I'm a new reader to David Baldacci and I certainly wasn't disappointed. Set in this authors home region, Virginia, the novel revolves around a special unit of the FBI, namely the HRT (Hostage Rescue Team) and follows agent Web London and tries to assertain why he survived an incident and the rest of his team died. There is a lot going on in this story, different groups of characters who by the end all come together to make an exciting and unpredictable, fast paced thriller which keeps you reading until the very last page.

Last Man Standing is one of David Baldacci’s standalone thrillers which was published in 2002 and is a great thriller. This book delivers on every level and draws the reader in and keeps hold of them until the end. So much so that you want to find out what the lead character eventually choses to do. Web London is a member of the FBI’s elite Hostage Rescue Team who are only called upon when really needed. They train and train some more to make sure that they make no errors when called upon. Web is haunted by only one rescue where a young boy, David was killed by the hostages. Web’s team have been called up on to breach a drug kingpins warehouse in Washington DC, everybody is in place and the intelligence is reliable. When they hit the warehouse, Web freezes and cannot explain it, and has to watch as the rest of his team are mowed down by machine gun fire. Web eventually is able to defeat the machine guns but too late to save his friends and colleagues. Web as well as suffering from seeing his friends murdered in cold blood is being given the cold shoulder by other members of the HRT. As the investigation begins in to what happened and it is headline news, Wen runs a parallel investigation so he can get to the truth. He is also in dire need of the support form counselling, which he takes. There are many twists and turns in the search for answers, and he does get the help of friend Paulie Romano. Which takes them to a horse farm in the middle of Virgina farming country where they end up on protective detail, but even they are surprised how it ends. Web is under pressure from one the FBI bosses who just wants to get rid of him and will seek any way to do that. This is a wonderful book that keeps you on the edge of your seat. There are plenty of clues throughout the book as to what might be happening, and in the end it all becomes clear. A great read.