Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are hired to help prove that Junior Deaver did not break into and burglarize the Battle family's estate. But as they are questioning the Battle family, the Police Chief asks them to look into a murder. The victim is made to look a casualty of the Zodiac Killer. Soon more bodies are turning up, each made to look the victim of a famous serial killer. As King and Maxwell's original case becomes entwined with the serial murders, they begin to question just how many killers are running loose.

This is the second book in the King and Maxwell series. It was a fast moving story that kept me turning the pages. I did get a bit confused with there being so many characters and so many plot threads. I also thought that Baldacci could have easily cut out 100 pages from this story with no problem. Overall, I d it and am looking forward to the next book in the series. My rating: 4 Stars.2017 suspense43 s Louie the Mustache Matos1,105 93

This is my second David Baldacci novel, and I remember saying in that review something that I will repeat here: I need more Baldacci in my life! That first book was a political thriller whereas in this one the thriller is more mystery, slasher horror. Hour Game also happens to be the second of the King and Maxwell mysteries, which I would have d to have known. I'm kind of OCD about reading books out of order. Apparently, the point is insignificant. They only follow in ancillary ways.

Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are former secret service agent partners who are hired independently to look into a burglary, but while investigating they get swept up by serial murders with a theme that involves watches stopped on the hour, hence the title of the novel. The plot is complex, but not overly complicated with maybe too many red herrings, and deviations that I consider twists, but seemed to occur organically.

I was fooled, never guessing the villain, but I feel that Baldacci plays fair with the clues although King is not quite as forthcoming with the information as he should, especially with his partner. She calls him on it over the course of the novel. Overall, the book is enjoyable. I got lost in it, and only with a great deal of self-control was I able to put it down after every 50 pages or so, which is how I pace my readings. This is a high recommend.adventure horror mysteries ...more33 s Donna45 8

I Baldacci's writing quite a bit. He's one of few authors that can usually keep me guessing until close to the end of the book. He also has the ability to create characters that feel real, and he offers insight into human nature. However, in 'Hour Game' I feel these two elements were missing. Michelle Maxwell and Sean King - the principal characters in this book and a few others - were just plain flat, 2-dimensional. In addition, he tended to be more verbose than usual: he would explain something, and you'd go "oh, okay, that makes sense" and be ready to move on, only to find that he spends two more pages re-explaining it. I don't know if he lacked faith in his readers' intelligence and perception, or in his own ability to portray his own thoughts, but it made for some tedious reading in a book that was supposed to be fast-paced. However, do not let this review stop you from trying some of his other works, which are excellent. 'Saving Faith' is one of my favorites, as well as the 'Camel Club' books.28 s Rob511 136

Book 2 in the King & Maxwell series published 2004.

4 entertaining stars.

This proved to be an excellent mystery/Thriller/whodunit.

King and Maxwell get themselves involved in a series of bizarre and highly staged murders.
At first it all looks the same killer but it soon becomes clear that there is more than one killer at work.

The family who the killing seemed to be focused on were themselves a very bizarre lot.
They had more money and eccentricities that you could poke a stick at.

As each victim is discovered with a watch on their wrist stopped exactly on the hour. First victim at 1 oÂ’clock, second at 2 oÂ’clock so on in this style right up the victim 7.
The significance of this eludes everybody and finding the answer to this riddle was a priority plus.
Sean King, the thinking mans detective, goes at it a terrier with a bone until a chink of light appears in the dark.
What started out being bizarre is about to become even more so.

Was this story far fetched? Of course it was.
Did it keep me entertained right to the end? You bet your sweet cheeks it did.
2021-reads serial-thrillers25 s MarkAuthor 11 books12

This is my first David Baldacci book, and most ly my last. It was a free pick-up, something to read while I was on vacation.

