DELUSIONAL

4 stars out of 5

I read most of the books in this series for quite some time (this is the 18^th), but somewhere around a decade ago I gave up. Truth? At that point, NYPD detective Michael Bennett was a widower with 10 adopted kids. He and his uber-competent nanny, Mary Catherine, were fighting the urge to get it on, hesitating mostly for religious (Catholic) reasons. And at that point not-so-religious me had enough of the “will they or won’t they” nonsense  got turned off.

Still, I loved the stories, so when I had the opportunity to request a pre-release copy from NetGalley, I went for it. And now that Michael and Mary Catherine are legally wed (and I assume blissfully so, since she’s pregnant with their first child), and from my perspective, all’s right with the world once again.

This one begins as Michael and his partner, Rob Trilling, are at the scene of a bombing. It’s the second such event recently – the other involving the death of a fellow police officer - so concern is high that a serial bomber may be on the loose similar to the real-life Ted Kacznski (a.k.a. Unibomber of the 1990s). The only real clues are that the bomber apparently had two missing fingers and the recent theft of explosives at a New Jersey arsenal.

As the investigation gets under way, partner Rob has to deal with a potentially serious family matter; his brother, who owns a car dealership in Bozeman, Montana, is facing threats because he refuses to sell the property to a developer who won’t take no for an answer. Michael tells Rob to go West; when that situation takes a turn for the worse, Michael heads that direction as well to lend a helping hand.

Essentially, the story moves between the two cases, with suspension building over which will result in the greatest tragedy. The Montana developer, it seems, will stop at nothing even murder - to get what he wants; the bomb crew, who will stop at nothing to make the world a better place (not even mass murder). Caught in between are two partners who are doing their best to make sure none of those murders actually happen – especially their own.

All told, it’s another riveting adventure and one that held my attention throughout. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to get in on the action once again by way of a pre-release copy. Good job!

Patterson and James O. Born (Little, Brown & Co., August 2026); 368 pp.

BURN

3-1/2 stars out of 5

After reading countless books by Patterson and his co-authors du jour, I'm aware of two things when I open up the next one: It won't tax my aging brain or put me on the edge of my seat, and the pages will whiz by in a flash. This one, the seventh in the series featuring Detective Michael Bennett and his rather large family, fit that pattern perfectly.

Well, almost; I gave four stars to each of the other six, but I just can't muster up more than three for this one. Exactly why I'm not totally sure, except this one seems to be more of a mishmash of story lines, with an ending that sort of left things hanging and felt thrown together at the last minute.

Here, Bennett and his crew return to their New York City home; they've been spending time in witness protection after Bennett captured a crime biggie who was intent on payback. Shortly after his return, Bennett is called in by a boss who's carrying a grudge; instead of a pat on the back for bringing a top criminal to justice, Bennett is reassigned to what's called an "Outreach Squad" in Harlem. 

The ragtag squad members have been hardly working, but with a few carefully chosen phrases, Bennett turns them into professionals who are working hard (yeah, right)! Most of the calls to the squad are complaints from neighborhood residents that aren't even police matters, and when one speaks of seeing some well-heeled dudes having a strange get-together in an abandoned building, Bennett figures the caller is a nut case. That is, until a charred body turns up in that building - bringing a whole new meaning to barbecue spit.

Ah, but we're not done yet. After a short time at the squad, Bennett is called by an old friend who's pulled some strings to get him back to his old job to help capture a team of robbers who are hitting high-end jewelry stores. Of course, Bennett's offer to return is conditioned on his solving the case and bringing the thieves to justice within two weeks. Because Bennett has bonded so well with his new crew, he just can't force himself to abandon them - so he insists on investigating both cases simultaneously.

As if all that weren't enough, Bennett continues to deal with feelings for his children's "nanny" and housekeeper, the very Irish and beauteous Mary Catherine, the health crisis of a close family member and - whew! - the threat that he'll lose one of his adopted daughters to her biological father.

Hey, don't shoot the messenger - I told you early on about the story line jumble. All things considered (and clearly there are plenty of things going on here), it's not an awful book. But I'd at least wait till the paperback comes out and it won't cost as much.

Burn by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge (Little, Brown and Co., September 2014); 433 pp.