In this the ninth in the “Private” series, Patterson and Paetro have brought together a smorgasbord of plots to delight and confuse the reader.
Jack Morgan, CEO of international Private Investigations is tipped off that Two Middle Eastern diplomats to the United Nations – and serial rapists – are busy raping two women in their hotel room after drugging them.
He calls it in the LAPD and Captain Luke Warren and six men break down the door and find two women drowsy and tied up in what the envoys claim is a consensual sex act but appears as the most sadistic scene the veteran cop has ever witnessed.
When the rapists are arrested they claim diplomatic immunity and Warren has to watch as they giggle like schoolboys and walk free.
Then they move on to Las Vegas, city of sin and fresh hunting grounds.
Suddenly Morgan’s car is blown up outside his home and he suspects that behind the explosion is his twin brother who is determined to destroy him at whatever cost.
Meanwhile Lester Olsen’s business is teaching gorgeous women how to land a rich husband and then, eventually, to kill him.
Until one of the femme fatales latches on a client of Jack Morgan’s who murders her “in self-defense” and calls Jack to clean up the mess.
Oh, and then there is Jack’s best friend, Rick del Rio, who is accused of beating his ex-girlfriend to death and looks to be guilty.
Convoluted? Yes, but it all ties together.
As does the recurring cameo of Lori Kimball, whose mantra is “No brakes, no horn and beat the best time by 10 seconds every day” as she drives home from work.
This is a book that might lose you sleep as you try to finish it.