The book is awful. It's so bad it may be the most humorous novel I've read this year. It's a parody of a someone writing a bestselling novel. Someone at Mr. Baldacci's publisher needs to hire a first rate copy editor, because obviously, there is not one on the staff, This book is filled with sentences and paragraphs so incoherent it would have put my high school Advance Composition teacher, Mrs. Mazursky, into a grammatical meltdown. By page two I was re-writing sentences in my head in order to clarify the author's thought.

Books this (MASSIVE bestsellers) always make me shake my head in wonderment of how bad publishing has fallen. (I will refrain from commenting on people who find books this "brilliant and entertaining" - but I guess that explains James Patterson.)

This book is pretty much beyond saving - it's a untidy mess of murder, murder, murder, solved by a couple of former federal agents who are NO Mulder and Scully, more Dumb & Dumber. Their clever repartee sounds bad Disney Channel sit-com dialogue. The story is so convoluted - sex, STDs, strip clubs, serial killers, old Southern money, blackmail, more serial killers, stalkers, serial killers - that it makes no sense.

AVOID!
22 s Xabi19902,017 1,078

Baldacci no falla. Otra entrega con asesinatos a mogollón, asesino en serie y acción que no para.

La pareja de protagonistas, ambos ex del Servicio Secreto, se mezclan en esta entrega con un familia ricachona de la zona, disfunción al total, y con asesinatos hasta en la sopa.

Mucho darle al coco y lanzar teorías y al final el o la mala (no voy a hacer destripe) pues no era quien esperaba. Conste que me dejo llevar, no intento adivinar al malo.

Lo dicho, Baldacci es uno de mis autores-refugio. 19 s kartik narayanan740 213

Hour Game follows the usual trend of a Baldacci series. The first book, Split Second, was interesting but not great and it set up the rest of the series. Hour Game improves upon Split Second in every way possible, especially the plot.

The lead characters are great as is their interactions. The murders are local; so we get to see a lot more of Wrightsburg. The plot is also much better since there is some kind of payoff in the end.

Overall, this is a nice time pass.unfinished-series17 s Rohit Enghakat242 66

This book is a taut thriller pairing Sean King and Michelle Maxwell. The duo is hired as deputies to the police chief Todd Williams to solve a string of murders committed by a serial killer. The ride is bumpy with bodies falling left and right, ending in a superb climax. The author builds up the suspense beautifully right till the end. The characters are interesting especially the entire Battle family and the ending is unpredictable.

I enjoyed this edge-of-the-seat thriller.
crime-thriller11 s Swati54 8

Too much of everything: Characters, information and events
When the small town of Wrightsburg is rocked by gruesome murders, both ex-secret service agents, Michelle Maxwell and Sean King, now private investigators (partners) are hot on the murderers tail. What sets the murderer apart is how he copies famous serial killers when he commits a crime. The light banter between Michelle and Sean are the highlight of the book. Their bickering does bring comic relief to an otherwise intense thriller. However the drawback of the book is the introduction of too many characters. From the very beginning, when Michelle and Sean take up the case, Baldacci swamps the reader with a lot of characters; there are so many people, and all under suspicion and so little information. Also it took me a bit of time to actually get into the book. I actually left it many times in the beginning.Another thing that works against the book is how the characters of Michelle and Sean are presented. Michelle just seems so fake. She is more brawn than brains. Sean is the analytical one who dissects the case with painstaking detail while Michelle just flails around in the background shooting guns. For someone who had spent "nine intense years in the Secret Service", she doesn't do much except shooting her mouth off, firing guns and being impulsive while Sean does all the work. Whatever she does stumble upon, it's a mere stroke of good luck.Michelle kind off disappoints and her character is not believable. Sean does most of the solving and he can ALSO do what Michelle can ONLY do so one wonders why was there a need of Michelle's character?As the book proceeds, things get more confusing as the number of murders increase, which in turn increases the number of characters and information. I was trying really hard to solve the case myself and actually had an urge to draw a Character Chart Kate Beckett does in "Castle".This said, I did enjoy the book but I finished it in instalments.
PS: The parts about the various famous serial killers the Zodiac, Teet etc. were interesting but I guess Mr. Baldacci already knew that.12 s Luffy (Oda's Version)757 987

I guess doing a recurring thing as a hobby can seem pointless. Not reading, but reviewing. The Hour Game, though a book I enjoyed amply, cannot give rise to an insightful review. Also I'm trying to make it the last book read this year, instead of the penultimate one. The book bears the signature of its author. Only I can't decide if that's beneficial all the way through.

