Reviews

Michael Bennett and his family have gathered to watch the Thanksgiving Macey’s parade when things take a drastic turn. A van runs into the crowd and a bomb goes off leaving people dead and injured. Bennett is on the case with the FBI to try and find out who is responsible. Patterson’s writing in short stories feels so much better than his full length novel. In his short story he gets straight to the point with everything and leaves no room for fluff. At the same time, there is only one point of view so the reader doesn’t know who the actual killer is and that leaves this highly suspenseful. This had short chapters that made this short story fly by and added to the suspense. Again, his characters are really well developed, we meet Michael Bennett and his family once more, but this time this really just sticks to the case. His new partner in this story was a badass woman who took no punches. Her character arc was really well developed. By the end the reader is unsure what to make of her; she’s very morally grey. This was a quick, fun detective case that left the reader hanging on the edge of their seats.

canada_matt's review

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4.0

While BookShots can be a real gamble, it’s sure money when James Patterson and James O. Born team up and offer a new instalment to the Michael Bennett series. As is their annual tradition, the Bennetts are preparing for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Eager to secure a decent spot, they leave before dawn and take in all the festivities along the streets of New York. When, during the middle of the parade, Detective Bennett notices a vehicle crashing through the parade route, he arms himself for the worst. After crashing into one of the floats and pressing a detonator switch, the driver utters a baffling Arabic phrase and rushes off while mayhem ensues. Bennett leaps into action and chases down the driver, whose powerful fighting skills see him escape the clutches of the NYPD’s finest. For his heroics, Bennett is loaned to the FBI Taskforce to determine who the driver might be and what motive might explain this recent terrorist attack. Paired with Russian Embassy official, Darya Kuznetsova, Bennett is baffled as to why the Feds are utilising foreign countries to handle this investigation. After studying some of the tape from the event, its determined that the driver hails from Kazakhstan and has ties to Russia, though seems to have been turned by an Islamic terror cell for reasons yet unknown. Bennett and Kuznetsova seek to learn a little more about the man and how he might have masterminded this attack, as well as whether there is more to come. Bennett will not let up as long as the terrorist is on the loose, even if that means bending the rules set out for him. Bennett learns a little more about the driver and is baffled to learn some key information that might better explain what happened along the parade route. Might there be more to the story than meets the eye? With the Feds itching for answers and the Russian Mob on the hunt, Bennett must rush before everything disappears into a puff of smoke. Patterson and Born do a masterful job and show just how powerful a BookShot can be in the right hands. Lovers of these short stories and Michael Bennett fans alike will surely find much to enjoy in this.

Just as I have said that James Patterson ought to stick to a few key series (Michael Bennett being one of them), I also feel that there are a handful of collaborators who bring out the best in this super-rich author. James O. Born is one of those men, who has started to help steer the Michael Bennett series towards renewed success. Born is also wonderful in his BookShot submissions, dazzling the reader with high quality and succinct writing, which Patterson surely enjoys in whatever capacity he has. Tying in nicely to the previous full-length novel, the Bennetts are out in full force for Thanksgiving. Michael Bennett is, as always, a powerful character and receives a peppering of backstory here, though the number of past novels and the brevity of this piece do not leave much time for thorough expansion. The use of Darya Kuznetsova proves an interesting addition to the story, which works on many levels to add a new flavour to the over-utilised terrorist theme prevalent in the genre. Some of the twists these two discover only add to an already intense narrative, pushing the story along at breakneck speeds. The number of secondary characters also complement the story’s direction without weighing it down and forcing the reader to synthesise too much. The story is exciting and allows the reader to discover a new angle in the War on Terror, while also flirting with some of the new revelations about the former Cold War nemesis. Paced well with short chapters and just enough for an afternoon of reading, this Michael Bennett piece delivers in all the right ways!

Kudos, Messrs. Patterson and Born, for another superior collaboration. I can only hope that you have more lined up for BookShot fans in the coming months.

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