Keeping Track In A Little Black Book

The Black Book by James Patterson & David Ellis - a book review

Image from Audible

When I select a book to listen, I try to select writers who are new to me. James Patterson is not one of those, as I have read several of his books, but definitely not all of them. Browsing through the books I had stored in my library, and not able to decide which one would be next, I clicked on The Black Book by James Patterson.

I like a good detective, and I like a good thriller, and this book offers both in a chilling story.

About the author, James Patterson

James Patterson is not only a writer of adult fiction but also of children's books. He's the world’s bestselling author and most trusted storyteller, as he has created more fictional characters than any other writer today. This author has sold over 380 million books worldwide, and currently holds the Guinness World Record for the most #1 New York Times bestsellers, and also being the first author to hold #1 titles in the adult and children’s section of the New York Times.

Patterson grew up in Newburgh, New York, where he began writing when he was nineteen. He graduated from the Manhattan College in 1969. In 1976, James Patterson published his first novel, The Thomas Berryman Number. Thirty-one publishers turned down this novel before Little, Brown and Company accepted it, and the book went on the win the Edgar Award for the Best First Novel. The book, Along Came a Spider, in 1993 became Patterson’s first book to be a New York Times bestseller.

James Patterson has donated millions to school and classroom libraries, to independent bookstores and employees, and to his and his wife’s alma maters — the University of Wisconsin, Vanderbilt University, and Manhattan College. Besides this, he has donated over a million books to U.S. soldiers at home and overseas and he has established over four hundred Teacher and Writer Education Scholarships at twenty-one colleges and universities throughout the country.

He also founded ReadKiddoRead.com, which is a website designed to help parents, teachers, and librarians to get a new generation excited about reading.

Many elements in the plot of The Black Book

In this book, we get to know Billy Harney, who is a cop just like his father, and his twin sister is also on the police force. Billy is investigating a horrible murder and because he saw his suspect at a brownstone in Chicago, he wants to raid it.

The brownstone turns out to be an exclusive brothel catering to Chicago’s most powerful citizens. In the house he finds plenty of incriminating evidence, but what matters most is missing: the black book in which the madam has kept records of visits to the brothel. Everyone in the city is desperate to find the book.

What I like about this book is that it’s not only about the chilling search for the black book, but you also get to know Billy Harney better, and the all-encompassing sadness of his young daughter dying of a stroke, and his wife taking her own life.

There’s something else. The book starts where Billy Harney, his lover Amy and his partner Kate are found shot down in Amy’s apartment. Everyone is dead, except Billy breathes again after half an hour.

The plot jumps from the present, where Billy has amnesia, to the past where we learn more about his investigation, and the search for the missing black book. Billy is arrested for the murder of the madam of the brownstone after the police find incrimination evidence in his house. That’s when his twin sister tells him to pretend he has his memory back, to get him off the hook.

Then one night, he really gets his memory back, and the story that unfolds then is nothing you could’ve imagined.

A thriller for sure, and one which keeps you guessing up to the end.

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