Burn is the seventh Michael Bennett thriller, the last of the series I'll read, but there will be more. In 2015, Alert was published, part of the many ongoing series put out with James Patterson's name on them, written with over six co-authors. When asked why he focuses on his brand rather than the craft of writing itself, he says he is simply better at dreaming up plots than writing a sentence. As bad as I find the writing, and as lame as the plots can get, he has an enormous following with one out of every 17 hardcovers sold in the US having his name on it. He sells more than Stephen King, Dan Brown and John Grisham combined.
Burn has enough plot for three novels, yet is as bland as ever with flat characters you don't care about. There are several plot lines running at the same time such as: Organized thrives targeting New York's diamond district for vaults of raw diamonds, a cover for the main theft of a video exposing a cabal of rich weirdos. Plot two: A special private club made up of multimillionaire property owners and elite bankers who run a cannibal dinner club. Luckily, the police find a listing for one on Craigslist (where underground millionaires advertise) they easily get an invite to. Plot three: An old rival puts Michael in charge of an Outreach Squad in Harlem, where he whips the 'bad news bears' into shape. They are portrayed as unrealistically lax, but Michael's a trooper, he'll make them into good cops. Too much story means there isn't time for the family of ten kids (and Mary Catherine away in Ireland), but thankfully it rips along at a fast pace so you don't notice how disjointed it is. It all peters out in a lame finale that is not as absurd as the others.
The result of my reading this series of Michael Bennett novels back to back is, to collect every Patterson book I have sporadically collected for free or at book sales (thinking one day I might give them a try) - and getting rid of them. I read a lot of what others might call junk, but the writing makes the difference. I didn't throw these across the room in irritation as I have some other writers, but Patterson's novels, along with his ridiculous one page chapters, are not worth the time, and not recommended.
2014 / Paperback / 388 pages
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