Well, over half term, I read the book Private by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. I have to say, it was a thoroughly enjoyable read, and kept me entertained during the boring days of being home alone. The story was a very thorough, very well thought through one, however, in some parts, it does feel like your reading the second book in the series, and you haven't read the first. It followed two main characters, Jack Morgan, an ex US Marine, and Justine Smith, one of the psycologists at the New York Police Department. It shows 3 different cases, and how the team of 5 at Private sort them out. With a pretty amazing prologue, it's a well thought storyline! The language was adult, as most of James Pattersons language tends to be, and was aimed at older audiences.The characters were well thought out, and Patterson gave them an obviously complex background history. Alot of Jack Morgan's story did actually revolve around his history in the marines, and his dreams revolve around the mistake he made at the beginning, making the image Patterson gives to you in the prologue a lot clearer. Also, having almost stereotypical characters, eg. one of the characters was a computer nerd, something which every police department "needs", and it's very stereotypically geeky. He does very well at doing this. Next, Patterson tackles the themes of teenage grooming, illegal sport fixing, murder and teenage murder chain- much like the news stories today! I think overall, throughout the themes, he is trying to say that not all things are completely free of crime, and there are corrupt people everywhere you turn. It's set throughout America, because the two other agents go all over America to find the facts about the NFL gambling scare, and the prologue is set in Afghanistan. The author spent about 2 pages describing Afghanistan and the bullets flying past your head. You almost feel like your there. So overall, I would give this book about 8 1/2 out of 10. It's good for a half term read, but it won't make you want to read more James Patterson, it's sort of a book to say "I'm Still Here!".
UPDATE: Private London is the sequel to James Patterson's Private, and is coming out in June 2011. Go to
And again, if you want to find out more about the author, go to:
