The Lawyer Lifeguard by James Patterson and Doug Allyn

Last year, after I read THE PRESIDENT IS MISSING by James Patterson and Bill Clinton, I wanted to read another Patterson book. There are a lot to choose from, so when I was at the grocery store a week ago, I made the choice of MURDER IN PARADISE. It’s a print collection of three of Patterson’s BookShots stories, quick reads that cost less than five dollars. The three stories in the collection all appeared in ebook first, so this was the first time in print. Of the three co-authors Patterson used, the only name I knew was Duane Swierczynski, which more than enough reason to buy the book. But Doug Allyn’s story, THE LAWYER LIFEGUARD, came first in the paperback and I read it.

Part of modern book description writing is to pose a question of the potential reader. For THE LAWYER LIFEGUARD, the title itself was the first intriguing piece. How do those two words go together? It’s almost a riff off of Michael Connelly’s THE LINCOLN LAWYER. Anyway, the initial question presented in the description was this: Are you the lawyer who got blown up with his girlfriend?  If I had seen the original standalone ebook, I would easily keep reading the description, but I’ll admit the rest of the description is all but mediocre. But what wasn’t mediocre was page one. It describes a seemingly idyllic scene on Lake Huron’s beach. The lawyer/survivor in question is there, taking in the scenes. And he’s holding a pistol, because he blames himself for his fiancée’s death. (By the way, the word ‘fiancée’ should have been used in the description versus ‘girlfriend.’) He’s wondering if the beach is the best place to kill himself when he notices a dog in the water. The poor thing has a ball in its mouth and its drowning. Instinct kicks in, and Brian Lord saves the dog. The various cell phones capture the moment and it goes viral.

And then Lord’s life really takes a nose dive.

The police question him about the car bomb that killed his fiancée. The main partner in his law firm shows up in the hospital to fire him in person. One of his client’s has a stalker ex-husband who just happens to be a state trooper who knows all the ins and outs of working the system. Things go from bad to worse as the story moves on at a rapid-fire pace.

One of Patterson’s initiatives with BookShots is to have a compelling story boiled down to its essence. And that’s pretty much the case here. Little pieces of description almost act as short hand. The reader fills in the gaps of how certain characters look. Short chapters propel the story forward. I finished the 152-page story in two sittings. That in itself is rather nifty, and likely what Patterson is after with things like BookShots. With so many choices available to folks—movies, TV, video games, internet—having a large book might seem too daunting. But few people should shy away from a 152-page book.

THE LAWYER LIFEGUARD has some pretty good twists and turns and, most important of all, I was entertained. I was happy to turn away from the TV for those two reading sessions. Granted, I’m a reader so I’m an easy mark, but this is the kind of book that might get a non-reader to open a book and read. And that’s a great thing.

The President is Missing by Bill Clinton and James Patterson

Almost from the day it was announced, I knew I wanted to read THE PRESIDENT IS MISSING by Bill Clinton and James Patterson. On the one hand you have one of the all-time best-selling authors who has created his own fiction factory. On the other, you have a former president who served for eight years in the office and could provide vital details as only a man who sat in the Oval Office could. It was a match made in heaven.

But would the book be any good?

It’s an honest question, but let’s be honest: if it’s got Patterson’s name on it, the story will at least be serviceable.

And I’m here to tell you it’s more than serviceable. It’s pretty darn good.

The story opens as President Jonathan Lincoln Duncan, newly widowed, is facing the prospect of a compelled testimony in front of a Congressional committee. Impeachment is in the air because Duncan recently ordered a special forces raid seemingly to save notorious terrorist Suliman Cindoruk, leader of the Sons of Jihad group. The Speaker of the House—a member of the unnamed ‘other party’; Duncan’s party affiliation also remains unnamed making it more bipartisan—who has designs on the presidency smells blood.

But Duncan has an even greater problem. Somehow, Suliman’s cyber hackers have implanted a virus in the computer systems of the Pentagon. Codenamed “Dark Ages,” if released, the resulting damage would be catastrophic. It would literally plunge the US into a modern dark ages. And one of six members of Duncan’s inner circle—including the Vice President—is a traitor because a young girl from the Republic of Georgia is asking to meet with Duncan. Alone. And she utters “Dark Ages” to prove her point.

How could this young woman know that? Who is she? And, after Duncan goes incognito and meets at the baseball stadium, who is this other guy pointing a gun at the President of the United States?

