Sail

It’s been a while since I read a James Patterson book and even longer since I read one of his co-written adventures. I have to say they haven’t improved in my absence.

In this outing a dysfunctional family tries a last-ditch ‘save our family' bonding session on a sailing boat but things don’t go to plan. Shock horror.

The characters are universally one-dimensional and generally unbelievable. Evil lawyers, perfect mothers and cute-but-precious ten-year olds included. The writing is scattered with all sorts of pop culture references that will date the book terribly in a year or two and which are so clumsily inserted that it seems as if the authors are trying too hard to fit in with the cool kids rather than write a book for show more adults. In addition there are loads of unnecessary details such as ‘...he answered his Motorola 1000’ as if knowing what kind of phone the philandering lawyer uses somehow adds to the story rather than the word count. But the most annoying feature of this book is the predictability of the storyline. There are few surprises to be found among the clichés and it reads like one of the formulaic film scripts Hollywood is so enamoured with these days. There are multiple ‘in the nick of time’ rescues, ageing blokes having sex with gorgeous young women and all the good guys have Oprah-like moments of realising what’s really important in life. Ho hum.

If allowed I'd give this a 1.5 but can't bring myself to go all the way to 2 :) show less

This falls into the realm of guilty pleasure, it moves like a rocket and the lack of actual characterization didn't keep me from staying up late to finish it. And I doubt I'll be going on a family sailing trip anytime soon!

What a fun sea adventure. The bad--cliches, predictable plot, black and white characters, is far outweighed by the good- compelling atmosphere and energy of this novel. Never a dull moment. Sail worth a read for sheer entertainment value even if it won't win an Edgar

For a James Patterson novel, I was disappointed. I have heard good things about Patterson, and although I have not read any of his other typical books, I have seen some of the Alex Cross movies which were fantastic, so I was expecting the same level of edge of the seat action with Sail. However, the story was quite unbelievable in many places, such as the family having so many issues with the boat in a short period of time, yet carrying on rather than turning back to the safety of land. Also, the chapters were extremely short and the characters did not seem to develop well, with too many impossible happy endings. OK so I kind of get the idea that when you are almost murdered but survive, you sort your life out, but how does the daughter show more recover from anorexia, one son give up his drug habit, another son happily accept that his just-dead uncle is his real dad, the mother get over the fact that she married a murderer and the step-father/murderer then gets murdered himself in the space of a few months?! Life is not that neat and things do not go from complete shite to smelling of roses in this way!! I guess this explains why the jacket contains lots of praise for Patterson’s other books, but not a single good comment for Sail! show less

Good action but predictable murder mystery with the good guys and bad guys well defined almost from the start. Some very well described images that pull you into the story with their complex details and their human-related emotional attachments. Several imaginative highly detailed subplots and associated characters kept the action flowing in an otherwise rather lengthy tale of family distress.

Since the death of their father Katherine Dunne’s three children have been drifting further and further apart from her and each other. In a last ditch effort to bring her family closer together Katherine plans a two month long sailing trip aboard their boat, The Family Dunne, along with their uncle Jake Dunne.

Almost immediately things start to go wrong. The boat springs a leak, 16-year Mark is smoking marijuana, 18-year old Carrie is recovering from an eating disorder but throws herself overboard in a suicide attempt and 10-year old Ernie is overweight as a result of his own self-diagnosed “stress eating”. Shortly after Jake saves Carrie, the family is awakened by an approaching storm. Caught in the middle of the storm the family show more fights for their lives and get through it only to be faced with another catastrophic disaster.

Meanwhile Katherine’s new husband of less than one year, Peter, is betting on the fact that the family never returns and is scheming behind the scenes.

The book opens with instantaneous action and intrigue. Throughout the whole book just when you think the drama is over a new wave (snicker) of trouble rolls in. From the very beginning we learn that Peter is a villain but there’s still a lot more revelations to come and I found the action kept me on the edge of my seat.

My review is based on the unabridged audio and it was narrated by both Dylan Baker and Jennifer Van Dyck. I’ve always thought the male/female approach to an audio book would make the book more interesting and I loved it. I hope to hear more this way soon.

My vote is that this is another Patterson winner. It doesn’t have the same depth as the Cross series but it’s one of the better collaborations from him that I’ve read. I recommend this one for all action and thriller lovers. show less

Like the Bertie Bott’s Any-Flavour Beans beloved of Harry Potter, this quartet of thrillers is full of surprises and it’s only when you have tasted one, as it were, that you know if you have chosen a rosebud or an earwax flavour. Sail, by the enormously popular and prolific James Patterson, is a huge disappointment: to continue the Bertie Bott’s Bean analogy, this book tastes of a waste product far more unsavoury than earwax.
In chapters often only a page long, we follow Dr Katherine Dunne and her estranged children on a family holiday aboard their luxury yacht: in the ensuing disaster, they are shipwrecked on a deserted island way off course and battle to survive.
The reader soon wishes they didn’t: cardboard characters, turgid show more prose, a predictable but ridiculous plot, clichéd and unrealistic, the telephone directory is a more entertaining read. show less