Reading a James Patterson book is like pointing your skis downhill on an expert slope, pushing off and flying down the mountain out of control unable to stop and loving it.
In Private, Jack Morgan is the owner of “Private Investigations” a multinational firm whose clients include the wealthiest, the most influential and the most powerful and perhaps the most dangerous. He and his firm have discovered and possess secrets that might make huge corporations and even some countries collapse. Jack is suddenly pulled from escorting a Hollywood A-list actress on the red carpet of a big premier to be informed that a friend, former lover and wife of a longtime buddy has been murdered.
He is allowed to aid Los Angeles Police on the case and as a result becomes embroiled with childhood abduction and murder and an NFL scandal. In addition, Morgan is haunted by a stalker who phones him regularly. His firm is also awash with former lovers having affairs with other members of the firm and public officials. Jack is in a serious relationship with his personal assistant and a long time family feud with his twin brother continues, On top of this entire mess Jack anguishes nightly over an incident that happened in Afghanistan while he was a Marine helicopter pilot.
Morgan and his crew use a 5 year old murder case and the 5 year old testimony of an 11 year old girl to solve a series of current childhood abduction and murder cases. Morgan’s Uncle Fred calls on family loyalty to get Jack to investigate some unusual scores and referee calls in the NFL. The NFL investigation gets connected to his friend’s murder and his poking around riles some Las Vegas mobsters. This almost gets Jack killed before he is rescued by his former copilot and colleague Dick Del Rio.
The action is fast paced and the characters are interesting and engaging. I wish however the men were not so damned handsome and fatally attractive to women. Give us normal guys a break Mr. Patterson. Patterson and his co-author Maxine Paetro resolve the situations in a plausible manner and one of Jack’s colleagues puts a period on the solution of the murder of Jack’s friend and former lover.
I’m a fan of Mr. Patterson’s short paragraphs. I believe his awards and accolades are well deserved. Private is another winner in James Patterson‘ long line of successful books.
