James Patterson’s CV tells us that he has sold more books than Dan Brown, JK Rowling, Tom Clancy and John Grisham combined. I would hazard a guess that he has written more books then them combined. The same CV tells us that he is the creator of the two best selling crime series in recent years, the only author to have been simultaneously number one in both the New York Times adults’ and kids’ fiction list, and has had a number of his books turned into Hollywood films. You feel that you want to take this author of fast-paced, action-saturated thrillers warmly by the throat and ask, “Haven’t you done everything now? Wouldn’t you like to take a break?” But no, I suspect the guy will still be churning ‘em out when the rest of are rattling around in bath chairs.

In the current yarn a young fellow by the name of Ned Kelly is hired by art thieves to create a diversion to cover a theft that they will perpetrate themselves. All he has to do is run around town setting off burglar alarms in as many places as possible to keep the police distracted. All he has to do then is pocket the moolah and get on with smooching his new girlfriend. Cool. Except after the job the art gang are massacred and someone is on Ned’s tail. The cops have convinced themselves he is the killer so it is up to him to fight back and get to the bottom of this murderous intrigue.

Kansai Scene, July 2006

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