Thrillers, killers, blood, murder and mayhem are some of the famous ingredients to a best selling James Patterson novel. Take those away and you have nothing left, right. Well until now that was true, but here is one of America's most popular author's back on the shelves and pulling a few new tricks from his bag.
His latest novel, Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas, is a love story. Okay, go ahead and read that line again. Yes, you read it right, a love story. With all of the mushy, lovey dovey stuff that you would find in a Danielle Steele or and E. Lynn Harris novel.
The story is of a woman who has worked her way up the career ladder at the expense of her love life and her health. So she decides to take a step back and return to the hometown that she grew up in.
She begins seeing a man named Matt Harrison. He is almost too good to be true. This is one downfall in the plot line, the man really does not have any faults. Any woman will tell you that this guy does not exist in reality.
One day the guy simply disappears. All right, so maybe that is a fault, but what guy isn't afraid of commitment, right?
Katie is heart broken and doesn't know what could have scared off the man of her dreams, until one day a diary — you guessed it — Suzanne's Diary For Nicholas shows up on the door step.
Readers find out soon enough that the diary was left by Matt. I won't go any more into the story than that.
With as many plot-twists as an Alex Cross murder novel, the book manages to hold the reader's attention. What it fails to do is satisfy the usual Patterson fan with anything that they can remotely relate to.
Patterson has been called a literary genius. He continues to hang out on every best seller book list any time he releases a new story. What he has done here is quite smart actually. He is broadening his reading audience. Earlier this year, he released the first book in a new series called 1st to Die. It was written from a woman's perspective and earned him a lot of respect from his female fans. This story, also written from a woman's point of view, is sure to lure in a few more buyers.
I recently had the opportunity to interview Patterson, and I asked him how it felt writing from the angle of a woman.
"It's easier for me, because women like to talk about real things in real life, and men just like to talk about football and the weather," he said.
Maybe that's true, but for you die-hard Alex Cross fans, never fear, Violets are Blue, the sequel to the shocking Roses are Red, is due this fall. He is also working on the follow-up to 1st to Die, and an NBC mini-series for 1st to Die, due out in November. (Right around the time that Violets are Blue, is released. I told you that this guy is a genius.)
Grade B-
