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“Tick Tock” by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

Posted by on March 23, 2019

Copyright 2011 by James Patterson, Grand Central Publishing

I NEVER read books of the famous-author-and-some-nobody variety because you know damn well that the book was written by the nobody and the famous author is just getting paid to put his name on the book.  So I don’t know how this one slipped into my “to be read” pile.

But since it was there I decided to read it anyway.  I still have the same opinion of books of this type and I will continue to avoid them in the future, but I have to admit that I enjoyed this one.  It isn’t an American literary classic, but it is well written with interesting characters.  And the chapters are very short – an average of just over three pages – which I really like.  The edition I had also had very large print which meant I could read it without reading glasses.  I liked that, too.

The protagonist is Michael Bennett, a NYPD detective who lands the unenviable task of catching a serial killer who is mimicking or paying tribute to some of the most notorious serial killers in New York City’s long illustrious history of murder.  He has to try to catch the culprit while on vacation on Long Island with his 10 adopted children and their young siren of a nanny.

He succeeds, of course, but it is due more to the killer finding him than him finding the killer.

The style of the book was intriguing.  About two-thirds of the book is first person, from the eyes of Michael Bennett.  The other third is third-person, giving us insight into the life and evil intent of the killer.  There is a little misdirection in this that I won’t divulge as it would spoil the fun,  but as a literary device it works pretty well.

I enjoyed the book.  I won’t go out of my way looking for more by the Patterson/Ledwidge duo, but this was not a waste of time.

7 out of 10.

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