''Last Man Standing'' is a

crime thriller Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

novel written by

David Baldacci David Baldacci (born August 5, 1960) is an American novelist. An attorney by education, Baldacci writes mainly suspense novels and legal thrillers. His novels are published in over 45 languages and published in over 80 countries, having sold ove ...

and released on November 6, 2001 by

Warner Books Grand Central Publishing is a book publishing imprint of Hachette Book Group, originally established in 1970 as Warner Books when Kinney National Company acquired the New York City-based Paperback Library. When Time Warner sold their book publis ...

. The novel depicts an ambush on an

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

Hostage Rescue Team The Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) is the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) elite tactical unit. The HRT was formed to provide a full-time federal law enforcement tactical capability to respond to major terrorist incidents throughout the Uni ...

unit and the titular sole survivor's investigation into how it happened and who could be responsible for it. Baldacci acknowledges a number of

technical advisor In film production, a technical advisor is someone who advises the director on the convincing portrayal of a subject. The advisor's expertise adds realism both to the acting and to the setting of a movie. Nipo T. Strongheart Nipo T. Stronghear ...

s for his novel including Chris Whitcomb, a former HRT sniper who was at

Ruby Ridge The Ruby Ridge standoff was the siege of a cabin occupied by the Weaver family in Boundary County, Idaho, in August 1992. On August 21, deputies of the United States Marshals Service (USMS) came to arrest Randy Weaver under a bench warrant fo ...

and

Waco Waco ( ) is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a U.S. census estimated 2024 population of 146,608, making i ...

.Christopher Whitcomb, Cold Zero: inside the FBI Hostage Rescue Team (2001)

Plot

Charlie, a unit of the FBI Hostage Rescue Team led by HRT operator Web London, is deployed to raid a drug hideout in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

As they approach the hideout in a dark alleyway, they are surprised to see a 10-year-old boy. London, the pointman of the operation, suddenly freezes up and falls over, watching helplessly as the rest of Charlie is killed in the raid. London is the only survivor of the botched raid. Now mentally and physically scarred by the incident and distrusted by the FBI, London aims to prove his innocence and attempt to understand what happened in the alleyway. Taking up a post at a horse ranch in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, London begins a two-pronged investigation: an external investigation to seek whoever set Charlie up, and an internal investigation where he delves into his painful past with psychiatrist Claire Daniels. The key seems to be the boy from the alley. After Charlie was killed, London gave the boy a note to warn the backup team of the ambush; however, the FBI lost the boy before being able to question him. Also missing is the undercover agent that provided the information on the hideout. London finds a connection between the ambush and the seemingly separate killings of a judge, a prosecutor, and a defense counsel, and learns that a cult leader he arrested in a prior standoff seems to be back for revenge. Meanwhile, drug empire kingpin Francis Westbrook also begins to investigate the ambush, having owned but never used the hideout from the raid. Westbrook aims to find the boy from the alley, revealed to be his brother, while also attempting to find a traitor within his ranks.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Last Man Standing (Novel) 2001 American novels American crime novels American thriller novels Novels about the Federal Bureau of Investigation Novels by David Baldacci Novels set in Virginia Novels set in Washington, D.C. Warner Books books it:L'ultimo eroe