Make no mistake, The Hour Game is, by high standards, a paint by numbers book. From the way I see it, it has a great heart. It's a guilty pleasure. Not because of sappy romance, but its cliched style, not because of its willful body count, but because of the innocent prose, not because of its sexual murders (there aren't any here), but because I'm confident that Baldacci tried to write in a different hand and couldn't quite pull it off.

The most distinctive trait of this book is that the chapter endings are so lame. I may have missed some double entendre, but I won't bet on it. The book is very pious considering the subject matter. It seems an old book from the 70's or so. What removes this illusion is the characterization of its main villain. Some of his motives seem nonsensical, but he as a person rings true. Having said that, I luckily did see through the mystery in a flash of lucidity. As for the second murderer, I can take no credit for that as it was very plainly obvious. This was the exceptional book where a cruel murder hasn't taken place in fine Baldacci style. This is why I think the author was experimenting to stay fresh. As a fan, I think he did accomplish much of his intent.

PS - You know, it's frustrating to write a book review after outputting more than 300 of them. Especially if you look you're going downhill quality-wise. Choosing which book to read is almost as perilously cerebral. Nothing can be guaranteed. I thank my readers(all two of them!) of their interest in my . I await next year with languorous trepidation.11 s Krystle348 153

Summary: A murderer is replicating the signatures of former serial killers.

Overall: An ok thriller if you can suspend your beliefs about investigations.

Characters: 7/10: I enjoyed the detective's Sean and Michelle a lot.

Uniqueness: 7/10: Great premise however the killings sometimes take a backseat to the subplots which was: frustrating.

Plot: 6/10

Cover: 5/10

Atmosphere: 3/10 Some things just didn't add up here. Examples: Putting a murder victim in an ambulance and a new inexperienced Medical Examiner doing the serial killer autopsies.

Keeper: 3/10

Enjoyment: 6/10thriller9 s Vanessa Kinney55 22

One of the finest books I've ever read; one book I cannot put down. I am already too sleepy but i just cant put it down.

I how the story was fast paced and there was no dull chapter and I love how the characters simply evolved and how my brain gets to think on who will be killed next.

The intensity of the book from the first chapter to the last has always been a 10! A perfect 10! David Baldacci has made a new turn on how murders are done. The book is intricately written to include all clues and a lot of misdirection as to who killed and who did not.

I give it not only a 5 but a DOUBLE 5 star rating!
mystery-detective8 s Jeff Dickison1,818 72

This started on a pace to be a 4-star book, but it just went on and on, probably at least 100 pages more than it should have. Then the last plot twist was just too much over the top, unbelievable and very unsatisfying. I think Baldacci faked himself out. King & Maxwell are on the trail of a serial killer and the plot twists and turns a snake in a hot frying pan. Recommended only to King & Maxwell fans.8 s1 comment Monnie1,480 776

What a difference a year makes! Baldacci's debut novel featuring disgraced Secret Service agents Sean King and Michelle Maxwell, Split Second, earned just 3 stars from me; it's worth reading, sort of, if only to see how the book series that spawned a TV series got started - but it's just too simplistic and, in some spots, just plain silly, to be worthy of a higher rating. Since I consider Baldacci to be an accomplished (and favorite) author, though, I figured - make that hoped - that this series would improve with time.

And I'm happy to report that improve it did. Yes, there's still a bit of a "camp" feel to it, and there are still a few barely plausible plot twists and superhuman efforts by the dynamic duo. But the quality of writing itself is almost this one was written by a different author - and in this case, that's a good thing.

