REVIEW: Burn (Michael Bennett #7) by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

Burn (Michael Bennett #7) by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

Publication Date: September 29, 2014

Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Source: ARC received from Publisher at Book Expo America 2014
Guest Reviewer: Doris aka La Chiquita

Buy it at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

*This book was received from the publisher, but it did not influence this review in any way *

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Detective Michael Bennett and his family come home to New York City. The ruthless crime lord who forced them into hiding is down for good. Bennett takes over a chaotic Outreach Squad in Harlem, a caller claims well-dressed men held a bizarre party in a condemned building. Report is dismissed until a charred body is found there -- leading to underground depravity

What do you get when you mix the children from the sound of music, the private detective from the 1950's black and white films, add in a sprinkle of California scandal, two cups of New York City sound, and all the Irish beer in Ireland? Burn by James Patterson.

I will say this, I don't like starting a series in the middle. It can go either way, I absolutely love the series and have to know what came before, or I will feel so lost in the private jokes and character relations that I feel more like an intruder than a reader. Having said that I also have to admit that my taste for thrillers and action books go to the darker spectrum. I am a huge fan of Jo Nesbo and Stieg Larsson, they have set the standards pretty high on the thriller threshold for me to consider it a page turner. Though the plot line of this book made me raise and eye brow, I gotta say the execution of the plot line was... meh.

The story starts in California, Michael Bennett is testifying on a big case to put away some serious players in a local cartel. After the trail, he is released from protective custody and returned back to the hustle and bustle of New York City. The Bennett clan is 13 members deep. There are 10 adopted kids of ranging ages and sexes, Michael the detective, Mary Catherine the nanny and Michael's grandfather. Though you would think the family dynamic would be a bit cray-cray it actually works. The saint of a nanny is on top of all the daily needs of the family and the needs of the detective. You read right swooners, the nanny is making goo-goo eyes at the detective. This relationship has been off and on through out the series it appears, but as of this book it's pretty on.

              

When the detective gets back to the city, he is anticipating to be given a promotion and all the accolades a returning veteran of the NYPD should receive. What he actually gets is a nice spoonful of disappointment. Not only is he not returning to solving high profile cases but he is made the head of a department of misfit cops. What does this department handle? All the public complaints that the neighborhood has and New York being New York there's a ton of that. Even so, he stumbles onto case of sexual cannibals that whips his department into shape and makes him rethink getting his own departments was so bad as he first thought. The crime story is more of an after thought to his family life and relationship to Mary Catherine.

If you are looking for a book with sarcastic banter and a hint of crime, then this series might be for you. As for me? I'll stick to the broken detectives and defective psychopaths they chase.