Deivids Baldači astoņus gadus strādājis par juristu Vašingtonā.Darbā gūta pieredze palīdzēja radīt romānu "Neierobežota vara". ASV, Midltonā, Virdžīnijas štatā tiek noslepkavota kāda sieviete, slepkavība iejaukts Savienoto Valstu prezidents, bet izrādījās , ka ir nozieguma aculiecinieks, prezidents liek abiem miesassargiem neitralizēt viņu, kā arī atgūt lietisko pierādījumu,kas varētu viņu pazudināt.Autors uzdod jautājumu vai prezidents drīkst palikt nesodīts par slepkavību? Romāns sarakstīts 1996.gadā, kurā stāstīts par Alanu Ričmondu, ASV prezidents, kas saistījās attiecībās ar sava drauga, Valtera Salivenu,miljardieris, prezidenta draugs, sievu nezinot viņu vīram. Visa darbība notika Salivenu savrupmājā, guļamistabā, kurā atradās Luters Vitnejs, prasmīgs zaglis.Devušies prom viņi aizmirsa lietisko pierādījumu, bet to jau bija paņēmis Luters, kas pa to laiku laidās pa logu laukā. Tad aizsākās Vitneja ķerstīšana pa visu valsti.Abiem miesassargiem tika pavēlēts noķert Vitneju.Bet policijai ātrāk izdodas noķert Luteru,kuri domā, ka Luters nogalināja Valtera sievu. Lutera advokāts, Džeks Grehems, kas bija nostrādājis sešus gadus par advokātu un tagad nodarbojās ar jurisprudenci,neticēja, ka viņa draugs to izdarīja.Džeks Luteru pazina, jo agrāk bija viņas meitas, Keita Lutera, bijušais līgavainis, bet viņa tēvu ienīda, jo viņš visu mūžu nodarbojās ar bagātnieku māju aptīrīšanu. Vedot Luteru uz tiesas zāli viņš tiek nogalināts, lai neizpaustu informāciju policijai.Bet notikumi nebeidzās ar Vitneja nāvi, viss tikai sākās.Džeks grib noskaidrot, kas to izdarīja un kas aiz tā viss slēpjas, jo Luters neko neteica, ko bija redzējis, viņš baidījās par savas meitas dzīvību. Luters viņam bija atstājis pierādījumus un pavedienus.Tālāk turpinās spraiga cīņa ar augstu ranga amatpersonu un viņu miesassargiem.....Tiek nogalināti četri cilvēki, lai neizpaustu patiesību, bet Džeku vaino savu koļēgu nogalināšanā, bet tas tika safabricēts,lai iegāztu Džeku. Bet beigās prezidents tiek saukts pie atbildības un saņem mūža ieslodzījumu, bet viņu līdzinātāji nedaudz maigākus, divdesmit gadus.Bet viens viņu miesassargs nevarēja izturēt tās šausmas, ko viņš izdarīja un izdarīja pašnāvību. Ieteiktu katram izlasīt šo grāmatu, jo šajā grāmata ir ļoti aizraujoša un neparedzama ar negaidītām, un spriedzi pilnām beigām.Kā arī valoda ir ļoti bagāta, izmantoti daudz mākslinieciskie izteiksmes līdzekli,piemēram, epiteti, salīdzinājumi un metafora.Metafora - viņas bāli zilajās acīs iezibējās liesmiņas, epitets - tumsā burbuļoja un čaloja neliela strūklaka, salīdzinājums - kailie zari stiepās pret debesīm kā tumši, sastingusi zibens žuburi.Politika, intrigas, lielas naudas pasaule un spriedze pa līdz pēdējai lappusei. Neierobežota vara samaitā pilnībā./Lords Ektons/
David Baldacci's Absolute Power has a decent story, but it was hard for me to enjoy because I found the writing so hackneyed that it distracted me from the plot. Here's a representative descriptive passage:At the sound of the explosion, the playing stopped as three pairs of eyes turned as one toward the house. In another minute they were inside. It only took one more minute for the screams to be heard. The quiet neighborhood was no more.Forget, for a moment, the clumsy use of the passive voice in the first sentence, and focus instead on the bizarre description of three people as "three pairs of eyes." Not only is this unnecessary, it leads to the possibility of unintentional humor in the second sentence--"In another minute they were inside"--since one can interpret this as six disembodied eyes floating into the house. And the final sentence is terrible. Not only is it an unnecessary addition to the paragraph, it doesn't make logical sense. The quiet of the neighborhood may be disturbed, but the neighborhood itself still exists. Saying that "The quiet neighborhood was no more" makes it sounds as if the neighborhood has been incinerated by a hydrogen bomb.Baldacci's dialogue is bad, too. Here's an example:"Jack, do you have any idea who's behind all this?"Jack shook his head, a small groan escaping his lips. "I've got a bunch of loose threads sliding around in my head but none of them have added up to spit so far. I'm hoping that status will change. Soon."If there is any English-speaking person in the world who speaks that way while under duress, I