci has "again" produced a novel really enjoyable to read. I had a hard time putting it down. The development of the characters and the continuous action keeps the readers attention and there never is a dull moment.
