Private L. A.

I am a long time fan of James Patterson and love the various series's he writes. I get quite excited when a book of his is released and am straight to the library to get my hands on a copy.Private L.A. is the seventh book in the Private series. For anyone unfamiliar with this series, it revolves around Private Investigator Jack Morgan who owns an investigation agency with offices around the world, where they are hired by many high profile clients. Previous books have included Berlin, London and Australia. This book, as the title implies is set in Los Angeles.Private LA has multiple storylines going on. The main one is the apparent kidnapping of celebrity family the Harlows. The couple and their three children have gone missing and Jack Morgan and his team are called in to investigate. There are the usual twists and turns...have they been kidnapped? Are they still alive? Who would want to take them? As always, I found myself trying to play detective myself and work out who did it and why. There is a large cast of suspects and motives which kept me pondering throughout.The second storyline was around a group of terrorists called 'No Prisoners' who are holding the local authority to ransom. This, in my opinion had real potential to be a great storyline of threat and violence, and I might have lost it somewhere along the line, but it never really took off in the way I was expecting which was disappointing.The other storyline is around Jack's brother who is on trial for murder and definitely involved with the wrong sort. As readers we see Jacks brother trying to involve Jack in the trial. There is definitely legs to keep this running for a while yet. It would feed my curiosity to know more about Jack and his past.I have to be honest and say that this book didnt engross me in the way previous books have. I am an addict to the Alex Cross series and the Michael Bennett series, but the Private ones just don't seem to captivate me in quite the same way.Don't get me wrong, it is a good read, and the short chapters are a great way to flit between scenes and the different storylines. But there is just a spark missing for me. It's almost as if there are too many plots going on, which dilutes them all for me.I love the character of Jack Morgan who is a clever man with an edge to him. But my favourite character is in this book is Justine who works with Jack, and has also had a relationship of sorts with him in the past. I am kind of wanting to knock their heads together to sort themselves out. In this book Justine goes through some dark times and loses it a bit. She is a strong woman who carries everything inside herself and I wanted to read out to help her at certain points, or send Jack to wrap her up and look after her.The next installment is out now titled Private India and I am hoping to get reading this in the next few weeks.

Whilst this is not one of the stand out James Patterson novels it is quite a good read although sometimes I feel that the ongoing story line of these grouped books does get a bit predictable as time goes by. I used to be a fan of the woman’s murder club series but felt in the end that all the stories were very similar. When the Private series began they were quite gripping and whilst I accept that it’s difficult to keep the initial excitement of a character going over many books I do wonder whether this series and some of the others like it should be brought to an end. I am yet to read the new NYPD series that Patterson has written recently but I suspect that the initial books will be interesting and then perhaps go the way of the Private series. That said authors like Lee Child and Clive Cussler still make a very good living writing about one main character every time so perhaps it is only me that has got bored with these books!?

I just wish the novels were a bit longer as they are a great read

Ghhtwa

Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant The best yet. Turn this into a movie someone Please!!!!!!!!!!!! Jack is in deep trouble in this one as his brother and head of local mafia start turning the screws and jack is almost suffocating from their growing intense hatred of him. He and Justine just cannot get on the same page and although they love one another their lives keep pulling them in opposite directions. Private has not only the local LAPD breathing down their necks the have the FBI to contend with. The storyline is absolutely fantastic full of twists and turns but maintaining the continuity of the background of Jack Morgan and Private which is what I like about Patterson and his co writers. Del Rio has his own nightmare to face. Pain suffering and Justice are the themes of this one though one can understand and fine empathy and some sympathy for the perpetrators of the crimes. I'm still gunning for tom jnr on jack's behalf. Can't wait to read the next one.

I didn't think I'd like this book at all when I started reading itI hated the prologue. However, I was glad I stuck with it Much of it was written in the first person, which I'm not a fan of, but it was necessary for the story.The "I" character is Jack Morgan, owner of the private investigation firm (of the title). Unlike many books of this ilk he does not have just the one case to deal with at a time, oh no, there's plenty going on including an investigation into the disappearance of a high profile celebrity couple and their 3 adopted children. Then there's a group calling themselves 'No Prisoners' terrorising L.A. and all this time he has a long-running problem with his brother who is due to be tried for murder and seems to be intent on bringing Jack down with him.I liked the short chapters and all in all found it fast paced and quite exciting if not the best book of his I have ever read

If you like high octane, rather unrealistic thrillers then this is the book for you. I thoroughly enjoyed Private L.A. unlike some others in the series as it never stopped. There are 3 plot lines running through the novel - the hunt for the No Prisoner extortionists who are shooting innocent people in Los Angeles until their demands are met, the hunt for Jennifer and Thom Harlow, A list film stars, who have disappeared and Jack Morgan's on-going problems with his brother - which makes it very busy, in a good way, and really holds your attention, to the extent that I was late leaving the house as I wanted to finish it.I have not been a fan of much of Mr Patterson's latest output but I feel he is really on form with Private L.A. and I don't hesitate to recommend it as a good, escapist read.

To much repeat of previous books ,ok if you only read one but after 7 books to much of it.