Now official partners in a private investigation firm in a small Virginia town, the two have been hired to investigate a burglary at the home of an uber-wealthy family (or more to the point, to make sure the prime suspect actually did the deed). But almost immediately, a couple of bizarre murders fashioned after well-publicized serial killers happen, pulling in King and Maxwell to help local police and FBI agents try to catch the culprit before the next murder (and yes, there is a next murder.

It ain't easy. One after another, a major suspect is unearthed, only to be shoved lower in the pile as another possibility rises to the top. I had two in mind by halfway through the book, but it wasn't until the very end that I learned I was both wrong and right. Even more intriguing are the family dynamics and the reasons behind the gruesome murders, which almost include King and Maxwell themselves (ah, c'mon, that's no spoiler - do you really think Baldacci would kill off either of the characters that drive the series)?

Now, of course, I'm looking forward to the next one, which I believe is Simple Genius - in part because it was written at least two years after this one and, if the current trend is any example, should be better still. In fact, it's already on my Kindle waiting for me to call it up.
7 s SpookySoto1,007 137

Decepcionante.
Empieza muy bien, pero a medida que avanza se vuelve absurdo. Las motivaciones para los asesinatos son ridículas en su mayoría. Pasan cosas que son extremadamente convenientes para el unsub (tengo ganas de llamarle asi, como en criminal minds :P ). El unsub es expert@ en todo, consigue información que nadie más puede, entra en lugares con extremada facilidad. Todo en este libro es demasiado conveniente simplemente porque la trama lo necesita así.
La primera parte es entretenida, pero el autor se sobrecomplicó y al hacerlo dañó la historia. Puede que lea otro a ver que tal.bookclub mistery-thriller-crime7 s Baba3,724 1,132

Sean King & Michelle Maxwell case No.2: King and Maxwell, have been hired to defend a man's innocence in a case involving a powerful family, when a serial killer begins in the same area replicating kills by other famous serial killers. They don't even know it yet, but they're all playing the Hour Game! Baldacci does it againÂ… a 700 + page turner, first a burglary, then a serial killer and then a double murderer for Sean King and Michelle Maxwell to investigate! 7 ou to 12.


thrills-spills-kills-oh-my7 s ?????????883

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??? ??? ????? ? ????? ??????? ???? ?? ?? ????????? ???? ????, ?? ?? ????????? ? ??-?????? ?????? ?? ???????, ? ????? ???????? ??????? ?????? ?? ??????? ? ???????. ???? ?? ???? ???????? ???? ?? ???????? ??? ???????? ?????? ???? ? ?????, ?? ????? ?????? ?????? ?? ????? ?????? ????? ?? ???????? ??????. ????? ???? ??? ? ???????? ????????? ?? ???? 1, 2, 3 ? ?.?. ???? ?????????? ?? ???? ?? ???????? ? ???? ???? ? ???? ?????
????? ???? ??????????? ????????? ???? ?? ???????? ?????, ?? ???? ? ??????? ???????? ???? ?? ????? ??????. ???????????? ??????? ???????????, ?????????? ??????? ? ???? ?? ?? ??????? ????????-?????????? ??????. ? ????, ?? ?? ????? ?? ???????? ??? ? ?????????? (??? ??-????????? ???? ??? ? ??????) ? ???? ?? ??????????, ???? ??????? ???????????? ?? ????????? ?? ???? ????? (????????) ??? ??-?????????? ? ?????????. 20226 s Brenda H871 88

While I enjoyed the book and it was an interesting read, it was much longer than it needed to be. In addition there were several tangents/red herrings that had been taken/thrown out but never resolved that it left me a bit frustrated at the end. The end was not as satisfying as it could - and should - have been but that has to remain unsaid as it would be a major spoiler...

Overall, because the story was interesting, kept me guessing throughout and was generally well written, I d the read.

