Title: Ambush
Author: James Patterson
Series: Michael Bennett, #11
Published: October 2018, Little, Brown & Company
Format: Hardcover, 303 pages
Source: Personal copy
Summary:
Only Detective
Michael Bennett stands in the way of two lethal cartels fighting for New
York City’s multi-million-dollar opioid trade. And they know where
Bennett, and his family, live.
An anonymous tip about a
crime in Upper Manhattan proves to be a setup. An officer is taken
down–and, despite the attackers’ efforts, it’s not Michael Bennett.
New York’s top cop is not the only one at risk. One of Bennett’s
children sustains a mysterious injury. And a series of murders follows,
each with a distinct signature, alerting Bennett to the presence of a
professional killer with a flair for disguise.
Bennett taps his
best investigators and sources, and they fan out across the five
boroughs. But the leads they’re chasing turn out to be phantoms. The
assassin takes advantage of the chaos, enticing an officer into
compromising Bennett, then luring another member of Bennett’s family
into even graver danger.
Michael Bennett can’t tell what’s
driving the assassin. But he can tell it’s personal, and that it’s part
of something huge. Through twist after twist, he fights to understand
exactly how he fits into the killer’s plan, before he becomes the
ultimate victim.
***Short & Sweet Reviews are
short, quick reviews. These will mainly be used for series books where I
have already done full reviews on some of the earlier books or for
books that I feel will suffice with a quick review. These will not be
used for review requests or blog tours.
My thoughts: One of my favorite aspects of this series is that we see not only get to see Detective Michael Bennett do his job, but we see him with his family – both are equally important to him and that point is made very strong over and over again. In this book, Michael’s family is targeted a few times and that of course does not go over well.
I feel that this book was more about character development than anything. The case itself – the paid female assassin – that is trying to take out Detective Bennett, was interesting, but nothing crazy. I liked the new priest – what a surprise he turned out to be! – and I loved that things are moving forward in the relationship between Bennett and Mary Catherine.
This series is still a favorite of mine and I will continue to read it, but this particular installment was not the best one. That being said…I am glad I read it. As I just mentioned, there was some good character development that takes place that for the series overall I am glad to see happen and I am looking forward to the next book to see where things go next!
Books in this series:
1. Step on a Crack
2. Run For Your Life
3. Worst Case
4. Tick Tock
6. Gone
7. Burn
8. Alert
9. Bullseye
9.5 Chase (BookShots)
10. Haunted
10.5 Manhunt (BookShots)
11. Ambush
12. Blindside – due out Feb 2020
