Another riveting read, yet predicatable from Patterson
When you read a James Patterson novel, you know exactly what you are getting - plenty of predictable thrills, twists and suspense. Don't expect anything else.
riaane@caxton.co.za
Reviewer: Riaan Engelbrecht
Book: NYPD Red 2
Author: James Patterson, Marshall Karp
Publisher: Little, Brown and Co.
Rating: More exhilarating literary junk food!
Patterson has, over the years, done a great job of choosing his co-authors, and in the latest offering in the NYPD series, he teams up with best-selling author Marshall Karp. Both are already hard at work at producing NYPD 3.
However, a critique of Patterson’s publishing franchises is that they represent the literary equivalent of junk food – brilliantly marketed, hastily consumed, but void of much literary nutrition.
After all, it is rumoured that Patterson supposedly creates the stories and plots, but then turns them over to his co-author, only returning to the “scene” for the final edit.
Whatever the case, Patterson has found a method that works, judging by the rate at which the books are spewed out.
Even though one is, therefore, left literary malnourished, NYPD Red 2 still packs a punch for those seeking a thrill ride and, because of the easy style of writing, you will be swept away by another Patterson thriller.
NYPD Red is known as the protectors of the rich, famous, and connected, as it is seen as the elite task force called in only for New York City’s most high-profile crimes.
Part of the unit are Detective Zach Jordan and his partner, Detective Kylie MacDonald, the woman who broke his heart when they first met in the academy.
But even with their top-notch training, Zach and Kylie aren’t prepared for what they see when they’re called to a crime scene in the heart of Central Park.
They arrive to find a carousel spinning round and round, its painted horses grinning eerily in the early morning dark.
They find a slaughtered woman, her body tied up and dressed in a Hazmat suit.
The victim is Evelyn Parker-Steele, a well-connected NYC woman, who is also the campaign manager for mayoral candidate Muriel Sykes.
She is also a woman of vast wealth, and the fourth in a string of shocking murders that have hit the city.
Zach and Kylie find themselves in a tough investigation, trying to find out what’s really behind the murderer’s rampage that will take them deep into the psyche of a depraved killer.
– @BoksgurgED
