326 reviews for:

Zero Day

David Baldacci

3.74 AVERAGE


If you love reading Jack Reacher kind of characters, beating bad guys fluently, the one who know it all, has good charm on all ladies...you will love this book as well. Other than that the story is simple and old...same shit, simple murder turns out to be national level threat and there is a hero who saves the nation in last minute. Overall a good fast paced read..
dark mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No

David Baldacci is one of very few "airport bookstore" type authors that I'll give a chance for two main reasons. First, I read one of his books back in high school as assigned reading and, if memory serves, it didn't suck. Second, in most cases, his name is not larger than the book's title on the cover. Zero Day was my second Baldacci book and it... wasn't great. There are several reasons why and I could go into detail on each one, but I'm not sure it's worth my time. They all pretty much boil down to this: 

The character of John Puller is boring and difficult to care about.
Baldacci seems to be aware that "men writing women" is something to be cautious about but not self-aware enough to know that he's still doing it.
He also seems to be simultaneously suspicious of and have a reverence for the U.S. government and its military.
The story was interesting when it was just a murder mystery but became much less so when the stakes were raised.
Several twists and revelations were not satisfying, and the answers to some of the biggest questions were relegated to exposition in the last few chapters.
There was an abundance of clichés.
Unless it was in a single sentence that I glossed over early on in the book or some military reference I don't get, I have no idea what significance the phrase "zero day" has to this story.
There appear to be things going on with Puller's family and his past that might make him more interesting, or at least explain why he's so dull, but I don't have any desire to read more 400+ page books involving him to learn them.
A sharpened iPod.

According to other reviews, this is basically a Jack Reacher clone (which I have very little interest in) and a low point in Baldacci's writing. So I won't judge him too harshly just yet and give his books another try or two. And at the end of the day, this was entertaining to a degree, hence two stars rather than one.

Due to certain circumstances in my life I have been unable to concentrate long enough to read a book since January of '12. I am kind of glad it was a Baldacci novel that brought me back. I love the way he writes, I love his characters, and while some of his story lines are over the top they never leave you feeling that you could not imagine it happening. His characters are great and as this is the first starring a new Main character I can not wait to se how he develops his story. I have read all of the Camel club books and LOVE those guys.

Side note : After reading a few reviews I hear alot of folks comparing this to Lee Child's Jack Reacher Character.....I tried to read a Child novel of Reacher and could not get into it, so if he is like Reacher, at least IMHO the book was better written? Different strokes I suppose, but I feel better now that I have a "Jack Reacher like" character that I CAN get into. :)
mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: N/A
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
adventurous fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I had to take a break from the other book I was slogging through. This one was a much faster and more enjoyable read!

The build up to this book was good. I liked how the character and storyline was developed. Somewhat disappointed about the ending. I jus dt felt it was too simple. Other than that, I felt that the author was trying to give it a twist at the end, but in many ways you saw it coming. Nevertheless, I'm interested in reading the second in this series and see how the character and story develops.

First book by this author that I have read. Would read another. Seemed very well researched. The procedurals had an authentic ring to them. Quite liked the characters and didn't want to see them die. Very fast paced for the most part. Others seem to have marked it down a bit because the main character was 'like' Jack Reacher. Never read any books about him so didn't spoil my read.

I just don't like the John Puller series as much as Amos Decker.

Another gooder by one of my favs. Kept me guessing til the end.