Review by Robert McCool
James Patterson hits it out of the park in this double header.
“The world's best selling author” no longer writes his own books, of which he produces a plethora each year. He “coauthors” with carefully chosen writers, leading to different flavors for each book. In this example, “Murder Thy Neighbor- True Crime Thrillers” (ISBN 978-1-5387-5241-8) he gives us two different stories of damaged people by two different authors in the same volume.
In the first story, Andrew Bourelie (who co authored “Texas Ranger” and “Texas Outlaw” with Mr. Patterson) tells the tale of Ann Hoover, who owns half a row house in a refurbished up and coming neighborhood.
When she meets the new owner of the other half of the house she is thrilled to have somebody who will improve the old place that needs major work. Roy Kirk promises to complete the repairs to the place, but adds that he has purchased a total of eight tax delinquent homes in the area.
Matters eventually turn bad, even as Roy is elected head of the neighborhood association. Windows are boarded up and trash accumulates in the yard of Ann's house.
Then the roof leaks, and matters turn for the worst as Roy grows more and more belligerent and paranoid after she sics the building inspector on him. Eventually Roy is so disturbed and disturbing that he hates the world, and Ann in particular.
Things turn out badly for both of them, as easily predicted. In the end Roy lends us a view of a damaged human and how he affects those around him.
In the second story, Max DiLallo writes a tale that serves us up an all-too-true story set in a social-media storm.
Jenelle Potter is a twenty-nine girl who is stunted and sheltered by her parents, so her exposure to the world is through social-media. When she meets a women named Tracy, her eyes and emotions open up like a childish iris in a world she is too damaged to see clearly. She meets Billy Payne, Tracy's cousin, and has an instant crush on him. Then Billy meets Billie Jean Hayworth, and falls in love with her. Janelle cannot handle the fact that another woman has Billy's heart.
Janelle opens war on Billie Jean with a set of wild claims written by two assumed identities. She invents a fake CIA agent who supposedly tells everybody nasty things about Billie and Billy's relationship.
The message Janelle hears from Jamie Curd, her kinda' boyfriend, is that anybody can be anybody, because everything on social-media is “just pretend”. Well, Janelle pretends that Billy and Billie want to kill her, getting more and more hysterical with each and every post.
This pulls in her strict and protective parents who seek to shield Janelle from harm. Things get ugly, far above and beyond all reason. Two people die, needlessly and violently.
From this point forward the story becomes a detective thriller, with the police closing in on Janelle's family, and finally arresting Janelle herself. The evidence tells a story of unbelievable strangeness and sad facts. Nobody wins in the contrived conflict.
Both these tales go down smoothly, easy on the eyes and mind. Reading James Patterson is like eating a soft caramel, where some of it sticks in your teeth, but nothing gets bitten.
I liked this book, and appreciate the local librarian who recommended it to me. So look for it on your New Books shelf, before the line reserving it gets too long and chewy.
