Darnell reviews The Last Mile by David Baldacci, Grand Central Publishing, 2016.
The Last Mile is the first one of Baldacci’s books that I have ever read, and I must say I am very impressed! I am normally a non-fiction/biography reader, but since so many avid readers rave about Baldacci’s work, I wanted to give this author a try. This title in general got me hooked from the first chapter and anticipating more when I was not able to read at the current moment.
The story starts off at a very intense pace as one of the protagonists, Melvin Mars, is facing execution for the murder of his parents. When he is only seconds away from death, the state of Texas stops the execution because someone else confessed to the murder. The entire set up of the story is quite exceptional because the chapters aren’t very long at all. In fact, I think only two or three chapters are six pages or more. But even above that, my favorite thing about the book is the introduction to all the characters, and I believe that Baldacci does a commendable job of building his character’s profiles to help readers understand more about them.
The Last Mile is indeed a great read, and although I skipped the first book the Amos Decker series, Memory Man, I am glad to have taken the time to read this fantastic work of fiction. In conclusion, if you are looking for a truly suspenseful work of fiction that is nearly impossible to put down then look no further. This is a great story. You will not be disappointed.