Rating: 3.755 s Ami5,949 491

This time King & Maxwell were involved with serial murders in their town, Wrightsburg, Virginia, while helping a lawyer friend (Harry) who had a client accused of robbery at Battles' residence. At first, the serial murders seemed to be copycat of works from infamous serial killers (The Zodiac, Son of Sam, etc). But King and Maxwell found that there was more than meets the eye. That everything seemed to link back the Battles family...

-------------

Another great book -- I definitely love this series right now. I really enjoyed how Sean seemed to be the 'brain' in the partnership (he surely did a lot of digging and figured out things) while Michelle was more of the, well, not muscle but protector. Not that Michelle was not smart or anything, but she was more ly the one carrying the gun, doing the shooting, even ready to kick some villains' ass, while able to save Sean from attempted murder. It's nice to see the woman being able to protect the man once or twice ^^

I LOVE, LOVE the banters between Sean and Michelle. Michelle was a slob while Sean was neat. So sometimes he made fun of her. But Michelle was not without comeback. I also chuckled A LOT here, during the scene at the Aphrodisiac (a gentleman's club), where Michelle was offered to be a pole dancer and later she was propositioned by a six-foot-tall naked woman named Heidi. OH GOSH, SO FUNNY!! I loved Sean's deadpanned humor when he addressed that fact to Michelle.

The mystery reminded me a bit of the experience reading Agatha Christie's books -- in a sense that everything was related to the Battles and every single family members seemed to have their own secrets. Agatha Christie's books used to have that as well, where family members were not innocent or the small town citizens had their secrets. Although don't mistake this as having Agatha Christie-esque style, though. I just mentioned her because of the 'family with secrets' factor. Nothing more.

Anyway, it was a good mystery and made me sad a bit (all those murders happened because Bobby Battle couldn't keep his libido, which resulted in a snowball of events, including one of his son getting syphilis as a baby and later died because of cancer, and motivated his twin to do all these killings.

I have few more King & Maxwell books to catch up!! On to book #3 then...mystery-suspense-thriller5 s Patrick Gibson818 73

I tried reading one of BaldacciÂ’s novels a couple years ago and became disinterested around page twenty. He is extremely popular (apparently) and seems to publish a new title every other day.

I figured he was not an author for me. Then came the dreaded moment: bedtime with nothing to read! Damn. I usually have a stack ready to go—but not this time. While desperately searching, I came across a box of books left by a friend who moved. Double Damn. The books were all either Romance or Political Thrillers. From what I could determine to be the best of the lot, I picked a Baldacci. Of the dozen of his books in the box, this was the thinnest. I figured I could read until falling asleep and then toss it in the morning.

Yah, I got hooked.

There were so many murders right off the bat—all seemingly unrelated, yet probably by the same perp—I wanted to see where the author could possibly go with this. And since the hunky hero didn’t seem have obliging lust for his sexy coworker (whew, at last) and there were enough interesting ideas, I went with it.

The plot is so convoluted (in a good way), it took about fifty pages to finally unwind it all (and three false endings).

I have to say (grumble, grumble), I enjoyed it. The chapters are short, compact and jet the plot forward every time (there a hundred chapters). The writing is surprisingly literate. Anyone who can use ‘obfuscate’ correctly gets a prize. There are cliff hangers, red herrings and maguffins everywhere. You actually have to pay attention with this one. Cool.

I officially retract my ban on Baldacci.
contemporary-literature testosterone5 s Aileen452 1 follower

This was #2 in a series, where I wasn't 100% sure how I felt about #1. This book just cemented that this series is nowhere near as good as e.g. Will Robie or John Puller (or even Amos Decker).

The chemistry between Sean and Michelle just seems a bit off - I see others talk about romance between them, but I'm just not getting it at all. Nor the possibilities of romance with other characters in this book; it all felt a bit forced the author felt he had to give them someone to focus the non-action energies on. #1 in the series, the story started quite well - someone copying well-known serial killers. But as soon as the possibility for copy-cat killing/stealing the thunder of the original (to this book) killer kicked in, I felt that it all lost direction. Whilst quite liking some of the characters (Remmy, Junior for example), too many others were just unable (Chip, Sylvia) or 2-dimensional (Savannah). And also similar to the last one, as the plot progressed there were just too many unrealistic aspects kicking in (the big set-up to trap the killer; and lets not even mention the bullets). The story become very complicated with the original murders, the drug-related killings, the red herrings, the burglary-related killings...... Meh.

