The Quickie

Where to start? This was the worst book I've read in a long time, if not ever.

First of all, none of the characters were sympathetic. I understand having flawed characters, but I should be able to love or at least like them in spite of their flaws. That was definitely not the case here.

The Bronx Police Dept. is comprised of idiots if you believe this book. How in the world is the main character able to successfully hide or destroy so much evidence? Once I could buy, but over and over again?

And who thinks like this woman? She cheats on her husband because he cheated on her, but then decides to cover up a murder for him? Her lover's murder? Why? Then to make it clear that the main character is indeed one of the good guys, the authors show more decide to make the husband a cheating, stealing bigamist murderer and the lover a bad cop. Really? Was that necessary?

There is nothing at all believable about this story. It's not funny, the characters are not likable. I doubt it will teach anyone anything new. And the writing is not that great, so there is really no reason for anyone to read this book. What a waste of $5! show less

"A kind of pleading in his almond-shaped brown eyes"

Oh wow is this book awful. Someone took a cliché dictionary out of the library, cobbled every entry together into something like a cop thriller, and put a famous name on the front cover.

The protagonist, Lauren, is a hypocritical adulterous whiner who has an affair... to teach her cheating husband a lesson. Um... ironic, much? So when this revenge turns out to be full of salmonella and gunshot rather than being served cold, it's pretty tough to have any sympathy for her.

Oh, but never mind the conflict of interest in the upcoming prosecution case, she's the best, she's going to take it... "Bronx assistant DAs practically fought to take my cases because they could just about read my show more reports aloud for their prosecutions". For someone who's so bullish about her own abilities, she uses a whole lotta qualifiers in that sentence.

Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. I promise never to open another novel bearing the James Patterson brand as long as I live. For my penance, I agree to rid my shelves of this rot.

(seriously, it's too bad even for BookMooch. I'm going to leave them on the Tube.) show less

This lived up to the title, I read it in one sitting. After getting past the initial "oh for pity's sake" moment at the start, it was a fascinating look at the snow ball effect of one mistake that leads to another. Of course, in real life this would never have gotten so far, but it was interesting to see it play out as fiction. Once again though, Patterson throws in a epilogue that was just plain lazy. Tying up loose ends should be just that, not slapping a dime store bow on it.

I read for pleasure, and this was most unpleasant, yet interesting enough to keep going to see what will happen next. I will not reveal much except to say how uncomfortable I was with the course of action which required Lies on top of lies to keep lives from unravelling. In a story, I often place myself in the situation confronting a character and think, what would I do? This woman did everything opposite of how I would have handled it, and the resulting consequences were the main reason for my discomfort throughout. Fortunate, if unlikely events followed and the authors skillfully created a gut wrenching narrative that, while straining credibility, manages to keep you turning the pages. It is trash, but good trash. I would be show more embarrassed, however, to give it more than 3 stars show less

Am I the only one who thinks Patterson falls ridiculously flat when he tries to write from a woman’s point of view? I didn’t believe for a second that Lauren was a competent NYPD detective. Her narration is flighty and shallow and exaggerated. She sleeps with a man once, this so-called quickie, but in narration she treats it like some long-established affair. And the writing here is ridiculously bad, something I would expect from a first-time author, not someone with 50ish books under his belt. The amount of “quoted words” drove me crazy. The saddest thing here is that the story had real promise, but very little is fleshed out. Instead we have a book full of shallow, selfish, unlikable characters and Patterson’s now-trademark show more white space. If you have ever been a Patterson fan, do yourself a favor and skip this one. If I hadn’t been stuck in a car for 7 hours, I wouldn’t have bothered. show less

Patterson, James
The Quickie

Fiction
I read my first James Patterson, The Quickie, and came to appreciate that the source of his popularity is that he has practically invented a new genre: quickies. The periods don’t even stop you. If there’d been a squad car behind the couch, I would have gotten a ticket for speed-reading. I almost broke my neck tripping over some implausibilities, but I brushed myself off and turned the page. Reading has never been this breathless, reckless, or fat burning. If you’re ever tempted to indulge in an almost unbearably suspenseful read, James Patterson is the man.
Recommended September 2007

The Quickie was shocking, thrilling, suspenseful and almost everything you would want in a mystery. The only thing this book was lacking is believability.

Lauren's actions don't make sense to me. She cheats on her husband because she sees him on a sidewalk with another woman. Nothing romantic or suggestive is going on, but when she asks him about it, he lies. This gives her the green light to cheat with a man she's been cultivating a relationship with. Obviously, she is unhappy in her marriage and looking for any reason to stray. This I understand.

When her husband gets into some trouble, Lauren is willing to risk her career and possibly even incarceration just to keep him from getting arrested. This I don't understand. She believes her show more husband is cheating on her. She's cheated on him as well. She sees him commit a horrible crime and she feels compelled to ruin her life for him. I spent the majority of the book dumbfounded as to her motivation.

Lauren's need to protect her husband is the driving force being the entire plot of the book. If I could have looked beyond her bizarre choices, this book would have perfect. The Quickie is jam-packed with "holy hell, James Patterson did not just go there!" moments. The male characters in the book are so delightfully twisted, it almost didn't matter that I found Lauren less than realistic. show less