The 6:20 Man: A Thriller

I really enjoyed this book. It’s a page turner that keeps you guessing. It’s an excellent read, and I highly recommend.

It took a little while to get into the story but once it began to jell, it moved along. I did find it quite long and wasn’t sure how it would end or who the killer or killers were. There were myriad characters and suspects and at times it got a little confusing about who were the bad guys. Baldacci does know how to keep the reader in suspense and keep ratcheting up the action and danger. There was plenty of both in this story. This is the beginning of a series of issues that the main protagonist, Travis Devine, will be dealing with that will be putting his life into more danger and keeping the reader on tenterhooks.

a hard story to read at the start, but mystery & intrique & pretty girls and did I mention mystery !!! So many turns hard to ever know how it turns out!!! Avery well written story !!!Now time for the next one !!!

Great plot and Wei written

This is well below the quality of previous DB books I have read, particularly The Amos Decker series. After finishing it and feeling compelled to write a review, I had a look at some reviews for this book on Amazon. It's hard to believe that so many gave it 4-5 stars, which is what convinced me to buy it. I then read a few 3* reviews and concur with their general comments. I found the last 15-20% of this book was a hot mess of tying implausible storylines together with the most ludicrous, annoying connections. It's like DB had a pile of paper that included the outlines of two stories/books, some character development and some draft chapters for each book, and he dropped them on the floor and shuffled them. Then he gave the collected, mixed-up pile of the two stories to ghost writers - human or AI - with a brief to make a single book out of the ideas. Some of the writing is to DB's higher standard, but some was just poorly written to the point of distraction! Americans have some different phrasing to other English language users, but there is some awkward, confusing phrasing in this book. ***SPOILERS BELOW *** I liked the main character, Travis Devine, and found his military story to be reasonably believable, but him working 12+ hour days, 6 days a week in the financial world as a personal punishment was not so believable. The greed of the financial world and the rich was believable; those in powerful positions, working the system to get even more. The current President of the USA and his various decisions demonstrates the reality of this plot. The ridiculous connections to Devine's three housemates were just ludicrous! So frustrating at the end that I nearly stopped reading. The donor sperm story was the pinnacle of mediocrity - oh my giddy aunt! Jill Tapshaw somehow gets a semen sample from her twin brother-wants-to-be-her-sister and supplies it as the 'donor sperm sample' that the clinician uses to inseminate Jill's partner, Sara Ewes. But neither the clinician nor Sara know who the sample comes from??? So there is absolutely no quality of care, professionalism, consent, or competence required. And Sara shows no care for her personal health and safety, nor that of her potential child. Here's a semen sample I prepared earlier, I have no details, no idea about it, would you like it? Oh yes please. Yet, Jill has clinical records in her office listing her brother, Dennis, as the sperm donor - how? I am a reproductive biologist who worked for 15 years as a Clinical Embryologist in an ART-IVF clinic, so this topic really lands in my wheel house and has so many flaws it's pathetic. I work in Melbourne, Australia, with the most stringent laws in the world. Laws vary in the US, so everything is not the same as in Australia, but....wow... Given Jill's computer mastery, she could have faked and planted all required records - consents, disease testing of donor, donor's details, codes to set up the anonymity of the donor, etc. But you can't 'fake' the biology! We're meant to believe that the sample is 'collected' and somehow ends up with the clinician in a viable state that results in a pregnancy. The clinician and Sara happily receive this raw semen sample with no tests, and information? No, it's nonsensical. Generally, donor sperm is cryopreserved (frozen) and stored, while it is quarantined and cleared of infectious disease. Cryopreservation and thawing requires knowledge and skill, equipment, materials and protocols. You can falsify records, but not knowledge, skill and competency. I just cannot see this story happening - incompetence and implausibility everywhere. Uurghh... I feel even more annoyed having written this review.

I started with the 3rd on in this series. It went on sale and I was taking a trip and wanted a good traveling read. Baldacci delivers. I love the premise of this adventure. It waited to the end to unravel all its secrets and put the parts together. It was interesting and I can definitely understand the character building for future adventures. But, I think it was a little slow, a bit meandering and lacked depth in the most critical relationships. I enjoyed it, but #3 was better.

A rather complicated thriller, but nevertheless well done, with a credible protagonist. The central character is worthy of more development and tales, so I shall read on!

Great, well written book. Thoroughly enjoyed it. It came fairly rapidly. Not 1-2 days but less than a week. And… a good price and in great condition

An interesting premise that turned into an excellent, engrossing read. David Baldacci has mastered the story structure for this niche, and it shows on every page. Worth your time.

ウエストポイントを卒業してレンジャー部隊に入りアフガニスタンやイラクで戦った３２歳 歴戦の勇士トラヴィス・デヴァインが帰郷後にMBAを取得してNY近郊でルームシェアして暮らしており、毎朝６：２０の列車でマンハッタンにある大手企業へ通勤しつつ独身生活を謳歌している。同じ社に勤める２８歳の女性サラ・ユーズが会社で首吊り自殺して騒ぎとなったが殺人とわかり、一度彼女と寝たトラヴィスが疑われ、警察に追い回されると社内で爪はじきになってしまった。疑いを晴らそうとあちこち嗅ぎまわるが 先の書評子がおっしゃるようにちょっと頼りないマッチョな素人探偵がひたすら突き進む様子に 読みながら応援したくなる。それでも持ち前の反射神経でたび重なる危機をくぐりぬけ、次第にコトの真相に近づくという さすがのバルダッチさんが短い各章でどんどん緊張を高めてくるので ついつい読み進めて、気がついたら読み終わっていた という とても楽しい一冊だった。

Fantastic read

For every David Baldacci fan a must-read again with an outstanding new character on a rollercoaster ride in New York City.

Great summer read