James Patterson & David Ellis' Unsolved - Review

Unsolved by James Patterson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


In a gripping sequel to ‘Invisible’, Emmy returns to hunt another elusive serial killer.

Emily "Emmy" Dockery, Research Analyst with the FBI, has acquired a modicum of fame for detecting and hunting down a serial killer several years earlier. Yet admitting serial killers of whom no one is aware may be continuing to kill is embarrassing for the FBI, so Emmy’s work remains unauthorised as she continues to trawl through data, searching for the patterns that may indicate more previously undetected predators.

Emmy’s fiancé, Harrison "Books" Bookman, has retired from the FBI and now runs a struggling bookstore. Called upon by his old mentor and now FBI director, Books finds himself tasked with investigating leaks about a moral crusader terrorist to a local reporter – which the FBI suspects Emmy to be responsible for.

With no one believing in her theories and feeling as if everyone is turning against her, Emmy is determined to hunt down the killer whom she’s been tracking for months – one who is always one step ahead, none of his murders believed to be homicides, and who has now turned his sights on her. Emmy finds herself up against an adversary more dangerous than any she’s previously encountered, in a cat and mouse game she may be unable to wriggle free from.

Told in Patterson’s trademark short, lightning-paced chapters, ‘Unsolved’ is an FBI procedural jam-packed with twists and turns and plenty of sleight-of-hand writing to keep you guessing and second-guessing as the plot races towards its conclusion. The clues are all there, yet you still may not see the well-executed twists coming until they are right upon you; throughout, we gain detailed insights into the killer’s psyche without giving too much away before each revelation.

I find Emmy a very endearing character – her determination to ferret out the truth, even when she is the only one who has faith in what the data suggests, and her willingness to go against the male-dominated FBI hierarchy is admirable. Yet we find her more damaged, her scars and her obsessiveness having a detrimental effect on her health and her life.

I adore Emmy and Books’ relationship - they bring the emotion to the story, whereas the case itself is heavily procedural, as we don’t often get an insight into the experience of the victims or their families. Despite the challenges to their relationship, their differences of opinion, and what feels like an almost inevitable conflict and disintegration within their relationship, there is an unshakable bond between them that keeps them in each other’s orbit and you hope will keep them coming back stronger.

Like its predecessor, ‘Unsolved’ is a gripping, page-turning thriller. I do hope we will get a third chapter in Emmy and Books’ story, complete with another of Emmy’s analytical hunts for a serial killer.



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