So I'm going to leave this series after book #2; didn't where the blurb for #3 was heading. I note this was David Baldacci's first series of novels, and clearly his writing style developed further as I've enjoyed most of the later series of characters. Hmm - will maybe skip to the latest series......thriller-crime5 s NAT.orious reads ?877 381

2 not particularly impressed ?????
Would recommend toÂ… nobody. It was dreadful. It made the boring stuff I had to do even more boring.
?Overall.
As I have said in one of my updates already, this book wouldn't have made it past the DNF line if it weren't for the fact that I listened to it as an audiobook while doing really blunt tasks at work. It seems ironic to mee that especially crime novels and thrillers have a hard job exciting me, given suspense is their major tool to catch the reader's attention.

Anyhow, I can not even be bothered to write a proper review for this. I hope to find more crime novels such as I Hunt Killers or Crimson Lake in the near future that are actually keeping me at the edge of my seat.5 s Fred570 93

**my second read**

King & Michelle from Charottlesville, work on killings in Wrightsburg. The plot link to murderer is easy. The book's link to the "Hour game" title is good. Wrist Watch "stems" are pulled out stopping at a hour 1:00, 2:00, etc. hence set to the "hour" are placed on bodies/victims.
"Zodiac" Letters/Symbols & Zodiac Wrist Watches set at a hour?
Murders point to a Battle family. A good character, Dr. Sylvia Diaz, dept. med. examiner had an affair from her husband, Steve Diaz, with a Battle family member. (King knew her from his past).
First murder is a woman tied with a tree branch & arms pointing to sky with Zodiac watch. Next, 2 lover lane students, Steve Cannery & Janice Pembroke with Zodiac Watches. Rhonda Tyler with a Zodiac letter. The murderer is signified as the "Zodiac killer" but there are too many murders in the book to follow.mystery re-read5 s Andrew621

Overall this was a very enjoyable book. I enjoyed the style and feel of the book, I just feel it was a touch long to keep up the suspense and tension throughout. There was a big list of characters and the interactions with them were very intriguing and interesting. In some sense I just feel there was too much going on. That said it was a very enjoyable read that I would recommend to others, but I can see why some others don't take to it. Unusually I worked out the culprits on this one and quite early on. If you haven't given David Baldacci a try I would certainly recommend him.4 s Jim E.219 1 follower

I would have given this a rating of 1 except that I enjoyed the 2 main characters of Sean and Michelle. I also d the first book in this series. This book just went on and on and on, with murder after murder. I lost count and had trouble even recalling who was killed. The law enforcement spent way too much time discussing scenarios as to the identity of the murderer and this became very tedious. The final straw was the “ collision of 2 bullets “. Come on ! Who would believe this. 5 s Diana LongAuthor 1 book15

The second book of the series pairing ex secret service now investigators King and Maxwell. In this story they are on the hunt for a serial killer and it's non stop action from beginning to end. Plenty of intense moments and creatively written scenarios. Highly entertaining4 s Tim2,254 227

Not at all one of his better works and much too long. If you're patient enough to get to the end, you reach the best part. On that basis 4 of 10 stars5 s CA695 97

no se muy bien que pensar de este libro.
no fue malo,para nada,pero no me llego a gustar tanto como el primero.
En todo caso,seguire buscando libros de este autor.20145 s M.M. Strawberry Library & Reviews4,250 348

Pretty standard for a David Baldacci book, having read several of these. I have not read the first book in this series though, but I still enjoyed this book and the mystery. 3.75/5 stars.mystery thriller5 s Josh PetroskiAuthor 1 book7

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