Whoops -- it's been two and a half years since I read the first volume in the series -- I really meant to get back to it sooner. Oh well, better late than etc., etc. I don't have much to say about this, but I have a few thoughts.
This picks up a few months after Split Second, the partnership between King and Maxwell has solidified, they've had some success and have settled into their lives. They're doing some work for a local attorney assisting him defend an accused burglar, when they're asked to help the local police investigate a murder that resembles a famous serial killer. Soon afterwards, other bodies show up -- each following a different serial killer's M. O. to keep the authorities guessing.
Soon, King and Maxwell are officially involved -- as are the national media and the FBI. Naturally, the two cases intertwine -- as does another mystery.
The mysteries were pretty easy to guess, but how Baldacci resolved them wasn't -- which was nice. The character moments were okay, actually -- the characters were the best part of this book, not just our leads, but pretty much everyone who wasn't killed within a page or two of being introduced.
Will you hold it against me if I admit it wasn't until as I was writing this that I figured out what the title referred to? I really hadn't thought about it, but I really shouldn't have had to.
I liked this more than the last Scott Brick audiobook I listened to -- which wasn't bad. His accent work was good (have heard him do better), and he made the characters come to life -- even giving a couple of characters I could live without enough of a hook that I probably liked them more in audio than I would've if I read it.
Hour Game was well constructed, well paced, and kept me engaged and entertained -- an improvement over the first one, too. Can't ask for much more than that.
3
