An author who can be depended on to consistently give us an interesting, enjoyable, compelling read is Yank James Patterson _ with and without a co-writer. His plots aren't taken from yesterday's headlines, rather, they are the product of a fertile imagination. Contrived, with clever twists, at times implausible, always exciting.
Now You See Her by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge, 478 pp, 2012 Arrow paperback. Available at Asia Books and leading bookshops, 325 baht
To nitpick, the drawback to Now You See Her by Patterson and Michael Ledwidge is the unlikely coincidences. For one, the predator just happens to pick up the hitchhiking heroine in South Florida. For another, the psychopath husband just happens to spot his runaway wife in the Big Apple metropolis.
As protagonists go, 20-year-old Jeannie has all the luck of Jonah. As a student, she wants nothing more out of life than to party. On holiday, off she and her friends go to Key West, where the motto is "Party Till You Drop". Waking from a bender and finding her best boyfriend and girlfriend at it, she "borrows" his car and speeds off.
Speeds is the operative term because Jeannie can't stop in time and hits a man. A cop comes by and arrests her. But her tears appear to soften Peter's heart and he lets her go, disposing of the body. After a whirlwind courtship, damsel and knight wed. Isn't this the stuff of fairy tales?
Peter dotes on his wife and Jeannie laps it up until she catches him lying. Enter an FBI special agent with the news that he's suspected of murdering his first wife. In fear of her life she flees, pretending to be the victim of the Jumping Killer who abducts young women, their bodies never found.
We are asked to believe that they have an encounter and Jeannie drowns him in self-defence. The pregnant wife goes to New York, where she changes her name to Nina, has a daughter Emma, goes back to school, and becomes a lawyer. A man is arrested as the Jumping Killer and sentenced to be executed. Should she, now 40, come forward with the truth and ruin her own life?
Meanwhile Peter, remarried, sees Jeannie/Nina and is determined to kill her and their daughter too _ a certifiable sociopath. In the latter chapters (117 all-told) a Mexican drug cartel is brought into the story with Peter the Florida kingpin. Can the DEA and FBI save mum and Emma from his clutches?
Unlike the author's previous books, no private eye or police detective is on hand to solve cases and save the day. Rather, there's only Jeannie/Nina and Charlie, another vulnerable lawyer she meets and falls for. Yet Now You See Her holds together and is a satisfying read.
Unholy Night by Seth Grahame- Smith, 412 pp, 2012 Bantam paperback. Available at Asia Books and leading bookshops, 325 baht
A Biblical twist
The Good Book _ Old and New Testaments _ has long been a source of inspiration for poets and writers, artists and musicians. Though not written by God, he is its featured character. God and Adam and Eve, God and Moses, God and Christ. Those who scoff at his miracles can't explain them.
Those who accept the miracles believe that God is almighty and can do anything, even if they can't understand why. Still, it is bothersome why He allows awful things to happen. In Unholy Night, set two millennia ago, American author Seth Grahame-Smith raises these questions and more.
Balthazar, his literary creation, is the devil's advocate throughout the story. He is introduced as an adolescent in the Syrian town of Antioch. With his father passing away, he becomes the sole supporter of his mother and siblings. Part of the Roman empire, the citizenry have to bow and scrape before the army of occupation. To climb out of poverty, our protagonist becomes a thief.
A good one, the best there is, there isn't a pocket he can't pick, a purse he can't cut. And when he flees the scene, he runs like the wind. He has a girlfriend, Sela, but he dotes on his little brother, Abdi, who worships him. Alas, the four-year-old tries his hand at thievery and is caught.
The would-be centurion victim heartlessly makes an example of the boy by running his sword through him. Balthazar swears vengeance, which takes him the rest of his life. He adds killing to thieving. His victims are Judean soldiers as well as Roman, for his search takes him to other lands.
Balthazar's luck doesn't always hold and at one point he is thrown into a dungeon, from which he helps two other captured criminals escape on stolen camels. Smith would have us believe that they are three magi, taking refuge in the same manger in Bethlehem as Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus, giving them their loot.
As King Herod, a puppet of the Roman emperor, has ordered the first-born sons slaughtered, hopefully the messiah of prophecy among them, the three fugitives decide to protect their stable mates. Balthazar is irreligious and doesn't believe their story about angels and God, then his doubts turn to wonder at the miracles he witnesses.
In time the cruel centurion is found and killed, Balthazar's companions are crucified with Jesus and you can guess who set fire to Rome during the reign of Nero. Not the Bible as we know it, but quite a bit of the history here appears accurate. Unholy Night isn't Quo Vadis? but is a good read.
