PRIVATE BY JAMES PATTERSON

Title: Private
Author: James Patterson
Genre: Crime Drama
Rating: * * * 1/2
Publishers: Little, Brown and Co (6/28/10 )
Hardback: 400 pages
ISBN: 0316096156
FTC Disclosure: Paperbackswap


Former Marine and CIA agent Jack Morgan inherits his father's renowned security and detective business--along with a case load that tests him to the breaking point. Getting to the bottom of an NFL gambling scandal and an unsolved LAPD investigation into 18 school girl slayings would be enough. On top of all that, Morgan takes on solving the horrific murder of his best friend's wife.

As Morgan fights the urge to exact brutal revenge on that killer, he has to navigate a workplace imbroglio that could blow the roof off his elite agency. And it's an especially explosive situation . . . because the love affair is his own.


 While admittedly I've been a little disappointed in the last few Patterson books I've read and while this wasn't one of those that I rambled on and on about how great or how crappy it was to my friends, I did enjoy it. It was a good read just not awesome. It wasn't one of those that you read from start to finish in one seating but I did enjoy the fast paced action and the multiple cases going on,  though they did seem to wrap up rather effortlessly. Not much in the way of a twisted surprise ending either.  
I try not to  get hung up on the fact that it is a JAMES PATTERSON book but admittedly I  do enjoy his older Alex Cross books, that weren't co-authored much better. I've been wanting to read his Women's Murder Club series but as I loved the TV show and these are co-authored books, I thought I'd leave it till the show fades a bit more from my memory. Once reading a series I kinda have a picture in my mind of the characters and don't want to mess with the Lindsey Boxer image. Alex Cross will always be Morgan Freeman to me which probably ramps up the expectations on any of the books in this series.
That said, one thing about Patterson, he sells a hella of a lot of books, so I'll continue to pick them up used on a swap site rather than buying new at over $20 a pop. 

Series Info

Jack Morgan (with Maxine Paetro)

1. Private (2010)

2. Private: #1 Suspect (2012)

Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson

Title: Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas

Author: James Patterson

Genre: Drival

Rating: ¼*

Publishers Date: April 29, 2002

Paperback: 272  pages

Publisher: Grand Central

ISBN: 0446679593

FTC Disclosure: Borrowed (thank goodness)

I’d give this book the Thumper Award but I actually finished it so I guess I’m forced to state my feelings for it. Pathetically thin plot, I’d figured it out by the end of the second chapter. Oh, and the red herring he used to boost the suspense, the extra Matt, pit-tee-ful, absolutely pitiful. Was this book a poke at the Nicholas Sparks novels (the ill-fated love, North Carolina, beaches, a tear jerker)? If so it failed miserably. I’m sorry not a tear shed unless for the waste of my time, and I cry when I watch reruns of the Walton’s and little House on the Prairie even the reruns that I’ve seen a gazillion times. This book was a smack in the face to lovers of Patterson’s novels. And I’ve read them all, from the murder mysteries to the YA books, page turners that made his books an auto buy for me. Not so anymore, JP. All I can say is I doubt JP put much more time in the writing of this book than I did the reading of it and I bet he’s laughing all the way to the bank. Luckily, this book was lent to me so I can’t complain about the money spent on it, only the time. I actually am quite surprised at how strongly I feel about this book. It totally offends me as a woman and a reader. Oh, and I heard it compared to the “paper-thin story better suited for Mills and Boon type authors”- are you f*** kidding, they have much higher expectations of their writers than this drivel. Normally, I’d probably wait a day or two before posting a negative review of this magnitude (usually I’ll at least sleep on it) but after realizing that at least a third of the Amazon reviewers felt the same way, nah I can’t see it getting any better. The cover was pretty though.