Private by James Patterson—a Book Review
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| Image Courtesy: Google |
Every
detective story relies upon either a mind that concocts something disastrous,
unacceptable to the social, moral and ethical codes or a person simply missing.
The detective’s job would be to chalk out this enemy and bring out the complete
picture of their antagonism through the investigation. That is where detectives
come in. They often carry away the credit of the game and not the villains.
Private is the
first in James Patterson’s new series of
novels featuring ‘world’s most exclusive detective agency’, taken up and rebuilt
by Jack Morgan. Patterson co-authored this book with Maxine Paetro, who worked
with him in 1st To Die,
the first book in another series titled, “women’s murder club”, a very
disappointing book in terms of its plot.
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| Maxine Paetro Image Courtesy: Google |
What makes
Private special among other
‘detective novels’, is that it has no such poignant antagonists. The story
rallies through the personal dilemmas and agonies of the characters, which presents
them tangible. The main characters do not appear stock characters in usual
detective stories, which is an advantage of this book. His characters are not
as ‘real’ as Holmes, but they do appear human and vulnerable, sometimes, a lot.
Jack
Morgan and his ‘Private Investigations’ do not rely on deduction method, like
Sherlock Holmes, the classic investigator. Instead they use analytical method,
with the help of state of the art scientific equipments and brilliant analysts.
Jack Morgan is not alone in Private agency to solve crimes, but he has
assistants too, like Justine Smith, Rick Del Rio, and Emilio Cruz.
Private Investigations
takes up three complicated issues in the book—match fixing in American
football, a series of murder of young girls, and the murder of Jack’s best
friend’s wife.
Jack’s
character is a millionaire play-boy type, with a narcissistic trait. But these
shades in his character are blurred due to the overwhelming impact of the
devastating near-death experience during the combat in Afghanistan
Many women
enter Jack’s life and many leave. This, doesn’t however, leave a deeper impact
upon him when compared with the mortal combat episode. From each of the women
Jack receives respect and friendship, adding charms to his otherwise lonely
life, thereby projecting his own remarkable qualities back to himself. Isn’t
this one of the secret narcissistic instincts that makes him follow the path of
admiring feminine company?
He shows
the tendency to leave the company of any woman he is close with thinking
marriage would be disastrous, like his parents’. Here, one might think Jack’s
compass turns only to himself, prioritizing himself at various angles and
dimensions. Still, not entirely true. When Jack hears about the news of
suicidal attempt from Colleen, his latest girlfriend, he rushes to the
hospital. Colleen took the decision to end her life when she realizes Jack has
negative feelings about marriage. Jack is seen broken and ashamed of his own lack
of direction in this scene.
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| James Patterson Image Courtesy: Google |
Jack also
appears to be apprehensive of the need to help his twin brother Tom Morgan, a
gambler, by paying off his debt and admitting him to a de-addiction
centre.
Justine
Smith’s character is another links the story of Jack with the serial killer of
school girls. She investigates the case. Justine’s has many similarities with
Jack. Both Justine and Jack seems to occupy the major portion of their lives
with their familial worries and wounds inflicted upon their minds from the
past. What makes Justine different is her emotionally charged attitude towards
the school-girl killer. Both Jack and Justine come together whenever they need
each other and this is not just due to the fact that they both work for
Private, but also because they were betrothed to each other as engaged partners
in the past, before Jack met Colleen and Justine met Bobby Petino, a prominent
attorney. After this, for jack and Justine, relationship became impossible. This
part of the story is told by the characters and narrated through their
memories.
It is also
important to note Jack’s attitude towards his father,
the founder of Private original. The senior Morgan appears at the start of the
novel, “serving life for extortion and murder” in California State Prison at
Corcoran. Jack, with all his self-centred
righteousness and “hero business”, has no good feelings towards his old father.
For senior Morgan, Jack is his own reflection. However, in jacks’ mind, the old
man is just a “narcissistic SOB”.
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| Scarlett
Johansson Image Courtesy: Google |
Then, Morgan senior hands ‘Private’ over to Jack. This
book is the starting point of the all the Private series. The next book after Private is Private London, which is already released. The agency has branches
all over the world and so it is quite possible to set the story anywhere. A
recently announced Private India is
another in the series.
Private
has all the necessary James Patterson ingredients in it—short chapters, mundane
language, allusions to pop culture, TV shows, personalities, songs, etc. In
Private, it is mostly Hollywood
Maxine
Paetro’s presence is visible mostly in a vague byline under the label of James
Patterson. This is the common destiny seen with many co-authors in the James
Patterson books. Still, like every good brand, the Patterson brand delivers all
its basic promises.
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| Image Courtesy: Google |
Tom Morgan
rebels against Jack, but he is not ‘elevated’ to the status of a serious
antagonist such as Prof. James Moriarty. And the other baddies are not much
capable either. This is why, perhaps,
Private, is only good for the bus stops and airport sojourns. Since, it is
always those antagonists that play their wicked roles torturously perfect to
make the heroes’ struggles worth fighting for.
This book review
is sponsored by Mysmartprice.com
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