Private by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro

Private by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro

The police can't help you

Former CIA agent Jack Morgan runs Private, a renowned investigation company with branches around the globe. It is where you go when you need maximum force and maximum discretion. The secrets of the most influential men and women on the planet come to Jack daily--and his staff of investigators uses the world's most advanced forensic tools to make and break their cases.

The press will destroy you

Jack is already deep into the investigation of a multi-million dollar NFL gambling scandal and the unsolved slayings of 18 schoolgirls when he learns of a horrific murder close to home: his best friend's wife, Jack's former lover, has been killed. It nearly pushes him over the edge. Instead, Jack pushes back and devotes all of Private's resources to tracking down her killer.

Only one place to turn: Private

But Jack doesn't have to play by the rules. As he closes in on the killer and chooses between revenge and justice, Morgan has to navigate a workplace love affair that threatens to blow the roof off his plans. With a plot that moves at death-defying speeds, Private is James Patterson sleekest, most exciting thriller ever.

Jack Morgan owns Private Investigations, a firm he inherited from his father.  Private is the most elite investigative firm around. They hold the secrets of the very rich and the very famous. They have more resources and greater abilities to get the job done than anyone else. If you want things done right, if you want them done fast and if you want them done discreetly, you go Private!

 Jack is a former marine struggling with nightmares from his time in the war. While on a mission his chopper was brought down, saving some and killing others, haunting him still. Jack knows that he died that day and that his friend Del Rio brought him back, he just can’t remember the rest of it. He struggles to get those memories to surface so that he can deal with them and move on.  And that fact that someone keeps calling him in the middle of the night saying “You’re dead Jack” certainly isn’t helping much.

Right now Private is dealing with some very high profile cases.  Private has been brought in by the D.A. to help solve the Schoolgirl Killings.  Over the past two years, a child from one of the local schools has been killed, approximately once per month. Now though the killer is escalating and the murders are happening more frequently. Sometime after each kill the mayor gets a text message with the location of the “trophy” the killer has taken. Unfortunately after two years there is not one bit of evidence. But that won’t stop the Private team of investigators from doing what it takes to bring this psychopath down.  While walking the red carpet of an awards show with a client, Jack gets a call from his best friend Andy that Shelby, his wife, is dead, and Jack needs to come immediately! When he gets there he finds Shelby’s bloody body on the bed and Andy covered in blood. Jack is devastated, yet determined to take the heat off Andy as number one suspect and vows to find her killer. But can he stand to hear the truth? Next, Jack’s Uncle Fred, a football team owner, comes to him with two other team owners because they have a sickening suspicion that games are being rigged to throw the spread, thus costing the mob millions.  This could be the greatest gambling scandal in professional sports history. How could this be possible in professional football with hundreds of cameras and millions of people watching?  Then there is the mob boss who wants Jack to find his “missing” girlfriend (which he won’t touch with a ten foot pole), the two high profile couples that come to him because they want to switch partners and want Private to investigate each other fully before doing so, and finally there is his “evil” twin brother Tommy who seems to have gotten himself into a bit of a $600,000 gambling debt with the mob.  Tommy & Jack don’t get along, but that doesn’t stop Jack from doing what he can to help him. 

Jack puts his team on the three major cases – The Schoolgirl Killer, Shelby’s murder and the potential NFL gambling scandal, and handles his brother himself.  Justine is his forensic profiler who has let Schoolgirl Killer case overtake her life. She won’t stop until he does. “Sci” is his criminalist, scientific guru who has a very high tech lab that can run laps around the FBI. “Mo-bot” is the ultimate tech nerd who can find her way around an IP address faster than a hamster on a wheel.  Then there are Cruz and Del Rio. Marine buddies who are as dogged as Jack is and will always get his back, even if it means breaking the law.

With every potential resource at their disposal, the Private investigators will do whatever it takes to get their answers, legal or not. They will dig and prod and pull at threads to find that one little clue that will unravel the whole ball.  What surprises Jack, his team and the readers is that each thread that is tugged leads them to a clue in another one of their cases. Are they all related, or just some of them or is Private Investigation just in the middle of three major cases at once? What can a killer, a gambling scandal (that includes both the NFL and his brother) and the murder of a close friend, and former lover, possibly have in common?   The answers to these questions will surprise many, while at the same time destroy others.  And if all of that is not enough, Jack is also dealing with the potential consequences of an office romance and the realization of just who his mystery caller is.

Private will grab you from page one and force you to sit there until you turn the very last page.  The chapters are short and the reading quick. Some readers may not be a fan of this style, but I enjoy it as you are not bogged down by information you don’t need. You get what you’re looking for – the story.  And a good one at that.  Patterson & Paetro have introduced us to more wonderful characters-- giving the reader just a hint of who these new characters are-- and leave you yearning to know more.  A great start to new a series from the master of fast-paced thrill rides.

Release date:  June 28, 2010