Ebook Review: No Time Left by David Baldacci

I never thought that there would ever come a day, when I’d have to say that David Baldacci has written something not worth reading, but here you go. Thankfully, No Time Left is but a short story, which only came out as an eBook, because if it were a novel I’d feel really disappointed.
     The protagonist in this story is a man called Frank Becker, a professional assassin, who likes to undertake the most complicated, or rather challenging missions. When it comes to killing he is a man full of surprises. We first meet him as he shadows a man, in the crowded streets of an unnamed city, whom he ends up killing with a lethal injection. That takes place on the 5th of May of the year 2000, and so far so good.
     In the pages that follow the author talks about the personal history of the assassin, his complicated background and his unhappy childhood. He’s been abused as a child not only by his father, but also by his evil stepmother, a fact that left him scarred for life and created a dangerous void in his psyche.
     Becker, who’s spend the last twenty years killing people, is now ready to undertake a new, exciting, but extremely unorthodox mission: he is to assassinate a woman, whom he has never met, for which he knows nothing about, and whose whereabouts are completely unknown to him. The man who hires him though tells him not to worry about a thing and that when the time comes everything will be illuminated. And he’s proven right. And that’s exactly when the reader finds all of a sudden him/herself reading a fantasy story, which is bound to dissolve all and any expectations for a great ending. That doesn’t come to pass because the narration changes genre, but alas because the end of the story seems rushed and, honestly, badly written. As it seems the good author has decided, in his effort to surprise the reader, to walk into Stephen King territory. However, as great as he may be in writing action-packed thrillers, the fantasy game doesn’t seem to suit him. And thus he disappoints.

For Her Eyes Only

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday. Here's one of my own stories for you. Find out what happened For Her Eyes Only:

