Review
“Patterson never, and I mean never, disappoints.” (USA TODAY Larry King )

“James Patterson is king of the bestseller hill.” (Publishers Weekly )

“Patterson has mastered the art of writing page-turning bestsellers.” (Chicago Sun-Times )

“The Man Who Can’t Miss.” (Time Lev Grossman )

“When it comes to construction a harrowing plot, author James Patterson can turn a screw all right.” (New York Daily News )

“America‘s #1 storyteller.” (Forbes )

About the Author
James Patterson published his first thriller in 1976 and since then has become one of the best-known and bestselling writers of all time, with more than 160 million copies of his books sold worldwide. He is the author of the two most popular detective series of the past decade, featuring Alex Cross and the Women’s Murder Club, and he has written numerous other #1 bestsellers. He has won an Edgar Award–the mystery world’s highest honor–and his novels Kiss the Girls and Along Came aSpider were made into feature films starring Morgan Freeman. His website, www.ReadKiddoRead.com, lists the very best books for kids–titles that kids will gobble up and ask for more. He lives in Florida.

Maxine Paetro is a novelist and journalist. She lives with her husband in New York.

Customer Reviews

An actual review of the book – not the price
I read this via audio book and honestly, it was NOT the best Patterson book. As a matter of fact, if that had been my first Patterson book, I wouldn’t have gone back for more. The book is basically broken into 3 parts.

The first third we are treated to horrendous descriptions of rape, torture and decapitation. Much too graphic and much too disgusting for just casual reading. The killer is pretty good because he’s so rutheless, but some of the people that end up killed are just so unexpected and seem like we wasted time getting to know them only to have them murdered within the first third of the book.

The second third of the book is a cat and mouse type situation between the killer and the novelist.

The final third is more cat and mouse between the killer, the novelist and an underground group. And then *POOF* its all wrapped up in a neat little bow and its done. The ending was such a cop-out I was shocked. I kept thinking that maybe I didn’t have the complete audio book because as I was nearing the end so much was still going on and still unanswered. But of course, the epilogue wrapped it all up and stuffed it in a box.

So I suffered through the must vile descriptions of murder and barely anything really happened and then it was over. I was disappointed, to say the least.

Murder, She (and He) Wrote
Quite possibly, you’ll see this book next to a towel and sunscreen. You’ll see someone on a chaise lounge with a cold drink nearby. And they’ll be reading this book at poolside or on a stretch of beach.

They’ll be reading about Henri Benoit, master of disguise and master of disaster, one of the most sinister characters in contemporary fiction. He murders people due to a vicious inner compulsion and for the big bucks his super-rich clients pay him. These clients enjoy watching people who are brutalized and murdered. Henri films his murders and disseminates the film via the Internet.

The book has a lot of graphically described lust. A lot of graphically described violence. There’s crude language. The authors, James Patterson and Maxine Paetro, set much of the story in exclusive hotels. Fine wine, fine food; and, often, rotten people.

The plot spins off of the kidnapping of a beautiful young swimsuit model who has journeyed to Hawaii for a photo shoot. Her fate and the frantic fears of her parents launch the tale.

It’s certainly a quick read. The prose flows very well, particularly the bit set in the trailer in the middle of the forbidding Joshua Tree National Park. It took me about ten hours of fairly concentrated reading to finish the novel.

Some of it is goofy. Much of it doesn’t make a lot of sense: an L.A. Times reporter/failing novelist/fired cop is coerced to put together a soulless killer’s autobiography. Sure….

But I don’t think people will buy this book because they want a scholarly treatise on the criminal mind. People who buy this book are not looking for airtight logic. They want a little escape. Readers get to go to Hawaii, Paris, Amsterdam, and the Swiss Alps. Eat exotic food with names they can’t pronounce. That sort of thing.

Why Did I Bother?
I must preface this review by saying that I have read every book by James Patterson. Some were really good ie Along Came a Spider and Sail some were OK ie like Beach Road and The Jericho Commandment, some were even sweet ie Sam’s Letters to Jennifer and Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas and then there are some all time bombs like The Jester and SWIMSUIT. Now, I must also say that I am from a generation of readers who were taught and then expected to finish every book they begin BUT I got over that a long time ago and thank goodness I did.

Now, a funny thing happened to me on the way to reading this book. To begin with I was in the midst of reading another book when I was notified by the library that this reserved book was waiting for me. I immediately put down the other book, ran to the library and began reading Swimsuit last night. It doesn’t take much to get into Patterson’s books and I managed to finish 100 pages before going to sleep. This morning I woke up to this niggling family that something was not all together right in my reading world. I thought about this a bit and then finally admitted to myself that I was terribly BORED with this title. Gratutitous violence, poorly presented characters and a plot which goes round and round is hardly ever my thing and I was beginning to think about closing this title. But I must also admit that I suffer from reader’s guilt and wasn’t ready to throw in the towel quite yet so I decided to do something I rarely do until I finish a book and that was to read some of the reviews and I found myself agreeing with the reviews and have now invoked a reader’s right to close the book and return it to the library.

Now, I’m not about to give up on Mr. Patterson. As a matter of fact, just the other night, I reserved a slew of his future titles (for the most part I rally inhale the Alex Cross books), but I also am hoping that perhaps Mr. Patterson writes fewer titles, perhaps he writes them by himself and there is a quick return to good characters and exciting themes.

Finally, I find it really unfair for reviwers to complain about Amazon and the prices of the Kindle version of books. The reviews area of Amazon is eactly that, an area where readers can not only review books but read other reviews. It really quite unfair for readers eager for a review to plough through these reviews to find so many one star reviews which have almost nothing or little to do with the books themselves.

And now I will return to the book I was previously reading and hope I continue to enjoy this title, Shadows Still Remain by Peter deJonge, who ironically co-authored The Beach House with James Patterson.