James Patterson Kicks Off The Summer Season Early With ’15th Affair’ [REVIEW]

In James Patterson and Maxine Paetro’s 15th Affair, a quadruple homicide at the Four Seasons Hotel has the Women’s Murder Club baffled. Meanwhile, San Francisco is caught in the middle of the largest-scale terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11. To make matters worse, Detective Lindsay Boxer has the sneaking suspicion both incidents are related and that her beloved husband Joe is the suspect who links everything together. 

The prolific Patterson and his co-author Paetro are capable writers who know how to ratchet up the suspense. After writing 12 books in this series together, they can deftly strap us in, take us to the brink and push us over the edge, listening to our screams of pure adrenaline. I can almost hear the writers cackling gleefully as they show us no mercy, sending us spinning with each new plot twist, keeping us guessing right up to the end.

The great thing about 15th Affair is that the authors prove they have no qualms about turning the lives of their veteran cast upside down. They’ve done this before, of course, but this time it gets personal. After all, what can be more agonizing and terrifying than realizing you’ve been sharing your life with someone you don’t really know at all? That’s the concept that makes this book work, and which makes readers feel a real connection to Boxer and her tiny family.

So if you’re looking for a novel that reads like like a big screen summer blockbuster, that is as full of heart as it is close-your-eyes-and-hold-on-tight moments of breathtaking, pulse pounding thrills, 15th Affair is the book for you. It is just in time for a long Memorial Day weekend too, almost as if James Patterson himself has fired up the grill and popped the top on a cold brew and said, “let’s get this party started!”

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

James Patterson has created more enduring fictional characters than any other novelist writing today. He’s the author of the Alex Cross novels, the most popular detective series of the past 25 years. His other bestselling novels feature the Women’s Murder Club, Michael Bennett, Private and NYPD Red. Since his first novel won the Edgar Award in 1977, Patterson’s books have sold more than 300 million copies.

He is also the author of numerous number one bestsellers for young readers, including the Maximum Ride, Witch & Wizard, Middle School, and Treasure Hunters series. In 2010, he was named Author of the Year at the Children’s Choice Book Awards.

His lifelong passion for books and reading led Patterson to create the innovative website ReadKiddoRead.com, giving adults an invaluable tool to find the books that get kids reading for life. He writes full-time and lives in Florida with his family. Visit his home on the Web at JamesPatterson.com, like him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.

Maxine Paetro is the author of three novels and two works of nonfiction, and she is the coauthor of the Women’s Murder Club series with James Patterson. She lives in New York with her husband.

15TH AFFAIR
By James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
384 pgs. Little, Brown and Company. $28.