First of all, why are all of James Patterson's books co-written by someone else? Is he ghost-writing other people's stories? Or is he the one with the great plot ideas but can't string three words together? Has the well run dry, so to speak, after so many years, and he's mining other, little-known authors who are willing to sell their soul for the chance to have their name on a cover with James Patterson? Wikipedia says: "Patterson is also well known for sharing the spotlight with different co-authors ... and has often said that collaborating with others brings new and interesting ideas to his stories." I don't know if it's important, it just bugs me.

I haven't read any of Patterson's 65 other novels, but I can see why he's so popular, whether he's the one who's actually writing or just in charge of the brand. The story is fast-paced and easy to follow and the characters are identifiable and even sympathetic, if superficial. It's not grand literature, but it never gets slow or dumb. He's not trying to be clever or intellectual, which is one of the things that annoys me about Dan Brown. Although the huge amount of police jargon really put me off.

The twists at the end were surprising yet satisfying, and the story ended promptly thereafter. There is obviously quite a bit of backstory to the main characters that has been covered in the previous 7 books of this series, but I was still able to jump in and follow along without having read them.