David Baldacci has reason to celebrate. The film based on his best-selling first novel, "Absolute Power," starred Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman. And his second novel, "Total Control," was published earlier this year.
"Absolute Power" told a story about sex and politics involving the president of the United States; a familiar theme, but told from an unusual - and intriguing - perspective. "Total Control" is also set in Washington, D.C. However, unlike his first novel, where the reader witnessed a murder and knew "whodunit," in this second book, the reader is as puzzled as the FBI.The story is set in motion by a horrible accident on a commercial airliner bound from Washington to Los Angeles. "All heads turned to the red flash that erupted on the right side of the aircraft. Those sitting in the window seats on that side watched in the starkest horror as the right wing buckled, metal skin tearing, rivets popping free. Bare seconds passed before two-thirds of the wing sheared off, carrying with it the starboard-side Rolls-Royce engine.
"Twin-engine commercial jetliners are certified to fly on only one engine. No jetliner, however, can fly with only one wing. The airworthiness of Flight 3223 had been irreversibly destroyed. The L500 settled into a tight nose-to-ground death spiral."
The crash is just the opener.
The heroine, Sidney Archer, whose husband should have been on the plane but wasn't, finds herself in terrible peril. A part-time lawyer and the mother of a young child, she refuses to believe that her husband is involved in sabotage and murder, despite evidence to the contrary. She becomes tangled in a fierce struggle for technology and corporate power; a struggle involving greed, corruption, blackmail and murder.
Meanwhile, an FBI agent named Lee Sawyer races to keep Sidney alive - no small task. Both are pitted against powerful adversaries who want her dead.
Baldacci knows how to set a scene. One can only applaud as Sidney manages to foil one bad guy after another - until the odds seem overwhelming. Agent Sawyer is one of the novel's most human - and appealing - characters.
The book's powerful conclusion will have readers running for cover.
One minor note: "Total Control" seems overwrought at times, its plot moving at such a breakneck pace.
And a P.S. for those afraid of flying: In an author's note at the end, Baldacci writes, "Aircraft enthusiasts may quickly point out that the sabotage of Flight 3223 is rather far-fetched." However, the story will leave readers lying awake at night, calculating the odds of a wing falling off - or being blown off - an airplane.