Product Description

A new blockbuster from the bestselling creator of Alex Cross. 'James Patterson does everything but stick our finger in a light socket' New York Times.ross.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #695872 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07-22
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

Synopsis
Jack Mullen's life is working out perfectly. A Harvard law student, he's loving his summer job in a Boston law firm, and the weekends spent at Martha's Vineyard. Until he arrives home, and his father greets him with the news that his brother, Peter, is dead. The police believe Peter committed suicide, but Jack senses a darker, dangerous truth, and is determined to bring a killer to justice...

About the Author
James Patterson's previous international number one bestsellers include ALONG CAME A SPIDER, KISS THE GIRLS, JACK AND JILL, CAT AND MOUSE, WHEN THE WIND BLOWS, POP GOES THE WEASEL, CRADLE AND ALL, ROSES ARE RED, 1ST TO DIE, and his most recent, VIOLETS ARE BLUE. KISS THE GIRLS was filmed by Paramount Pictures and became a number one hit movie, and the film version of ALONG CAME A SPIDER was released in 2001.
Peter de Jonge wrote A MIRACLE ON THE 17TH GREEN with James Patterson.

Customer Reviews

Fair to middling
I am a bit undecided on this book. For starters, it tends to be a bit short. The writing is thin and the plot is a bit underdeveloped, as are the characters. they are not really indivdual (apart form the dead man) and if they didnt have names, you could hardly tell the apart. There are the "good" guys and the "bad" guys, all sharing the same traits as being epitomised of both those states of moralism.

However, its exciting and very fast paced. Its original, but stereotypical in its "rich" people are bad, so the poor downtrodden working-classes are quitissentialy good.

Something in the style didnt quite sit right, either. the writing style is as underdeveloped and poor as ever, but it didnt feel like Patterson. I have a feeling that de Jonge had quite a large hand in the writing (if not the plotting) of this book. Speaking of plotting...its exciting yes, but there werent really so many twists as we come to expect, and hardly any of the chapter end in the cliffhanging style we are used to. They just sort of stop, as if to chapter break anywhere would do, as long as the chapters end up short. (And in this novel, the chapters are getting a little TOO short. Too short and they halt development of plot or character.)

The ending was really exciting and totally unexpected, original but completely unbelieveable. Melodramatic and over the top, but still holds the attention of the reader, and still remains enjoyable until the last.

This is not a great Patterson, but for his fans, its probably average. Decidedly so. It's a good Beach read for those who have a couple of hours to fill and dont want too much lit-crit material to concentrate over, and it passes quite quickly.