The last time they met was more than ten years ago. And now, that she was standing there, right in front of him she looked lovely as ever. She didn’t change a bit over the years; at least not in his eyes. That woman was Dawn, his Dawn, the Dawn of his juvenile years, the Dawn of his dreams, the girl that once hurt his heart almost fatally, without even knowing it, who killed his present and future. The woman that has wedded his once best friend.
George, Dawn and Nick were inseparable when they were kids. They grew up in the same neighborhood, lived the same lives. Both of the boys then, both of the men in the years that followed, were in love with Dawn. Nick would express his feelings at any given moment, anywhere, but shy George would never talk about how he felt about her, even though she knew. She knew him!
Well, as always the story goes, the brave or at least the most capable win the game, thus some day George heard that Nick and Dawn were seeing each other, after that that they were lovers, and not long after that they were going to be married. “Married”. His heart broke when he heard that word. His soul and body were in pain, insanity started to infiltrate his mind. “No” he thought “I can’t allow that to happen. No, never.” But yet, there was nothing he could do about it. To quarrel with his friend; nothing could come out of that, to at last express his feelings to Dawn; for that it was too late. What could he do?
He left! He abandoned that small provincial town where he grew up and went down to Athens, to get himself lost in the big city, one unhappy soul among many others. He sought his fortune in crime. He became tough and heartless, a man without emotions; without a conscience. In that sordid world in which he killed his time and his soul, he became known as the “Icebreaker”, the speechless murderer, who was capable to bring to an end any given mission. However, no matter how much his heart hardened, no matter how crime became a way of life for him, he felt a flame burn deep inside his soul. The flame of his tender and eternal love for Dawn. A love that was impossible for him to get over. He looted many female bodies, some with tenderness others with violence, but whatever he did, whoever he was with, the image of Dawn would never leave his mind’s eye. He could never love somebody else. His heart belonged to her. Only her. Only Dawn could turn the beast into a human being again, sooth his soul, pull his body out of the slime.
“She will be miserable. She is miserable. I know. I can feel it!” he thought every now and then, at moments of unbearable loneliness. “Me and Nick are made from the same mater, we are tough and strong-headed, but me, I would never do anything to hurt her. Dawn, the poor thing, didn’t really know much about us. She had no idea what we did when we were not together, she never heard about our young gangs, the robberies and the drugs, she didn’t know that Nick even raped her sister. The poor soul, she knew nothing…”
Thoughts, thoughts and more thoughts. He’d spend many sleepless nights just sitting and drinking. His head was never at peace. His life was a nightmare. He’d look to alcohol and women for salvation, but his heart would still ache, his mind would still spin in painful memories. How could he give his soul a rest?
The time swiftly passed, the years flooded by, and George kept sinking more and more into sadness. The news he would hear every now and then about Dawn and Nick, were getting worst all the time. And when he found out that Nick has started abusing her and their daughter, he felt at a complete loss. For a long time he would wander in the streets of the night dressed in rags, always drunk, talking to himself, howling like a dog, always ready to pick a fight, to hit somebody, to kill someone. Until one night, in a bar of the underworld, he collapsed. “From the booze” thought those who knew him; “Nervous breakdown” said the doctors.
He took treatment for a few weeks in a private clinic, since he could afford it. Little by little the drugs and the serenity of the place helped him stand back on his own feet again. While there he took some important decisions about his life. He would give up drinking, throw away all of his bad habits and start anew. And of course, claim the love of the woman that rightfully belonged to him.
So, he went back to his native town. Using the money that he earned after all those years of hard and heartless work, he opened a big and luxurious cafeteria. It was in the street that passed right in front of his venture that he would meet Dawn again that day, after such a long time. At first they both felt a bit perplexed but a minute later they were hugging each other. It wasn’t long before she started crying, and he, not knowing what else to do, just held her in his arms, caressing her hair, not talking.
As her tears dried away he led her into the building. They sat at a remote corner and started talking about their lives, about the mistakes they made, about the wrong routes they followed. George, of course, could never tell her the truth about his life, about what he did all those years he was away. So, he created for his sake, but hers also, a different life, a better one, one that only existed in the books of fantasy. He made up new memories just for her, just to see her smile, for her eyes only. Dawn didn’t follow his lead. She told him the truth. Her life was worn with endless pain, washed with bitter tears. Her only true joy was Nana, her beautiful, smart little daughter. However, she said, despite all the pain and tears, she still loved Nick. Ok, he wasn’t the Nick she grew up and fallen in love with, but he was Her Nick, after all.
George was sitting there, listening to his long lost and found again love without a word. He only thought “She loves him still; so what? She doesn’t want to break up with him; so what? This whole thing has to come to an end, and it will!”
In the weeks that followed George visited his friends at their home quite often, but they also came by to see him at the cafeteria. Nick felt really glad that his good old friend was back in town again. “There are so many things that bind us together”, he thought, but he didn’t know that there was also something quite dangerous and explosive in their relationship; something that emotionally kept them miles apart. As for Dawn, she started feeling better with herself. She would smile more often, even laugh. She seemed to have started loving life all over again. But also, she could sense a special feeling growing inside her soul for George. She would feel that he was her most intimate person, her man, somebody that the years didn’t change for the worst. “I’ve started falling in love with him” she would think every now and then and smile to herself.
One day, just before the break of dawn, something happened that would change everything, forever. Nick, was driving home from a neighboring city quite drunk, and at a dangerous curve of the road, he lost control of the car and plunged into a gorge more than two hundred meters deep. In a minute the car caught fire, and that was the end of it; and of him, of course.
George and Dawn mourned for a long time for his untimely death, but of course that fact did not prevent them from going on with their lives. So, three years later, they got married and everyone who knew them would say that they were a couple very well matched; like made in heaven. They would also say, that “George was the man Dawn should have chosen right from beginning!”
They lived a long and happy life, always loving and caring and forgiving. They trusted each other completely and they had no secrets between them… Hmm, to tell you the truth, George had a tiny little secret that he never came to share with Dawn. He had helped Nick, just a bit, to check in to the world of no return by spoiling the breaks of his car. No, Dawn should never find out about that. Besides, he did it for her. For her eyes only!