THE PRESIDENT IS MISSING clocks in at over 500 pages, but they read extremely fast. Duncan’s prose is all in first person and the entire novel is written in the present tense, giving it an urgency. Having Duncan narrate his own scenes is great, especially with his asides when he gives details you know came from Bill Clinton’s memories. There are other characters and all those scenes are related in third person. It’s the first time I can remember reading a book like this. Granted, as a writer, I noticed the differences at first, but as the story went on and my reading speed increased, it faded away and I was solely in the action.

By now, Patterson is a master at crafting a story and, while I’ve read few, I could see how one of his stories is made. And I really loved how the tension was racketed up. Sure, there were lots of cliffhanger chapter endings, but this is a summer thriller. It’s supposed to have cliffhangers.

And there was one passage of about five chapters that completely fooled me. I thought one thing was happening and it was something else entirely. Much like watching “The Sixth Sense” a second time when you know the truth, I re-read those chapters just to see how Patterson did it. Brilliant. Also brilliant was the skillful way Patterson kept the truth behind the traitor and other characters, revealing their identity at precisely the right time. This guy can tell stories!

I purchased this book from my local grocery store and I pointed out something to some friends who noticed the book in my basket. I indicated all the other Patterson novels on display—eight?—and then at THE PRESIDENT IS MISSING. Patterson’s name was listed on top of all save the new one. It takes a president’s name to shift Patterson to second billing.

I very much enjoyed this book and would easily recommend it as a good beach read.

Book Review: Cross Kill by James Patterson

I’ve never read a James Patterson book before now. It wasn’t that I had anything against him. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I just didn’t have the time to keep up with his prodigious output. Actually, I’ve long admired Patterson in his strategies to produce as many books per year as possible and to generate new readers. That was why his Bookshots idea struck a chord with me. Patterson had the idea of writing shorter books, making them fast paced, and charging readers only $5. I liked the idea of creating smaller, faster reads for folks who may not have read a book since high school. That’s certainly not me, but I have come along for the ride.

The first book in the initiative is Cross Kill. It’s an Alex Cross story. The only thing I knew going in about Alex Cross was that both Morgan Freeman and Tyler Perry portrayed the character in movies. I’ve actually seen none of them. I’m not sure how many Cross novels Patterson has written, but I thought starting with Cross was a good idea. All the characters are new to me so, like the proverbial dude who hasn’t read anything since high school, I went in cold.

Police detective Cross and his partner, John Sampson, are working in a soup kitchen. Gunshots ring out and they investigate. When they get back into the preparation area, there’s a man waiting for them. He fires at both the police officers, striking Cross’s partner. But the really weird thing is that the shooter looks exactly like Gary Soneji, the main villain from Along Came a Spider. But Soneji is supposed to be dead a decade or so. According to Cross Kill, Alex Cross watched Soneji die in a ball of flames. But here Soneji is, seemingly back from the grave and ready to take out his vengeance on Alex Cross.

As if Cross didn’t already need a motive to investigate, Sampson is shot in the head and isn’t expected to survive. Now, Cross is even more driven to figure out who this shooter is and why he looks so much like his arch-enemy.

The story moves along at a fast clip. Even when Cross is hunting for clues or interviewing someone, the pace rarely slows. I went back and re-read some pages to figure out why. It turns out Patterson doesn’t spend a lot of time with description. He sketches a scene with a few words and leaves it up to reader to fill in the blanks. Not a bad way to write. I didn’t notice until I actually examined the prose. Besides, if it gets non-readers to read, who cares.

I’m a newbie to Patterson and Alex Cross so I imagine lots of the dialogue and thoughts would mean a whole lot more to folks who have already read the books or seen those movies, but I got through it. I was rarely lost because the gaps were mostly filled in and I could deduce the rest.

Then there the ending. It’s a cliffhanger. A pretty big one at that. In many of the self-publishing podcasts and blogs I read, a good deal of discussion is given to cliffhangers, both pro and con. While I don’t usually mind a certain type of cliffhanger—say, the end of Star Wars where Luke has blown up the Death Star but Darth Vader has escaped and you know he’ll return—this one is pretty out there. Even a tad aggravating. To make matters worse, there isn’t any “Come back in September for the exciting conclusion!” so I’m not sure when this sequel will land.

Other than the end, I enjoyed the book. Actually, truth be told, the ending didn't bother me too much. I smiled at how well Patterson hooked me. And, yeah, I’ll be buying the sequel.

Job well done, Mr. Patterson.

Is James Patterson the KISS of the Publishing World?

