Review: Missing

Missing by James Patterson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

After the last two "Private" books included Jack Morgan as a main character in his overseas offices, this one is back to being more of a standalone as Jack's involvement is pretty much limited to calling Craig Guisto at the Sydney office and asking him to look into the disappearance of long-time client and friend Eliza Moss's missing father, Eric.

Businessman Moss is not the only Private client involved in a disappearance, however. After Craig reluctantly agrees to perform a background check at the request of a walk-in client on a woman they are considering to be a surrogate mother, not only does the surrogate go missing, so does the infant she is babysitting at the time. But when her body is found, she is not the same woman the clients met with in hopes of realizing their dreams of parenthood.

I admit I didn't pay as close of attention to this one as I did some of the others. I just don't find the books without Jack and his L.A. team to be as interesting, even though these characters were previously introduced in the other book set in Australia. I actually had to listen to the last half hour twice and I'm still not entirely sure what exactly happened. It wasn't a complicated plot twist by any means, I just missed something I didn't care enough to go back and figure out.

I did laugh at the beginning when Craig wondered to himself just how good of a "friend" Eliza was to Jack. Jack is quite the ladies man after all! The animosity between Craig and his cousin, police chief Mark, was back but at least it was acknowledged that Craig didn't know why Mark wasn't happy with him this time (because it's a requirement the head of Private and the head of police hate each other, usually due to the untimely death of someone). And this one didn't repeat a previously used story line, so bonus points there.


(This book is also published under the name "Private: Sydney").

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Review: Skeletons in the Closet

Skeletons in the Closet by Jennifer L. Hart
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 I got this book for free on Book Bub. Generally, I find their offerings to be hit and miss, but I liked this one so much I ordered the box set of the first four books from Amazon and am trying to find a paper version to send to my non-Kindle using mother as I think she would enjoy it as well.

Maggie Phillips is married to a gorgeous retired Navy SEAL and helping to raise his two sons from his first marriage in small town Massachusetts, having relocated upon Neil's retirement from the SEALS. She's happy in her marriage but admittedly wouldn't mind getting out of the house more during the day when everyone is gone. While attending a dinner party, Maggie's best friend "helps" her get a job cleaning the house of the soiree's well-to-do hosts, the Klines. Maggie reluctantly takes the job and ends up the alibi of Mr. Kline after Mrs. Kline is found murdered. Even more reluctantly, Maggie agrees to take on MORE clients as an undercover CI to help the lead detective on the case solve it.

I really enjoyed the character of Maggie and could relate, perhaps a little too well, to the scrapes she found herself in, as well as her sense of humor and sarcasm as she made her way through everyday life. I guessed early on who I thought the killer was going to end up being only to be wrong - as another reviewer said - it was not who you would expect! So that was a nice twist.

I felt the interactions Maggie had with her family were all too real - the characters in this book definitely had human flaws - but I couldn't help but like them. The Phillips seem like people I would want to be friends with.

I did notice a few editing errors, but they weren't bad enough to detract from the overall book, and I did feel it needed to be explained more as to how Maggie came to be "Mom" to Kenny and Josh - is Neil divorced or widowed? Maggie being the only mom the boys knows would imply widowed, but a comment during a fight implied divorced. However, apparently there is a prequel to this book that explains all that. I did find it a bit far-fetched that a housewife would find herself in the middle of a murder investigation in an investigating role, but if Joanne Fluke's cookie baking Hannah Swenson can play cop, why not?

Overall, a fun, quick read with a likable cast of main characters who I am looking forward to visiting again.

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Review: 16th Seduction

16th Seduction by James Patterson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It's been awhile since I read one of these books. I needed a quick read to catch up on my reading challenge for the year and in that respect this one did not disappoint!

Lindsay and estranged husband Joe are enjoying a dinner date when the nearby Sci-Tron building explodes. Among the first law enforcement personnel on the scene, Lindsay is shocked when one of the bystanders confesses to the crime. But, of course, the open and shut case ends up being anything but when it comes time for the trial. At the same time this is going on, Lindsay's best friend, Chief Medical Examiner, Claire realizes what appears to be a couple of heart attack victims actually appear to be murder victims. Though unrelated, as the trial drags on, the body count continues to pile up, putting the WMC into overdrive to solve the two cases - and save Lindsay's job in the process.

