Title: Private Down Under
Author: James Patterson
Series: Private #7
Published: May 2013, Century
Format: Paperback, 368 pages
Source: Personal copy
Summary:
The world’s most exclusive detective agency opens a new office – in Australia!
With
the best detectives in the business, cutting edge technology and
offices around the globe, there is no investigation company quite like
Private. Now, at a glittering launch party overlooking the iconic Opera
House, Private Sydney throws open its doors . . .
Craig Gisto and
his newly formed team have barely raised their glasses, however, when a
young Asian man, blood-soaked and bullet-ridden, staggers into the
party, and what looks like a botched kidnapping turns out to be a whole
lot more.
Within days the agency’s caseload is full. But it is a
horrific murder in the wealthy Eastern Suburbs and the desperate search
for a motive that stretches the team to the limit. Stacy Friel, friend
of the Deputy Commissioner of NSW Police, isn’t the killer’s first
victim – and as the bodies mount up she’s clearly not the last . . .
My thoughts: It used to be that when a new James Patterson book came out in one of his series I read, I would drop everything and read it…but not so much anymore. Not because I don’t love his books, but because I have so many other books in my stacks to read, and so I have gotten dreadfully behind in all his series. As you can see, this book came out in 2013 and it’s been sitting on my shelf for probably that long, but thanks to the #UnReadShelfProject that I am participating in this year, I am making headway with my James Patterson books this year!
I really do enjoy the Private series and so I decided I would start with this series first and what a good book to start with! This one took off with a bang and never really let up. I love that there are always more than one case happening that needs investigating, so the book is anything but boring, and I also like that with this one, we get inside the mind of our killer – I love when authors do this. Call it sick, call it whatever, but being inside the mind of a killer really gives a different perspective to the book – even if it’s just little snippets here and there.
I think what I like best about the International Private books is meeting all the new characters. Here we have Craig Gisto, running the new Private office. I loved the rivalry between him and the Sydney Police Detective, Mark Talbot – that certainly provided for some tense, heightened moments during the investigations. There’s also Darlene the tech guru, Mary, Craig’s right-hand woman, and Johnny, the youngest member of the team. They seem like a well-oiled machine, this new team, and I would definitely love to see them working together on more cases. The only problem with meeting these new characters in the International books is that so far we haven’t come back to them, so it’s not like they become recurring characters or anything. It’s not like the core group in the U.S. based Private books – Jack Morgan, and Justine – who incidentally does make an appearance in this book! – and a few others. Those characters we do see over and over again – and I love that, because we really get to know them. With these International Private Offices, it’s almost as if they are stand-alones in a sense. We meet the characters, and get to know them as much as we can inside this one book, and that’s it, so far.
In typical Patterson style, we have the usual short chapters, so that you find yourself flipping through the pages in no time, wanting to keep reading to find out not only what is going to happen next, but also because that next chapter is only a page or two! There are also engaging, dynamic characters that you just want more of and keep you intrigued. All in all, this was a good installment in the Private series and I am looking forward to continuing my quest to make progress in this series! Have you read any in this series, or any other of James Patterson’s many series or stand-alone books?
Books in this series:
*This
list contains both the Private home office books and the Private other
offices books combined. Some lists keep these as separate. And some
books have 2 different names, depending on where you buy them.
1. Private
6. Private L.A.
7. Private Oz / Private Down Under
8. Private India: City on Fire
9. Private Vegas
10. Private Paris
11. Private Rio / The Games
12. Private Sydney / The Missing
12.5 Bookshots – Private Royals
13. Private Delhi / Count to Ten
13.5 Bookshots – Private: Gold
Must look out for this one. A favourite author of mine.