RED ALERT

4.5 stars out of 5



I've gone on record at least two other times with the opinion that this may be the best of the many series by James Patterson and his co-author du jour (in this case, Marshall Karp). And nothing in this one made me change my mind. It moves along quickly, serves up a few surprises all the way to the end and enough humor to hold my attention throughout.

NYPD Red is an elite task force that caters to the rich, famous, and those who are both but prefer no one else to know about it. Sometimes - as it does here - that means detective-partners Zach Jordan and Kylie MacDonald often have to suck it up to placate stratospheric egos and play down what's really happening. Such is the case here, when a big explosion hits a hoity-toity benefit gathering at a fancy hotel that leaves a big-wig dead (and narrowly misses New York's mayor). Then comes the next body - a female who's heavily into the sadomasochistic sex scene - is a little less high priority to the Red team (and most certainly to their boss) until they identify some of her high-profile partners.

As faithful readers of the series already know, Zach and Kylie once had a fling, but now they're content, or so it seems, with new loves: Zach with a beautiful psychiatrist and Kylie with a guy Zach isn't so sure about. Since Zach's torch for Kylie hasn't been fully extinguished, he's determined to make sure Kylie hasn't picked a pig in a poke.

So we have three totally different cases, all requiring a ton of the kind of investigating that have made Zach's and Kylie's reputations as a top-notch, go-to team. All get resolved in one way or another by the end; the only issue I had (and the reason for knocking my rating down half a star) is that there are so many characters that it was a bit of a challenge for my aging brain to remember which ones belonged to which case and why. Still, I survived the experience with a smile on my face - ready and waiting for the next installment.

Red Alert by James Patterson and Marshall Karp (Little, Brown and Co., March 2018); 368 pp.