Baron de Coubertin’s Folly-James Patterson’s Private
Games-(2012)-A Book Review
By Lane Lawrence
Private Games, James Patterson and Mark Sullivan, Grand Central
Publishing, New York, 2012
Frankly although I knew the name James Patterson (and friend Mark
Sullivan although I am not sure why the task of writing action thrillers would
require two separate hands on the word processor) I am an extremely late
newcomer to his work, and to this genre in general. I happened to be travelling
and one night I stayed at a hotel where somebody had left a copy of the book
under review, Private Games, in the
bedside drawer (on top of the ubiquitous Gideon’s Bible. Not feeling sleepy and
not interested in some academic heavy reading at that hour I plucked the book
out and plopped it on my chest to see why he has been touted and the Number One
New York Times bestseller and
according to the paid accolades the number one or most popular thriller writer
in the world. Funny that night I read many more pages that I thought I would
have and eventually finished the book in a few days when I had some spare time.
My real question is since I have been informed by a reliable source that
Patterson has written scads (that’s my term when I don’t know the exact number,
okay) of these thrillers where this one should be rated. I will provisionally
rat it as three-stars and either up or down grade the novel after checking out
some other of the author’s work.
Patterson has written a number of series of thrillers this book
which is part of a Private series featuring
private investigator I guess is the best way to state his profession Peter
Knight who works for, well, Private, an
American-based international investigation and security operation. Mr. Knight, unusually
I thought for an a old throw-back detective willing to take a punch or seven or
a few stray bullets for the cause, is a widower with two small adored children,
twins, and is based out of London. And that happens to be fortunate for him, I
think, since he is up to his elbows in helping provide security for the 2012
Olympic Games held at that venue. Perhaps if you are not a rabid sports fan or
a careless reader of the newspapers you were not aware, not thriller plot
aware, that Games were very troubled, almost became the last of the breed of
what old Baron deCoubertin started over one hundred years ago as a revival of
the ancient games held long ago in Greece without the advantage of 24/7
television.
And that’s the rub that is why our man Knight winds up taking
punches and dodging bullets. See some
nefarious (or irate anyway) person or persons are out to destroy the games, to
destroy the Olympic spirit whatever that is these days. The idea is to return
to the ancient and honorable traditions that those wise ancient Greeks adhered
to. Not the crass commercialization or the drug-addled athletes of the modern
era. Or so the evil genius behind the sabotage of the Games wants everybody to
know. Not just a letter to the editor or to the IOC bureaucracy but by wasting
any number of athletes or officials who are on a “hit list,” have made some
egregious transgression. Does this dastardly work using a bevy of females from
Eastern Europe whom he picked up during the Balkan conflagration (okay I will
let you know that the “dastard” when discovered is a “he”). War criminals to
boot.
So you can see where Mr Knight and his agency have their work cut
out for them trying to find the evil genius who almost ended the Games with all
hell breaking loose. The end for Knight though was when his kids were used as
hostages to the evil scheme. That put papa Knight on high level vengeance. So
if you are willing to suspend your disbelief about the events that you never
had heard about happening in the summer of 2012 in London this this is
satisfactory fare. As for me I am off to get another Patterson book or two to
see if he can beat my rating on this one.
