Expelled by James Patterson and Emily Raymond

Author: James Patterson & Emily Raymond

Publisher:  Little Brown and Company

Date of publication: October 2017

A secret Twitter account
An anonymous photo
Everyone is a suspect 

Will Foster's Twitter account used to be anonymous--until someone posted The Photo that got him and three other students expelled, their futures ruined forever. But who took the picture, and why are they being targeted?

To uncover the truth, Will gets close to the suspects: the hacker, the quarterback, the bad girl, the class clown, the vice principal, and...his own best friend. What secrets are they hiding, and even worse--what do they know about each other? The terrible truth will haunt them forever.

New York Times bestselling author James Patterson brings us another fast-moving tale of suspense, with danger, romance, and twists and turns that will keep you guessing to the very last page

Have you ever read a book that you found yourself enjoying only to come to an ending that made you say, "WTF?"?  Well, Expelled was one oft those books for me.  This review will probably get a bit spoilery, so if  you try to avoid spoilers, you might want to skip reading this.

The story focuses on Will, who was unjustly expelled from school for the rest of his Junior year for something he swears he didn't do.  After some investigating,, he finds 3 other students who were expelled for sketchy reasons as well.  He sets out to figure out who set him and his friends up in order to get back into the school's good graces.  Graduating on time and with a clean record is the only way he can get out of the town he hates. This was the part that I really liked about the book. The mystery of what happened was engaging.  I found myself rooting for Will to figure it all out.  I liked his character overall as well as the other characters in the book.

The book would have been really enjoyable if it had ended right before Sasha reveals her secret to Will.  The revelation of ongoing incest with her father came completely out of nowhere and was highly unnecessary to the entire plot.  I have to wonder what made the authors say, "Yeah, that fits.".  Because it didn't.  Not even remotely.   Then in the epilogue, the subject is dealt with as almost an afterthought. So, this issue made me lower the rating I gave the book.  

I would recommend the book up until Sasha starts talking to Will about her secret.  You can honestly skip that whole section and not lose anything from the book.  I would caution parents to letting anyone under 16 read this one.  Just for that aspect alone.

Confessions of a Murder Suspect by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

Author: James Patterson & Maxine Paetro
Publisher: jimmy patterson
Date of publication: September 2012

On the night Malcolm and Maud Angel are murdered, Tandy Angel knows just three things: She was the last person to see her parents alive. The police have no suspects besides Tandy and her three siblings. She can't trust anyone -— maybe not even herself. 

Having grown up under Malcolm and Maud's intense perfectionist demands, no child comes away undamaged. Tandy decides that she will have to clear the family name, but digging deeper into her powerful parents' affairs is a dangerous -- and revealing -- game. Who knows what the Angels are truly capable of?

I have had Confessions of a Murder Suspect in my TBR for quite a while.  I was looking for something quick to read and this fit the bill.  The story is narrated by Tandy Angel who is awakened  in the night to find her parents have been murdered. All of her siblings including herself are suspects.  Their parents weren't the most liked couple, especially by their own children.  Everyone had a motive and  Tandy decides to crack the case herself.

I thought this was fairly entertaining book.  Was it the best YA mystery that I have read?  No, but it was good enough to keep me listening.  I liked all of the characters, especially Tandy.  I also enjoyed the way the story was written.  She speaks directly to the reader as if she is telling you her story. Only getting her point of view kept me guessing the solution to the mystery.  Speaking of which, I have read some reviews that said the ending was kind of a let down.  Personally, I thought it was a kind of predictable twist, but one I didn't mind.  

This is the first in a series.  I am going to seek out The Private School Murders next.  I want to see what really happened to the pregnant girlfriend.

The Christmas Wedding by James Patterson & Richard Dilallo

Authors: James Patterson & Richard Dilallo
Publisher:  Little, Brown & Company (Audio By Hachette Audio)
Date of publication:October 17th 2011


The tree is decorated, the cookies are baked, and the packages are wrapped, but the biggest celebration this Christmas is Gaby Summerhill's wedding. Since her husband died five years ago, Gaby's children have drifted apart, each one preoccupied by the turbulence in their own lives. They haven't celebrated Christmas together since their father's death, but when Gaby announces that she's getting married-and that the groom will remain a secret until the wedding day—she may finally be able to bring them home for the holidays.
But the wedding isn't Gaby's only surprise—she has one more gift for her children, and it could change all their lives forever. With deeply affecting characters and the emotional twists of a James Patterson thriller, THE CHRISTMAS WEDDING is a fresh look at family and the magic of the season.

So far, the only James Patterson books that I have read have been mysteries.  The Christmas Wedding was a nice change of pace.  Mr. Patterson and Richard DiLallo have made a great writing team and created a very sweet story involving family and love.  Gaby announces to her kids that she is getting remarried, but the catch is that they have to come home for Christmas to find out who the groom will be.  Even the groom won't find out until that day.  The entire situation was handled so well and so sweetly that I just couldn't help but smile after the reveal.  It also helped that out of the three suitors, she chose that one I liked the most.