Ever since James Patterson announced his Bookshots initiative, I was curious. For those that don't know. the world's #1 bestselling author wants to provoke folks who might not normally read longer books to try out shorter books. As the slogan goes, "Under 150 pages. Under $5." I've read exactly zero Patterson books, but I own a few. In fact, I had picked up Private: India the other day at the grocery store because I wanted to see what that series was like. Last night, I picked up the first two Bookshots books: Crosskill and Zoo 2. I started Crosskill, and dang it if I didn't blow through five chapters. I had to get to sleep, but I can see this kind of thing catching on.

What I'd really like to see is is these books available at Starbucks, drug stores, or grocery stores at the checkout lines. Make them impulse buys.

This Patterson talk had me remembering a post I wrote back in January 2015 for DoSomeDamage entitled "Is James Patterson the KISS of the Publishing World?" Some of my comments can apply to Bookshots today. Anything that gets people reading is fine by me. And, as an author of a book (WADING INTO WAR) that easily fits in a Bookshots format (Under 150 pages. Under $5), I welcome shorter books. In fact, I'm writing one now...

If you're here reading this, chances are good you're already a reader. You don't mind reading giant tomes like the Outlander books or short stories or anything else in between. We can enjoy Bookshots, but, I suspect, they're not aimed at us. Just imagine the person who says "I stopped reading after high school" and then picks up a Bookshots book and sees how fun reading can be. There. Patterson's just made a new reader, and that helps everyone.

Here's the older article. I welcome y'all's comments.

I discovered some new friends this week. I'm a big fan of the rock band KISS and there are a good number of podcasts out there. Up until now, my two favorites have been PodKISSt and Kisstory Science Theater. To quote Yoda, there is another.

 

Pods and Sods is technically a music podcast (a podcast for the musically obsessed...) but Craig Smith and Eric Miller are avid KISS fans. As such, a good chunk of the 82 episodes involve KISS. A fun thing they did last month during the “12 Days of KISSmas,” was cover, in detail, the first 12 KISS LPs, one a day and one an episode. They know their stuff and I found myself nodding to points they made and disagreeing with others.

 

But what utterly surprised me was how funny they are. The key to their humor comes with the intimate knowledge of the subject matter. With that knowledge comes the ability to look at the absurd nature of some of the antics the members of KISS have foisted on the public in their forty years. Craig's impersonations of Gene Simmons is hilarious! Some fans, you can imagine, take lots of umbrage with any humor at the expense of their rock heroes. Not so Smith and Miller. They see the absurdity for what it is and laugh at it *while still being fans.*

 

Now, I understand that being fans of a rock band like KISS and being fans of authors are different realms but I couldn’t help think about the similarities of the two this week while devouring 21 of the 22 KISS-centric episodes (that’s about 20 hours of listening, by the way) and reading about the latest news from James Patterson. Evidently, he’s trying to garner interest in his new book with his so-called “self-destructing book.” According to his website, 1,000 fans get a code to download an advance copy of his latest PRIVATE book and have 24 hours to read the story before “the book self-destructs in a spectacular fashion.” You can follow readers’ progress. Three readers here in Houston got the novel. The website claims it’s a revolutionary reading experience.

 

Yup, it is. And I’m totally cool with it. Why the heck not? Is it a stunt? Absolutely. It is unique? Unquestionably. It is fun? Yessiree bob. It it for everyone? Nope.

 

Neither is KISS. I know many who discount KISS because of their make-up, over-the-top shows (“They only do that because their music isn’t good”--to which I say just listen to some of their songs), and their unabashed salesmanship. That’s all true, but I’m one who learned about rock and roll through their antics. They are my first favorite rock band. Sure, I’ve come to love Chicago, Bowie, Springsteen, Genesis, Sting, and others, but KISS will forever have a special place in my heart. And they have a particular outlook on music and their role in it. They are entertainers, pure and simple. As the guys from Pods and Sods point out, there’s a whole lot of positive messages laced in KISS songs...if you can get past the clunky lyrics and debauchery.

 

Might Patterson be the KISS of the publishing industry? He’s unapologetically commercial. So what? It helps him get product out that the public enjoys. He's not the #1 best-selling author for nothing. He uses co-writers. So what? As the December issue of Vanity Fair points out, he has such a heavy hand in the writing that’s it’s basically his work by the time the books are published. As I’ve piled up manuscripts, I’ve often thought it would be nice for someone to take my first draft and clean it up -- while I write a first draft of a new novel and then come back around to revise the cleaned-up draft later. But that’s just me.

 

Anyway, those are some of my thoughts for this week. I’ve also been working on my new website and I’m close to being done with it. News will be coming soon on that front.

 

What are y’all’s thoughts on Patterson’s stunt? And if y’all like KISS or just in-depth music talk, I wholeheartedly recommend Pods and Sods