The Jester
by
Patterson_James
Book Review-Three-Woman-Disappear
Three Woman Disappear
by
James Patterson
*****
Many years ago I was a James Paterson fan; however it is only about one in seven books that rate a four star rating during the past 5 years. Three Women Disappear is no exception.
An accountant (Anthony) with connections to organised crime is stabbed in his own kitchen. Three women (his wife, Anna; his maid, Serena; and his personal chef, Sarah) were in the house at the time and all three fled the scene as all three had a motive for wanting him dead.
Sara is married to Sean, the homicide detective investigating the murder. Sean is a bad husband and a good cop.
I will concede that I listened to Three Woman Disappear while working on my computer…the same as I do with many of my books. However, I still couldn’t follow the storyline and cannot tell you whether the story was about all three women travelling together, or whether it was each individuals’ story.
By comparison, Come and Get Us, a bonus story included with the Three Women Disappear recording, was far easier to listen to and follow.
I have rated
Three Woman Disappear
as a
audiobook/read.
***
At the time of writing my review
other Goodreads readers had awarded
Three Woman Disappear
an average of 3.62 stars
from 6,009 ratings
and 434 reviews.
***
Three Woman Disappear
can be purchased online at
Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon
Book Review-Come-and-Get-Us
Come and Get Us
by
James Patterson
*****
Come and Get Us was/is the bonus story included with the audiobook, Three Women Disappear.
Come and Get Us had me intrigued right from the first chapter. A family being chased along a mountain road by persons unknown.
From there on it is one long chase with Mum featuring in all chases. It is an action-packed storyline. She was the driver of a vehicle that was run off a mountain road.
She then abandoned her daughter and husband in order to reach help. Was found by the bad guys and chased again.
Come and Get Us was the bonus story and easier to follow than Three Women Disappear. Both were used as background stories while working on my computer.
Come and Get Us may be found online as a standalone book or it may be the bonus story included with Three Women Disappear
I have rated
Come and Get Us
as a
read.
***
At the time of writing my review
other Goodreads readers had awarded
Come and Get Us
an average of 3.63 stars
from 4,149 ratings
and 336reviews.
***
Come and Get Us
can be purchased online at
Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon
Book Review-Haunted
Haunted
by
James Patterson
and
James O. Born
*****
Haunted was my second James Patterson read for 2021 and a puzzling one into the bargain. However, it was the usual quick read with short sharp chapters. As with many of Patterson’s books, it was enjoyable, but not really memorable.
Detective Mike Bennett gets to know the law from the other side after his fifteen-year-old is convicted on serious drug charges and the judge decided to make an example of him, putting him in prison for far longer than expected.
After seeing his son off to prison Mike realises that time with one’s children is precious and he and his tribe decide on a family vacation in Maine, where a former female colleague works. He has barely arrived when his former colleague is at his back door begging for help to solve one of many cases of youth disappearances in the area. Agreeing to help with one case leads to another and another when it becomes apparent that drugs are involved in each disappearance.
Finally, I wish I was paid ten cents for every time the word ‘said’ was used. Not one character commented, asked, replied, mentioned or answered. There are so many synonyms for ‘said’ all of which make written dialogue much more interesting.
Unfortunately, the authors of this novel are not the only ones I find guilty of lazy writing. Using ‘said’….all the time!
I have rated
Haunted
as a
read.
***
At the time of writing my review
other Goodreads readers had awarded
Haunted
an average of 3.99 stars
from 14,927 ratings
and 1,015 reviews.
***
Haunted
can be purchased on-line at
Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon
Book Review-Liar-Liar
Liar Liar
by
James Patterson
and
Candice Fox
*****
Co-authored by Candice Fox, James Patterson’s Liar, Liar, features Detective Harriet Blue who is bent on avenging the death of her brother, Sam. In Blue’s mind the death of serial killer and nemesis Regan Banks was the only way to avenge Sam’s death. She chases, or rather follows Banks’ instructions as he directs her movements around Sydney, prior to a rather uninspiring finale. With all murder mysteries there are the usual expected and unexpected twists in Liar Liar
As with Fifty, Fifty, narrator, Federay Holmes, did not in my opinion, contribute to a positive audio experience with her Liar Liar narration. All her character voices sounded tired and disinterested in their part of the investigation. Not only disinterested but all had very similar voices and it was difficult to keep track of who was actually talking and whether they were angry or happy.
As you can guess Federay Holmes is not my favourite narrator, which is at odds with my wife who thinks she has a great voice for these books.
I have rated
Liar Liar
as a
audio book.
***
At the time of writing my review
other Goodreads readers had awarded
Liar Liar
an average of 3.86 stars
from 8,182 ratings
and 703 reviews.
