Private goes on the hunt for London’s most feared killer since Jack the Ripper. For Hannah Shapiro, a young American student, the nightmare began eight years ago in Los Angeles, when the owner of Private–the world’s most exclusive detective agency–saved her from a horrific death. Now, after eight years, the terror follows her to London. The only man who can help is former Royal Military Police … Royal Military Police Sergeant Dan Carter, head of Private London.
In London, young women are being abducted and their bodies found mutilated in a grotesque, mysterious way. Carter’s ex-wife, DI Kirsty Webb, leads the investigation into these brutal murders, which may somehow be linked to Hannah Shapiro. Working together, the two investigators are caught in a desperate race against the odds. Private may be the most advanced detection agency in the world…but can they catch a predator who rivals London’s most elusive killer ever?
more
I really like the characters and it is fun visiting other places in the world. I like this series and have read all the books. This is one of my favorites in the series.
Great, easy read!
Confusing and boring. Not typical Paterson
Just pure entertainment.
Yikes!
If I had to sum Private London up in just one word – that word would have to be ‘ludicrous’. I am a big fan of James Patterson and though I know it wasn’t written by him it does come from his stable of writers, coauthored by Mark Pearson as it is. So, surely Patterson must carry some of the responsibility for this travesty.
Spoiler alert!!!!!
I listened to the audio version of this story. First off, we come across the narrator who plays Dan Carter our ‘hero’ for want of a better word. He must have one of the most irritating, grating, nauseating voices I have heard so far from any audiobook actor (maybe if I had read the book rather than listened to it my feelings might be slightly different but I can’t say). Now, back that awful narration up with some of the worst dialogue and scenes and you have a flimsy character. Desperate to sound cool Carter comes across as a vain idiot with sexist cliches galore. Of course, he has the stereotypical backstory of suffering PTSD which is a vital prerequisite for such a character – hooray. But overall he is weak and dull. Indeed, if this joker ever crosses paths with Jack Reacher, Jason Bourne or even James Bond there would only be a bloody mess with bits of Carter left strewn all over the place.
Then there is Private itself, a global network of PIs under one umbrella organisation. Every opportunity is taken to let readers know about the sophisticated setup that is the Private enterprise – this global network of private detectives is above the Law and has access to technologies the rest of law enforcement can only dream of.
Next is the plot. What a shambles. In a desperate attempt to keep the reader guessing and engaged to the bitter end it is strewn with blatant red herrings. It is the only way you can get through the story – ‘how does it all tie together?’ you keep asking yourself as you plod and persevere through. And that’s the point, it doesn’t but who cares, you’ve bought the book/CDs already so it’s too late. In the author’s desperation to create something unique and appealing to the contemporary reader we end up being treated to a fair amount of Islamophobia & xenophobia amongst the muddle of ideas (plenty of anti-Palestinian sentiments aired including a face veil wearing Hispanic supporter of Palestinian liberation would you believe?) – so this should at least appeal to the many Trumpophiles out there. Couple that with a pseudo-lesbian professor and a damsel in distress suffering a variation of the Stockholm syndrome to confuse matters further. Then throw in an East London old-school mob selling drugs and engaged in porn just to make sure we know we’re still in London, and top off with a mysterious serial killer who cuts off fingers from her victims postmortem and you have a broth that is a tasteless mess. No more from the Private series for me. I’ll stick to those James Paterson books where only HIS name appears on the cover.