I have always been a great fan of James Patterson but this is so unlike any of his previous books I had to double check authors name a number of times. Definitely not like his usual style of writing and a book I had to plough through. Thanks to Netgalley for ARC

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

When Santosh Wagh isn’t struggling out of a bottle of whisky he’s head of Private India, the Mumbai branch of the world’s finest PI agency.
In a city of over thirteen million he has his work cut out at the best of times. But now someone is killing women – seemingly unconnected women murdered in a chilling ritual, with strange objects placed carefully at their death scenes.
As Santosh and his team race to find the killer, an even greater danger faces Private India – a danger that could threaten the lives of thousands of innocent Mumbai citizens… 

*2.5 stars*

I have rated this in two ways - 2.5 stars for the comparative place amongst this series, but, as an overall thriller, no more than 2 stars for sure.

I have read through a number of the Private series and, while they are never great, they usually bring me enough thrills to say that it was okay. This one hardly even got that far. And the writing was just a mess, really. If someone had said that this was the plot for a Bollywood film, I would have said "Sure, I can get that..." but when it is the name of one of the biggest selling authors of all time on the front cover? Man, that crap does not fly with me.

I am not sure how much of these books Patterson actually touches but, when I compare back to those early days of Black Market and Along Came a Spider, this current batch of books are a poor reflection on those.

But, hey, they sell like hotcakes so what the hell do I know, right?


Paul
ARH