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Title: Poorly Structured Effort by Baldacci
Review: TOTAL CONTROL is David Baldacci's second novel, following his tremendous debut ABSOLUTE POWER. Unfortunately, Baldacci suffers from a major case of the sophomore jinx here.The major problem with this novel is the byzantine plot. The storyline is so convoluted that I had real problems following it. A series of events take place and Baldacci makes little effort to connect them coherently. Normally, Baldacci's strength is his plotting and pacing, but those skills are largely absent in this novel.The characterization in TOTAL CONTROL is paper-thin, which is a common problem with a lot of Baldacci's work. Normally, his plotting skills make up for the cartoonish characters, but that doesn't happen here. The result is a tedious, confusing read that is not worth your time.I've read about eight novels by Baldacci, and I would say TOTAL CONTROL was probably the worst of the bunch. Avoid this one, and read ABSOLUTE POWER if you haven't done so already.
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