I think the thing that really appealed to me the most is that her children's lives were not at all perfect.  They all had issues that they were wresting with and found that turning to famly was the way to help them get through the battle. I kept finding myself rooting for them all. While not everything was solved in the end, I was left with the feeling up hope for all four families.

This is a great holiday read. The audio was great, with 4 different narrators.  I thought that was a nice touch.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

10th Anniversay (Women's Murder Mystery Club #10)

Author(s): James PAtterson and Maxine Paetro
Publisher: Audiobooks (March 2011)

For every secret
Detective Lindsay Boxer's long-awaited wedding celebration becomes a distant memory when she is called to investigate a horrendous crime: a badly injured teenage girl is left for dead, and her newborn baby is nowhere to be found. Lindsay discovers that not only is there no trace of the criminals--but that the victim may be keeping secrets as well.

For every lie
At the same time, Assistant District Attorney Yuki Castellano is prosecuting the biggest case of her life--a woman who has been accused of murdering her husband in front of her two young children. Yuki's career rests on a guilty verdict, so when Lindsay finds evidence that could save the defendant, she is forced to choose. Should she trust her best friend or follow her instinct?

There's a different way to die
Lindsay's every move is watched by her new boss, Lieutenant Jackson Brady, and when the pressure to find the baby begins interfering with her new marriage to Joe, she wonders if she'll ever be able to start a family.


This latest in the series was pretty uneventful. It was pleasent, but there was no real suspense. Most of the book was taken up by Yuki's trial and that was a tad boring. I really didn't care who did it by the end. For once Lindsey isn't put in grave danger and doesn't have any turmoil over her relationship with Joe. Cindy is the only one who seems to come close to any danger. I liked the series better when the 4 girls got together on the same mystery. They were barely together in this one. I felt like the book went into too many directions. The ending was sweet and makes me wonder where he will take the series from here.

--Kari

Don't Blink

By James Patterson and Howard Roughan
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

New York's Lombardo's Steak House is famous for three reasons - the menu, the clientele, and now, the gruesome murder of an infamous mob lawyer. Seated at a nearby table, reporter Nick Daniels accidentally captures a key piece of evidence that lands him in the middle of an all-out war between Italian and Russian mafia forces.

I listened to the audio version of Don’t Blink. It was a quick easy “read”; a pretty typical mafia story, with death threats and back stabbing. I won’t say I loved the book, but it was entertaining enough to listen to the whole thing. I would have liked a bit more romance. What little there was could have been left out of the story. I was able to guess the twist fairly early on. The beginning is a bit gruesome, so I don’t recommend eating when you read it if you are the queasy type. The narrator did a decent job, however his female voices sounded alike. It made it hard to know who was talking sometimes. 3 stars on Goodreads.

The Postcard Killers: Review and Giveaway

By:  James Patterson and Liza Marklund (not her website, but the best I could find)

NYPD detective Jacob Kanon is on a tour of Europe's most gorgeous cities. But the sights aren't what draw him—he sees each museum, each cathedral, and each café through the eyes of his daughter's killer.

Kanon's daughter, Kimmy, and her boyfriend were murdered while on vacation in Rome. Since then, young couples in Paris, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, and Stockholm have been found dead. Little connects the murders, other than a postcard to the local newspaper that precedes each new victim.

Now Kanon teams up with the Swedish reporter Dessie Larsson, who has just received a postcard in Stockholm—and they think they know where the next victims will be.

I received the audiobook from Hachette Audio for review.  I was very excited.  I like a good serial killer thriller.  This one did not disappoint! 

I thought the story was quite good.  The characters were pretty interesting and engaging.  I would find myself sitting in the car in the driveway waiting for the chapter to end before I went inside.  I think that's the sign of a good book!  (in audio form anyway!)

In terms of the audiobook, I thought it was very well done.  The readers, there were three of them in this case, were excellent.  I recognized one of the men, but I couldn't place him.  I think he might have read The Poe Shadow, I'll have to look that up.  The female reader was quite good I thought (loved her accent), but she made Dessie always sound exasperated.  My one tiny gripe were the few sound effects at the very end.  There was a car chase with full sound effects which isn't good when you're listening to that in the car.  Seriously!  And there was a gunshot that about gave me a heart attack.  Other than that, it was very good.

Thanks to the generous people at Hachette Audio, I have 2 copies of The Postcard Killers audiobook to giveaway!  Yay!! 

Since this will ship from the Hachette there are a few minor restrictions:  US Only, No P.O. Boxes, and only one winner per household (even from other blogs).  As this is shipping from Hachette, I can't make any guarantees about when it will get to you.

I'm going to make it easy...just leave a comment below before September 30.  If you want an extra entry, you can tweet about the contest.  Leave the link to the tweet in a separate comment.   Thanks and Good Luck!