Private
by James Patterson, Maxine Paetro
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Book Summary Information
Author: James Patterson, Maxine PaetroEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2010-06-28
ISBN: 0316096156
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Product features:
- Fir
Book Reviews of Private
Book Review: A highly readable and entertaining experience
Summary: 5 Stars
Let me begin by stating that I love the concept behind this first installment in a new series by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. Besides being the title of the book, Private is the name of a wildly successful private investigation agency that is privy to the secrets of the rich and/or famous and exposing the guilt of the sick and/or sleazy.
Private Investigations is headed by a second-generation investigator named Jack Morgan, a former CIA agent/soldier and a ladies man who is not afraid to dip his pen in the office ink, among other places. He also has commitment issues, and appears to be suffering from some undiagnosed and untreated post traumatic stress disorder as the result of an incident during the Afghanistan War. Accordingly, anyone picking up this book can look forward to violence, romance, sex, and --- a Patterson trademark --- a very unique villain. Or two. And that is not even counting Jack's good-for-less-than-nothing twin brother.
Obviously, there is a lot going on in PRIVATE. Let us first go back to the concept that I mentioned initially before we go any further with what else you will find here. Patterson and Paetro's volume launches the series in the United States. Meanwhile, thriller authors overseas will be writing their own versions of the series, with PRIVATE LONDON by Mark Pearson being published in approximately nine months, and others to follow in writing PRIVATE ROME, PRIVATE AUSTRALIA and PRIVATE AMSTERDAM. Hopefully these titles will be available here as well, opening the work of the writers selected to an American audience that may have only a passing or limited familiarity with their work. I don't see a downside to that at all.
Patterson and Paetro, as with their Women's Murder Club series, don't lose much time setting things up as Private Investigations finds itself immersed in three cases. The one that is most significant to Morgan involves the murder of Shelby Cushman. Shelby and Morgan had an intimate history, and following their involvement she married Jack's best friend. Her murder is a mystery at its core: everyone liked her, and she had no enemies. Who would want to kill her?
Private Investigation's involvement in the second case is at the request of the Chief of the LAPD. For two years the Los Angeles area has been reeling from a series of murders known as the Schoolgirl Killings, in which high school girls have been abducted and executed. The killer seems to have access to their most intimate secrets and knowledge of their friends and habits. Private Investigations has the scientific wherewithal to painstakingly unravel the puzzle, though it is ultimately a young witness to an earlier crime who puts Morgan's investigations on the right path. They encounter a major problem, however: knowing is not the same as proving.
Morgan's third case comes at the request of his uncle, who numbers among his friends the owners of two professional football teams. Someone appears to be fixing game results, for reasons of their own. But how are they doing it? And why? The search for answers puts the team on a somewhat twisted trail, one that indirectly provides a solution to one of the other cases.
PRIVATE mixes action, mystery and personal drama to create a highly readable and entertaining experience. If this first volume is any indication, Patterson and Paetro may well be on their way to rivaling --- and possibly surpassing --- the popularity of their Women's Murder Club series.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Summary of Private
The police can't help youFormer CIA agent Jack Morgan runs Private, a renowned investigation company with branches around the globe. It is where you go when you need maximum force and maximum discretion. The secrets of the most influential men and women on the planet come to Jack daily--and his staff of investigators uses the world's most advanced forensic tools to make and break their cases.
The press will destroy you
Jack is already deep into the investigation of a multi-million dollar NFL gambling scandal and the unsolved slayings of 18 schoolgirls when he learns of a horrific murder close to home: his best friend's wife, Jack's former lover, has been killed. It nearly pushes him over the edge. Instead, Jack pushes back and devotes all of Private's resources to tracking down her killer.
Only one place to turn: Private
But Jack doesn't have to play by the rules. As he closes in on the killer and chooses between revenge and justice, Morgan has to navigate a workplace love affair that threatens to blow the roof off his plans. With a plot that moves at death-defying speeds, Private is James Patterson sleekest, most exciting thriller ever.
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