Jane B. (libragyrl) -
Helpful Score: 2
It was ok... way too many storylines and characters as well as flashbacks. Ugh, too much. I wish that Patterson would limit his collaborative efforts on books, rather than just pumping them out. The storylines suffer. Not one of his best but, it wasn't horrible.
Crystal (CrystalWith2Cats) -
Helpful Score: 1
I love James Patterson. I really do. However, this book felt like a rush job, an afterthought of sorts. So many ideas and story lines piled into one tale does not make for a very good book. There are so many characters it's hard to keep them straight. I had to keep backing up, thinking "who the heck is that?" With the various things going on, it felt like James Patterson initially had an outline for a new series with plots to be laid out over several books, only to scrap that idea in the end and jumble all the ideas he had into one story. Also, the narrator left a bit to be desired. There was something about his voice (reminded me of a Jack Nicholson wannabe) and his inability to go back and forth between characters and accents. He also seemed to change the voice of the main character several times. It got annoying, and with all the characters in the story, made it harder to follow along. Considering the way this story ends, it seems likely that there will be another book along this vein. If so, I really hope James Patterson can tailor that new book into something a little more easy to follow. And for heaven's sake, don't introduce anymore characters!
Jennifer D. (Jennmarie68) reviewed Private (Jack Morgan, Bk 1) (Audio CD) (Unabridged) on + 217 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
A copy of this audiobook was provided for review by Hachette Book Group.
I liked the characters in this one, although I didn't really connect with any of them. Jack was so confident and strong. He was the glue that seemed to hold a few different lives together. Yet he had his own "glue" so to speak. Each character had some "quirks" (for lack of a better word) that added to the team from Private's ability to solve their cases. There were so many characters, and since I was listening instead of reading, that I can't fully remember all of them. (Sadly I'm even having trouble remembering most of their names).
I liked the story, and I think that this would make a good series. I kind of get the feeling though that maybe this is going to be a series and Patterson and Paetro wanted to introduce us to many characters in setting up for later books in the series. I could be totally wrong on this, but I get the feeling that this was a set up for a series...
The narrator was pretty good also. Peter Hermann apparently has appeared in many shows that I watch (watched) but I can't place him in any of them, which helps add to the ability for me to connect to the book rather than the narrator. His voice is very good for reading, he's not monotone, but he's not "perky". He had different voices for each of the characters, and does a good job of relating the feelings of the characters through his voice.
Overall I think this was a good book, but that it could have had a few less story lines. Like I said this had the feel of the start of a series and maybe some of the story lines could have been saved for later. I liked it and at the same time I was a little disappointed in it.
I liked the characters in this one, although I didn't really connect with any of them. Jack was so confident and strong. He was the glue that seemed to hold a few different lives together. Yet he had his own "glue" so to speak. Each character had some "quirks" (for lack of a better word) that added to the team from Private's ability to solve their cases. There were so many characters, and since I was listening instead of reading, that I can't fully remember all of them. (Sadly I'm even having trouble remembering most of their names).
I liked the story, and I think that this would make a good series. I kind of get the feeling though that maybe this is going to be a series and Patterson and Paetro wanted to introduce us to many characters in setting up for later books in the series. I could be totally wrong on this, but I get the feeling that this was a set up for a series...
The narrator was pretty good also. Peter Hermann apparently has appeared in many shows that I watch (watched) but I can't place him in any of them, which helps add to the ability for me to connect to the book rather than the narrator. His voice is very good for reading, he's not monotone, but he's not "perky". He had different voices for each of the characters, and does a good job of relating the feelings of the characters through his voice.
Overall I think this was a good book, but that it could have had a few less story lines. Like I said this had the feel of the start of a series and maybe some of the story lines could have been saved for later. I liked it and at the same time I was a little disappointed in it.
