coolreads# The Russian @definitelybooks

The Russian
Authors: James Patterson & James O.Born
Publisher: Penguin Books
ISBN: 9781787461871

The title for James Patterson and James O. Born’s new thriller, The Russian, is a misnomer. No where in the story is there any mention of a Russian or Russian connection until the very end when the suspect is apprehended. And that also is so lame as a plot twist. So the reader is left wondering who or where is the Russian throughout the book.

The story starts on a confusing note for those who are not familiar with the Michael Bennett detective thriller series. Confusing because the first several chapters are in the first person with no indication who the narrator is. 

The opening chapter finds the main character, Michael Bennett and his partner, Brett Hollis, of NYPD racing through the streets of New York after a suspect in a gruesome murder. He is captured after a chase, questioned and then found not to be the right guy.

After several chapters, the antagonist, Daniel Ott, enters the scene in the third person, and the reader is made immediately aware that he is definitely the murderer. Also, he is a serial killer who really likes his work and his job enables him to travel to cities, stay for a while, kill a few people and move somewhere else.

Initially, the change from first person to third person can be distracting, but as the story progresses, the reader soon finds the format helpful to get into the minds of both the protagonist and the antagonist.

The reader will grow disgusted with Ott’s attitude toward women and his desire to kill them. Then when he is talking to his own two little girls and his wife on the phone, he can be so loving and tender. 

Ott, in his thrill at committing his crimes, enjoys playing cat and mouse with the police. The murders are particularly gruesome and bloody and the victims subjected to grisly mutilations. He intentionally leaves clues at each crime scene to see if the police are smart enough to notice them.

As the story progresses, Patterson and Born throw in several side stories - including Bennett’s personal life, as he prepares for his wedding, with his family of 10 children and his fiancé bubbling around through the story. 

The second story is a copycat killer, and this offers some excitement as Bennett struggles to determine if it is really a copycat, or the same killer who tries a variation on his kills.

The other characters are rather unforgettable, with the exception of John Macy, the aid to the mayor and a man whose mission is to make life difficult for others, especially Bennett. He is an arrogant, self-centred man who wants things done his way. This obnoxious lackey also likes to micromanage the investigation, which doesn’t sit well with Bennett at all. 

As Bennett and his partner try to solve the case, bodies keep piling up in New York City. Meanwhile, the FBI who is supposed to help out in the investigation, is trying to interject itself into the proceedings for reasons that are ultimately made clear in a twist that takes place toward the end.

Ott seems to be always one step ahead of the NYPD and the FBI in the race. But eventually, it is Ott’s arrogance and overconfidence that get him caught.

As the story winds down, the finale is a disappointment - from finding and apprehending the killer, to the FBI revelation, finally, to the wedding scene.

Patterson is a better writer than this, and I’m wondering if he is actually mentoring a writer new to the series, but The Russian is definitely not what I expected, based on the book with the same title by another author that I just reread recently.