Total Control [Hardcover]

David Baldacci (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1997

Sidney Archer has the world. A husband she loves. A job at which she excels, and a cherished young daughter. Then, as a plane plummets into the Virginia countryside, everything changes. And suddenly there is no one whom Sidney Archer can trust. Jason Archer is a rising young executive at Triton Global, the world's leading technology conglomerate. Determined to give his family the best of everything, Archer has secretly entered into a deadly game of cat and mouse. He is about to disappear - leaving behind a wife who must sort out his lies from his truths, an aircrash investigation team that wants to know why the plane he was ticketed on suddenly fell from the sky, and a veteran FBI agent who wants to know it all. From Seattle to Washington, D.C., from New Orleans to Maine, the hunt for Jason Archer follows a trail as complex as the world he lived and worked in - a world of enormously powerful computers, a multimillion-dollar takeover deal, titanic financial standoffs, artificial intelligence, and the Internet. With brilliant minds colliding, ruthless men waging battles of intimidation, rainmakers going toe-to-toe with killers, and security specialists making a fortune trying to plug the holes, the startling truth behind Jason Archer's disappearance explodes into a sinister plot with the murder of the country's single most powerful individual. And soon Archer's wife, Sidney, aided by the relentless and sharp-eyed FBI agent Lee Sawyer, will plunge straight into the violence that is leaving behind a trail of dead bodies and shocking, exposed secrets...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

released in February 1997.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Sidney Archer is devastated when she hears that the plane carrying her husband to Los Angeles has crashed. But her nightmare begins when she learns he'd traded identities and flown to Seattle instead. Evidence suggests that Jason Archer was selling corporate secrets to a high-tech rival. Soon Sidney herself is caught in a web of intrigue as wealthy men vie for more power and money. Fired from her law firm, pursued by hired killers eager to recover an encrypted computer disk Jason had mailed to himself, Sydney finally trusts only the FBI agent who believes her innocent. No one is immune here from high-tech snooping and violent death. Baldacci writes strictly for action, not wasting time developing characters or setting. Few books have higher heaps of dead millionaires at their conclusion. The scant literary value won't deter those who snatched up his first book, the best-selling Absolute Power (LJ 11/15/95), or keep them from standing in line to see the film version, due in February. Public libraries will need a copy or two to meet demand, especially with a major publicity blitz planned.
-?Kathy Piehl, Mankato State Univ. Minn.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 520 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books; 1st edition (January 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446520950
• ISBN-13: 978-0446520959
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.6 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (194 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #60,848 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

135 of 143 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TOTAL ENJOYMENT, October 18, 2000

By 

Nancy Martin (Pennsylvania (orig. NY)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Total Control (School & Library Binding)

My first introduction to David Baldacci was back in 1996 when People Magazine picked his first book, Absolute Power, as the "Page Turner of the Week". I thought the premise of that book was phenomenal and I became an immediate fan. For some reason, I skipped over Total Control and went on to read his third and fourth books, The Winner and The Simple Truth. Both were good reads but nothing compared to Absolute Power. I'm glad I went back and read Total Control because it's in true Baldacci form in my opinion.

In this offering, Baldacci takes the typical American family, Sidney and Jason Archer and their little daughter Amy, and pits them against corporate greed at its worst. Sidney (the wife with a man's name) is a corporate attorney. Jason, the husband, is an executive with a technology company. Since Sidney is working on a deal that will merge her husband's company with another major technology firm, she is privy to many things that could lead to trouble. Jason, on the other hand, is struggling to make more money so that his wife can become a stay-at-home mom to their daughter. While this concept is characteristic of many American families, sometimes this drive can lead to a downward spiral of events from which there is no return. When Jason disappears, it is up to Sidney to try to clear his name while trying to save her own job at the same time. This book is replete with all the scenarios that followers of the thriller genre have come to expect. There's a plane crash, a car chase, espionage, kidnapping, phone-tapping and the usual sinister characters you find in most of Baldacci's books.

I read most of this book on the plane traveling from Minnesota to Philadelphia. It never seems to fail that when I'm flying, I'm usually reading a book that involves a plane crash. The good thing about this book is that it is so fast-paced that I arrived at my destination without even realizing I had been in the air over three hours. If you're looking for something that is suspenseful and believable, I think you'd enjoy this one. I'd like to add that as I looked around to see what other people on the plane were reading, I was not surprised to see other readers with Baldacci titles in their hands. I guess he's come a long way since that first book back in 1996. Kudos to you David Baldacci for your well-deserved success.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Dynamite!, April 29, 2002

By 

A. Harrell "[e-mail]" (Denver, Colorado United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Total Control (Mass Market Paperback)

I am recommending this book to all my friends who love a real heart-pounding thriller. I refused to put this book down until I finished it...Total Control has all the verve and excitement of Absolute Power but is infinitely more intriguing. The high-tech aspect of this novel was well researched. I love Baldaccis treatment of his women characters: in Sidney Archer he has created a smart, determined and savvy tigress who exhibits extraordinary resolve and courage in her quest to find out about her husbands surprising death. She is as adept at dealing with hired hit men as she is with slick corporate lawyers. The plot itself is a rather convoluted maze with enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing about the next plot line: chapter by chapter. This is pure David Baldacci. There is no filler here. If you want to read an exciting novel that holds your interest with each page this is it.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but a little implausible; 3.5 *s, November 17, 2004

By 

J. Grattan "Ideas can move the world" (Lawrenceville, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Total Control (Mass Market Paperback)

Total Control begins with two high-tech companies, both in need of technological infusion, pursuing a smaller firm whose advanced technology will guarantee future success. The potential for conflict is immediately evident as the same high-powered law firm is representing both companies in their bids. Attractive corporate attorney Sidney Archer is handling the affairs for one company, but it just so happens that her husband Jason is the main person collecting records pertinent to the sale for the same company.

Matters quickly fall apart when in the midst of a high level meeting involving all the principals of the deal, Sidney discovers that her husband has supposedly met his death in a plane crash, after having told his superiors that he would be home doing odds and ends. Suspicions multiply when the loss of millions from corporate accounts is discovered, not to mention the death of a high-level banking official on the same flight.

The story kicks into high gear when crusty FBI agent Lee Sawyer tries to make sense of it all. Of course, what would a story set in the cut-throat world of corporate high-tech be without the obnoxious, ruthless CEO; the brilliant, but slighted, guru; and lots of corporate security involving former CIA and FBI agents. Sidney is desperate to discover the truth about her husband. She finds herself somewhat clumsily navigating through building security systems, surveillance, phone taps, cryptic E-mails, computer security, and strange phone calls. It becomes evident that more than a Bonnie-and-Clyde caper is underway, and the bad guys have vast resources and are playing for keeps.

The book is entertaining but not without some problems. For this reader the writing seemed stilted or awkward - it didn't flow too well. There were these constantly introduced little twists like "Sidney did not see the man lurking across the street." It feels like reader manipulation. Some of the high-tech seemed either fanciful or was made to seem more difficult than it is. It is understandable that a shrewd attorney would have the wherewithal to pursue the mysterious death of her husband, but the slippage of her role into one of wonder woman, physically confronting truly bad guys, was not convincing. FBI agent Sawyer was probably the most compelling character. For such a lengthy book, the ending takes far too predictable of a turn, but it also manages to be incomplete, as the reader will see.

There seems to be a lot of love it or hate it reviews. Yes the book was too long, a bit unrealistic, and somewhat predictable. But it compares favorably to most books of this genre. There are not many Le Carre's or Clancy's out there. It was an acceptable read. I'm not dissuaded from trying another one of his.