I enjoyed revisiting old friends. As I said, it has been awhile so I did forget a few details from the last couple of books, so I was glad for the recaps along the way. Because the case should have been open and shut, however, the story focused more on the ladies individually vs their working together as a whole for most of the book. I was surprised, however, when Lindsay missed a clue that she would ultimately end up landing on to blow one of the cases open. The plot line of how the "heart attack" victims were being murdered was interesting as there was really no rhyme or reason to how they were chosen and because the reader knows fairly early on who the murderer is and how he is getting away with it. Coincidental or intentional, being a long-time Washington resident, I loved that one of the victims was identified as having been from Spokane and her last name was one of Spokane's major streets.

I didn't pick this up for literary greatness so I wasn't expecting any. It was a great way to escape from day-to-day life for a few hours, however, and get one book closer to finishing my 2019 challenge!

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Review: Private Rio

Private Rio by James Patterson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book takes place right after "Private Paris" ended but reading "Paris" first isn't necessary: "Paris" ends with Jack preparing to return to L.A. but getting a call from his office telling him his presence is requested in Rio.

The 2016 Olympic games are coming up and Private has been hired to ensure their safety. It has been requested that Jack personally oversee things. Hence, the diversion from Paris. The book then goes into a back story about the 2014 World Cup and how two young children died of a mysterious virus, called Hydra, and also introduces us to Rio's head of office, Tavia, Jack's love interest for this one. The secondary plot is the kidnapping of teenage twin girls, whose parents are also Private clients, who are in Rio doing missionary work under assumed names.

Okay, my biggest beef with this book is that the way I read it, it implies Justine and Tavia are the only employees with whom Jack has ever had a romantic relationship. Um, hello? What about Colleen, the former employee Jack came home from a business trip to find murdered in his bed - the premise for the second book of this series? Though I'm guessing what Sullivan meant, since he wrote that book too, is that Jack vowed not the date another employee after he and Justine broke up for the umpteenth time and Justine moved on.

Also disappointing was the repeat of the "abducted child to get to daddy" plot line. And the token widower; seriously, what is it with this series and widowed characters?! (At least it wasn't Tavia so points there).

Despite those gripes, I did feel this was a pretty good book overall. I liked that even though it didn't take place in L.A., once again Jack was prominently featured and the staff from the L.A. office was brought in as well, making this one, like "Paris" seem part of the series instead of stand alone. The pace was good, though it felt more emphasis was put on finding the twins than securing the games, which made the subtitle feel off.* It was pretty obvious early on why the history lesson involving hydra happened and how that was going to tie into the games. Once the kidnapping was resolved, the climax of the hydra story was pretty riveting - at one point I even found myself yelling "You're not helping, Justine!!" to my thankfully otherwise empty car. And I did appreciate the nod to the London games, which Private also provided security for, not going smoothly - another plot line repeated but at least that was acknowledged!

*The version my library has is "The Games," not "Rio."

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Review: Private Paris

Private Paris by James Patterson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While in Europe, Private owner Jack Morgan decides to make a quick visit to the Paris office to say hello to his old friend and Paris office head, Louis Langlois, before heading back to Los Angeles. His "vacation" is cut short when Louis receives a call from Sherman Wilkerson, one of Private's oldest clients, who has received a frantic message from his granddaughter who is living abroad in Paris. Sherman is afraid something has happened to her and needs Private's help to find her and return her safely to Los Angeles.

Jack and Louis are on the case when Paris's elite start to die - murdered in ways that have to do with their line of work, with a group called "AB16" taking credit for the deaths. Naturally, the police don't want Private to be involved, but since pretty much anyone with money is or was a client of Private, Jack and Louis pretty much just ignore this and do their own thing until the local authorities begrudgingly admit they need Private's help.

The things I liked about this book: though it's not set in L.A., Jack was a main character, making it feel more cohesive to the series rather than a stand alone like the rest of the non-L.A. books. And Louis isn't widowed! Yea! I think he's the only foreign office head who isn't. Louis was also a very likable character and I enjoyed the banter between he and Jack. As always, I liked that there was more than one case they were working on and the book was fast-paced enough to keep me interested.

Things I didn't like: the last book ended with a bombshell in regards to who Jack's on-again/off-again girlfriend and Private L.A.'s second-in-command, Justine, is now dating and that was glossed over with a simple "it's been 6 months" one liner. Also, there were a lot of names to keep track of, which I found difficult to keep straight at times while I was listening.



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