have yet to meet them.And here's one final example of exactly what I don't like about Baldacci's prose:She still stood there several minutes after he left. A series of emotions competed for space across her face, none, in the end, winning out.The unintentional rhyming of "space" with "face" is distracting. Also, Baldacci uses a lot of words to essentially tell the reader nothing. A character seems to experience a number of emotions--none of which are specifically described--before eventually experiencing none. Is that the idea Baldacci wishes to convey? Does he even know what idea he wishes to convey about his characters or the situations in which they find themselves most of the time? It didn't seem to me as if he did.If you've seen previews for the film version of Absolute Power or read the flap copy, you know what it's about. I suppose it could be an enjoyable potboiler if you're able to turn off the critical part of your mind that notices clumsy writing and consume the story in the fashion one consumes an entire bag of chips in one sitting, but for me, the writing was so bad it was distracting. And trust me. I read some pretty bad books.
What do You think about Absolute Power (2015)?
I listened to this book on audio CD while driving across country to a trade show. Having read some of Mr. Baldacci's later works, I was curious to go back a couple of decades to an earlier novel.Overall, Absolute Power is a serviceable political thriller. As usual, Mr. Baldacci does an excellent job with character building - a strength of any good novel and certainly well done here. If you don't hate Alan Richmond by the end of this book, you haven't been paying attention. The supporting cast is well done, but it takes awhile for the cracks and interesting quirks to come out - Gloria Russell and Sandy Lord being among my favorites transformations.This leads me to my first complaint - the pacing in the book is a bit slow. I attribute this to the fact that Absolute Power is an early work - and it is not a fatal flaw. I found myself a few times pulled out of the story and asking when the plot was going to move forward.Now, I love complex plots with lots of twists. I think this might be one of the reasons that I keep coming back to Mr. Baldacci. And this book is twisted even with the reader knowing how the crime is committed upfront. That said, the plot brings me to my second complaint - one which keeps Absolute Power from being a 5-star book.The ending was lame. No spoiler here, but 18 hours of build-up and tension needs to have a killer ending - a hard take down that leaves the reader pumping their fist in revenge. For me, the final resolution was a whimper. It was not clever, and it really left me sitting in my car going - that's it? That could have happened 6 hours ago. So, in the end, this is a solid page-turner. If you have 1600 miles to kill, I can recommend Absolute Power. That said, I recommend some of Mr. Baldacci's later works - especially The Camel Club - more highly.
—Chris Matney
Absolute Power is another great book by David Baldacci. I have read several of his works and even though they are all good reads, this is by far my favorite. It has a captivating suspense to it, I couldn't put it down until I finished it. I highly recommend it. The basis of the story is that a thief is robbing a mansion when the President and his lover arrive. He begins to get rough with her and to get away from him, she attempts to stab him with a letter opener. But he yells for help and she is shot by the secret service. In the cover-up that follows they leave the letter opener which is picked up by the thief. The rest of the story shows the captivating and suspenseful attempts for the thief to serve justice. However much of the novel involves Jack Graham, a lawyer who becomes involved in the attempt to uncover the cover-up. I also recently watched the movie and was disappointed to see that he was left out of the movie entirely. He adds a lot to the story.Even though once again, the book was better than the movie, I recommend both. This was Baldacci's first novel and in my opinion, his best.
—Davan W.
Absolutely, I skipped most of the book as well. It was foul and I had to keep skipping because of foul scenes and language. I was so disappointed because none of the others had this. Mom
—Kelsey
