Review: Don’t Blink by James Patterson

First line: Lombardo’s Steakhouse on Manhattan’s tony Upper East Side was justly famous for two things, two specialties of the house.

From the inside cover: Lombardo’s Steakhouse in New York is famous for three reasons: the menu, the clientele, and now, the gruesome murder of an infamous mob lawyer. Effortlessly, the assassin slips through the police’s fingers, and his absence sparks a blaze of accusations about who ordered the hit.

Seated at a nearby table, reporter Nick Daniels is conducting a once-in-a-lifetime interview with a legendary baseball bad boy. In the chaos, he accidentally captures a key piece of evidence that lands him in the middle of an all-out war between Italian and Russian Mafia forces. NYPD captains, district attorneys, mayoral candidates, media kingpins, and one shockingly beautiful magazine editor are all pushing their own agendas – on both sides of the law.

Back off – or die – is the clear message Nick receives as he investigates for a story of his own. Heedless, and perhaps in love with is beautiful editor, Nick endures humiliation, threats, violence, and worse in a thriller that overturns every expectation and finishes with the kind of flourish only James Patterson can achieve.

My thoughts: As most of you know by now, I love reading James Patterson books and have only read one that I didn’t care for. This latest book, in my eyes, is another hit! It’s a very fast and gripping page turner, complete with all that you come to expect from this author – extremely short chapters that usually leave you wanting more, suspense, tension, a little romance throw in, and twists and turns throughout the book. In Don’t Blink we are immersed into the life of New York writer, Nick Daniels. After a crazy, near-escape trip to the Sudan for research, Nick is offered the writing assignment of a lifetime – an interview with a famous, retired yet disgraced, Yankee pitcher. But he soon realizes that he’s about to get a whole lot more. Interrupted during the interview by a gruesome murder while at a popular steak restaurant, Nick discovers he has an important piece of information on his tape recorder. This leads to some tough decisions for Nick and throws him into another ride of his life. As with all his books, this was one James Patterson book that I couldn’t put down until I read the last page.

(I purchased this book.)