Absolute Power

I would have given this book a five star review but almost didn't finish it. At one point, I was going to get rid of it because of the extremely violent and cruel sexual content. This was Baldacci's maiden literary voyage, and I suppose he wanted to be heard. In some of his later works, like True Blue and The Simple Truth, he is able to convey conflict and depict the bad guys without making the reader feel as though they are in a horrible situation personally. I'm not advocating for a neutered approach, just to avoid having my attitude towards life be influenced too much by art when art depicts something this bad. This book did not make me want to do bad things, but it made me feel at times like a wretch. I identified with Jack and Luther, who were more or less good guys, but the bad guys were hideous and a lot of the good guys got sucked in to their vortex.