by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge (Century)
I have to say this was not the best James Patterson, (authorship shared with Michael Ledwidge) I have read. Shunting in a cooked body and a coven of cannibalistic elitists doth not, necessarily, a great read make.
Still, Patterson and co know how to produce a page turner and Burn has its moments.
Despite the plot being a carry on from Gone, where Detective Michael Bennett and his overabundance of kids, ended up under witness protection, Burn can be read without previous character knowledge.
Bennett and co (including his annoying, dewy-eyed Irish nanny, Mary Catherine) are back in New York. On the personal side, one of his many adopted children is being pursued by the biological dad. On the professional side, the detective, having run foul of a former colleague, (risen to heights where he can mess up the lives of those he envies), has been placed as head of an outreach squad. Based in Harlem, misfits and rebels make up the squad. Bennett is going to have his work cut out if he wants to form a useful and cohesive team.
A couple of gruesome crimes help to draw the oddball band together, not least a crime against one of their own, and, on the face of it, the complexities should keep the cop thriller fan happy enough. But, there is a distinct feeling of written by rote.
As for the end, where we are suddenly plunged into Danielle Steel territory: “she was in his arms... the stress of the last weeks breaking like a dam... unable to do anything but hold him”, fifty shades of beige...
A rushed wrap to a disappointing tale, not really worthy of James Patterson’s name.