Review: Burn by James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge

Title: Burn   

Author: James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge    

Series: Michael Bennett, #7     

Published: September 2014, Little, Brown & Company  

Format: ARC Paperback, 401 pages   

Source: Publisher  

Detective Michael Bennett finally returns to New York City – and to the most unsettling, horrific case of his career.

At
last, Detective Michael Bennett and his family are coming home to New
York City. Thanks to Bennett, the ruthless crime lord whose vengeful
mission forced the Bennett family into hiding has been brought down for
good.

Back in the city that never sleeps, Bennett takes over a
chaotic Outreach Squad in Harlem, where he receives an unusual call: a
man claims to have seen a group of well-dressed men holding a bizarre
party in a condemned building. With no clear crime or evidence, Bennett
dismisses the report.

But when a charred body is found in that
very same building, he is forced to take the caller seriously – and is
drawn into an underground criminal world of terrifying depravity.

My thoughts: It’s no big secret that I am a huge James Patterson fan. I read just about all his adult books – series and stand-alones – and so I was ecstatic when I heard that ARCs (advanced reading copies) of his latest Michael Bennett book would be given away at BEA this year. This was one book that I had to get above all others because I’ve never had an ARC James Patterson book before. While it wasn’t a signed copy, I was just happy to get one!!!

This book picks up shortly after the previous book, Gone, ends, with Michael Bennett tying up a few loose ends so he and his family can finally head back to their home in NYC. Once home and back at work, Bennett finds that things don’t quite go according to plan. He thinks that maybe, now that he’s brought the huge crime-lord Perrine down, that he’ll get himself a promotion, but the powers-that-be have different plans. Nothing gets Bennett down, and despite the lemons he’s been given, he soon finds himself right back in the middle of the fray.

I will admit that this book does start off a bit slow and it isn’t until
quite a few chapters in that the pace finally picks up and then all of a
sudden it is nonstop action. Like a fire that’s slow to ignite, once it starts burning, it doesn’t stop. Being involved with two seemingly unconnected cases and then having a crisis on the homefront certainly amp up the pressure for our beloved Detective Michael Bennett. Can he solve both cases before all hell breaks lose? Is there a connection between the two? 

I’ve enjoyed this series immensely, but I think this book is the best one yet. The way the action starts slow and builds to a crazy pace made me not want to put the book down. I typically read James Patterson’s books in a day or two, but this time, I read it in just one sitting – it was that good! The only problem with that is that I now have to wait another year before my next Michael Bennett fix…

Books in this series:

1. Step on a Crack
2. Run For Your Life
3. Worst Case
4. Tick Tock
5. I, Michael Bennett 
6. Gone
7. Burn