James Patterson has had more New York Times bestsellers than any other writer, ever, according to Guinness World Records. Since his first novel won the Edgar Award in 1977 James Patterson's books have sold more than 300 million copies. He is the author of the Alex Cross novels, the most popular detective series of the past twenty-five years, including Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider. He writes full-time and lives in Florida with his family.
Dante Halleyville, a rising young African American basketball player, is accused of three horrible murders in the normally quiet Hamptons area of Long Island, NY. With all of the evidence pointing directly at him, Dante turns to courtside friend Tom Dunleavy, a lawyer whose dreams of being a professional basketball player ended with a blown knee. Unsure of his skills in criminal law, Tom asks an old girlfriend, Kate Costello, to help him. At first, she is reluctant to get involved with Tom again, but events at her prestigious New York City firm cause her to reconsider. The racial overtones of the murders (the victims were all white) threaten to derail the defense, but Tom is convinced of Dante's innocence and stops at nothing to prove it. Some clunky scenes with Steven Spielberg, George Clooney, and former president Bill Clinton cannot mar the breakneck pace of this novel, and the ending is so unexpected, it leaves listeners gasping in shock. The multiple-reader approach (Billy Baldwin among them) is a good one, and the story is skillfully told from a number of different angles. A definite winner for all libraries.-Joseph L. Carlson, Allan Hancock Coll., Lompoc, CA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Bestseller Patterson shows signs of having gone to the well too often in this slapdash collaboration with de Jonge, his coauthor on The Beach House (2002). Tom Dunleavy, a former professional basketball player and local East Hampton legend, is getting by as an underworked and unmotivated attorney. His sports glory days and his one true love are long in the past, but he gets second chances at personal and professional redemption when three locals are gunned down, apparently in the aftermath of racial tensions arising from a heated pickup game of hoops. The police seize on Dante Halleyville, the country's best high school star, as their suspect, and Dunleavy must dust off his old courtroom skills and enlist his lost love, Kate Costello, as his partner. Patterson readers know to expect a surprise ending, but he leaves too few possibilities for many to be genuinely fooled. Fans can only hope that Patterson soon returns to the level he achieved with his Alex Cross series. (May) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
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