***
Liar Liar
can be purchased on-line at
Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon
Book-Review-1st-Case
1st Case
by
James Patterson
James Patterson’s 1st Case, featuring Angela Hoot who is a young IT genius who was asked to leave Massachusetts Institute of Technology after hacking into some computers within the MIT network.
Naturally Angela is despondent and is concerned she will no longer be employable. Luckily, as is often the case with hackers, she is offered an internship with the FBI. Soon finding herself thrown into her first case, a suburban family of five brutally murdered
Angela soon realises that her hacking skills are no longer to be used frivolously, people are relying on her to hack into to any piece of technology found at or near a crime scene and actually help solve crimes. The question is; can Angela hack into and help solve crimes?
As usual Patterson’s books move along at a nice pace ad 1st Case was no exception. Narrator, Brittany Pressley, did an excellent job of narrating 1st Case.
I have rated
1st Case
as a solid 
read.
~~~
At the time of writing my review
other Goodreads readers had awarded
1st Case
an average of 4.00 stars
from 6,186 ratings
and 528 reviews.
~~~
1st Case
can be purchased on-line at
Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon
Book Review-Private-#1-Suspect
Private #1 Suspect
by
James Patterson
and
Maxine Paetro
Private #1 Suspect was my first James Patterson book this year. Although I have in the past questioned the amount of input Patterson has in his collaboratively authored books, I still enjoy them. Private #1 Suspect was no exception to this. Short sharp chapters made for easy reading, particularly if, like me, you like to ‘finished a chapter’ before turning out the light.
Jack who owns Private Investigations arrives home, showers goes to his room only to find an old flame (Colleen) murdered in his bed. In the eye of the police, along with some of Colleen’s friends, Jack is guilty of her murder. And Jack has his own suspect.
While trying to clear his name there are murders at a hotel chain to solve. A member of the mob asks for Jack’s help. The fact that there is more than one story and complication woven into Private #1 Suspect enhances the story. James Patterson fans will fall in love with Private #1 Suspect.
Other Goodreads readers have awarded Private #1 Suspect an average of 3.96 stars from 20,046 reviews and 1,084 ratings.
I have rated
Private #1 Suspect
as a solid read.
Private #1 Suspect
can be purchased on-line at
Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon
Book Review-The-Store
The Store
by
James Patterson
&
Richard DiLallo
The Store is about a huge online store which delivers your heart’s desire to your back door…for a price of course.
Nearly unemployed writers Jacob and Meagan decide to go undercover and work for The Store while digging up its secrets to include in a new book.
They move from New York to a small town, in rural America, where The Store’s main office/warehouse is located. They are, upon arrival, greeted by name by residents of the town who are all total strangers. This unnerves both of them.
Upon moving in to their home, provided by The Store, they discover it is contains many surveillance cameras which they remove. The next day the cameras are replaced even though their house was locked when they left for the day. And that sets the scene for The Store.
While reading The Store all I could think of was some of today’s online stores which, to my knowledge, have no physical presence. Were the authors making inferences? Or is it my furtive imagination?
I rated
The Store
as a
read.
At the time of writing my review,
other Goodreads readers
had awarded
The Store
an average of 3.25 stars
from 8,526 ratings and 1,204 reviews.
The Store
can be purchased on-line at
Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon
Book Review-Bullseye
Bullseye
by
James Patterson
&
Michael Ledwidge
Bullseye is set in New York and Washington DC and tells of how an assassin attempted to kill the American president. The topic was fascinating, however the dialogue writing could have been written by a primary school child. The authors, apparently, do not have any other word than ‘said’ to describe utterances emanating from the human vocal chords.
Asked, commented, exclaimed, grumbled, muttered, shouted, laughed, giggled, scolded, shouted are but a few of the adjectives which could have been used during dialogue. However, again readers were subjected to “He said”, “I said” over and over again.
Again I query just how much input James Patterson has in these supposedly collaboratively written books bearing his name. The above, coupled with the hard voice of the narrator combined to reduce my interest in Bullseye.
That said, Bullseye was worth listening to even if to hear how an assassin may have gone about planning the assassination of the U.S. President and how the secret service put into place plans to foil such a deed.
One day I must reread one, or some of his early novels, written solely by J. Patterson to compare writing styles.
I rated
Bullseye
as aread.
Bullseye
can be purchased on-line at
Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon
At the time of writing my review,
June 08, 2019, other Goodreads readers
had awarded
Bullseye
an average of 3.89 stars
from 10,928 ratings and 753 reviews.
Book Review-Fifty-Fifty
Fifty-Fifty
by
James Patterson
&
Candice Fox
WoollyMuses 