Private Down Under

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review. Private Down Under by James Patterson and Michael White is a great thriller with lots of action and adventure. All the Private agency books have numerous twists and turns and this book is no exception. I have been a fan of Patterson books for many years and enjoy each addition to his growing list of best sellers.

This new branch called Private Sydney opens in Australia and has the best detectives in the business, cutting edge technology and offices around the globe, there is no investigation company quite like Private. The Sydney gala is broken up by a horrific murder which the Private group begins investigating. Craig Gisto and his new team have hardly even met one another yet when an Asian man, bloody and shot, staggers into the party which looks like a kidnapping and turns out to be something a whole lot more. Before they even get settled in and officially open their doors, they are in the center of several murder investigations.

Within just days the agency's caseload is full. A horrific murder in the well-heeled Eastern suburbs and the frantic search for motives stretches the team to the limit. Stacy Friel, friend of the Deputy Commissioner of NSW Police, isn't the killer's first victim and as the body count mounts she's clearly not going to be the last.

The team must use every bit of skill and technology that the agency has available to them and also with the assistance of the NSW Police to catch a serial killer before another victim dies. With two additional cases requiring their attention and solved everyone’s hands are full. And this is only the first week of the agency’s opening!

The book had lots of twists and turns to keep you guessing until the end. With lots of action and adventure this is a book that will hold your attention and make you want to read more about Private Sydney and the people who work there. I gave this book a five star rating because it is that good and I am looking forward to another one from this series. I highly recommend this book to all James Patterson fans and anyone who loves a whodunit. Trust me you will love this book!

Hard to believe this is the fifth installment that I've read in Patterson's Private series, and nothing here has changed my opinion that this is the best series he and his various partners are serving up (this one is co-written with Michael White). It's also easy to read; I polished the whole thing off in one day of spare time (admittedly on a Saturday when college football games dominated the TV and I was able to keep one eye on my Kindle Fire and the other on the action). I'll also point out that the last 12% is a three-chapter preview of Burn, the next in his Michael Bennett series that I believe is scheduled for publication Sept. 29, 2014.

For those who don't know, Private is a high-tech, highly successful investigation agency with offices all over the world (hence Private Berlin, Private L.A., etc. In this one, Craig Cristo has formed a new office in Sydney, Australia, with the help of the drop-dead gorgeous and highly experienced Justine, who also happens to be the main squeeze of Jack Morgan, founder/owner of Private. As they throw a big bash to kick off the opening, a young Asian man - complete with bullet holes and a few missing body parts - stumbles onto the scene (pretty much putting the kabosh on the party spirit).

As it turns out, it may have been a kidnapping gone awry, and the man's father (who hates the police) believes it's related to the lucrative world of imported drugs and wants Private to do their thing. That gives the new company some serious business, but as if that weren't enough, a friend of the New South Wales Police Department, turns up brutally murdered. That investigation leads to the discovery that she's not the first - nor is she the last, since more murders start happening in fairly rapid succession.

As with the others in the series, this one is relatively predictable and won't challenge anyone's gray matter - making it perfect for reading on the beach, by a cozy fire or, as in my case, cheering on "my" Ohio State University Buckeyes (and in any case, preferably with a glass of wine in hand).

"Her beauty totally dwarfed the beauty of the view." That groaner pretty much sums up the poor writing throughout the book. No, wait. One more example (and there are many) deserves special mention. The main character, upon observing the small children of a murdered woman, described this event as being "super sucky." Add in poor character development, boring action and more superficial dialogue and you have, well, a sucky novel. This book would not have seen the light of day without Patterson's clout.

I have read every Private book and I didn't want to put them down once I started reading them except for Down Under. Usually if I have to put them down I can hardly wait to get back to them. But it took me forever to read Down Under. I just never got into the story. I don't know why. Maybe it was the fact that Jack was in all the others and he nevmmer made an appearance in this book. Mr Patterson normally writes thrilling books. I found this one to be boring......................

Looks it was written by a high school sophomore as a writing assignment. Probably got a c- Not Patterson quality

I agree with another reviewer: One star is being generous. The characters are insipid; bland; boring and not original. The dialogue is so stupid as to induce cringes. There are a couple of scenes in the book where I wanted to scream when I read them. One was a description of the hero's car accident, wherein he climbs out of the wrecked car and is given the forensic report on the other driver. Really? How fascinating. I know things happen slowly here in the states with regard to crime scene investigation, but to find out that the Aussies can gin up a forensic report AT THE SCENE is positively embarrassing.

Another scene which doesn't pass muster: one of Private's richie-rich clients (are there any other types?) is being threatened with a very sharp object, and is being held down by the assailant. The Private detectives burst in, and then just STAND THERE. Doing nothing. Watching. In fact, the narrative goes like this "...and Johnny and Darlene realized the best thing they could do was nothing." Holy carp! If I am paying these dolts tons of money, and I am being threatened with being filleted like, well, a carp, I would hope my 'protectors' would do SOMETHING, except watch. A final scene that begs credulity... the perpetrator of the main crimes is holding a VIP at knife point. The cops are behind her, about 10 feet, guns drawn. She doesn't know they are they there. Do they shoot? Do they act like cops in any way? NO! They simply stand there, too!

This was an ignorant story written by a lame-brain. Do NOT waste your money or time on this dreck. BAD, BAD, HORRIBLE!

Eversince James Patterson started putting his name on the writing of one if his apparently slew of writing people, you really never know what you are going to get.. I wish he would either write as he used to, or retire.. but I guess when you have a name, you can market it..
So this book for me was mediocre at best.. The first 50-60 pages were so discombobulated that I almost stopped reading.. Decided to finish because I had nothing better to read..
Sad really, since Patterson was one of my absolute favorite murder mystery writers.. For me he is following a path of Daniel Steel, once they start popping a book avery two monte it seems, its time to just stop buying and reading..

This book was really a waste of my time. It was poorly written and to me it was just a mess of words poorly put together. Maybe author should have just focused on one story plot. I was truly disappointed. I have always enjoyed Patterson's books until this one.

Dont waste your time on this one. The only reason it sells is because of the name James Patterson on the cover. If this is a sample of the co-writer Michael White's capabilities I will certainly avoid his books. I kept looking for a plot to develop and finally decided at about page 300 lthat there was not going to be one. The story jumps around all over the place and it's as if they had a couple of ideas for a book and decided to put both of them in one cover so that they could fill up enough pages. I only finished it because I hate to quit anything I start. I probably will not even try any other books with this co-author involved. There might be some interesting characters in the book but nothing is ever done to develop them to the point of caring about them. All you get is a tease here and there on some of them. I seriously doubt that James Patterson had much of anything to do with this.

PRIVATE DOWN UNDER, a novel by James Patterson and Michael White.
I have read all of the Private books with titles bearing names of many of the world’s great cities and have generally enjoyed them and rated them highly. However, this Aussie Private is far below Patterson standards. My guess is that it was written by Michael White with little oversight by Patterson. The writing is disjointed in structure, lacks a coherent plot, and quite boring with the exception a few chapters toward the end. His characters were left dangling, and most were never fully developed. Suppose my disappointment stems from the notion that I expected more from James Patterson. At the 75 percent point the story did take on some semblance of a structured novel, but it was too little, too late.
I am being generous to give this book a rating of 2. I do not recommend it.