THE SUMMER HOUSE
James Patterson and Brendan DuBois
Little, Brown and Company
ISBN-13: 978-0316539555
Hardcover
Thriller/Mystery

One could be forgiven for momentarily thinking that a novel titled THE SUMMER HOUSE involves a series of events involving bodies passionately bouncing off of each other over the course of a week or two in June. THE SUMMER HOUSE by James Patterson and Brendan DuBois is anything but that. There are bodies bouncing throughout the book, all right, but not in the carnal sense. What we have here is a thriller from beginning to end, wrapped around the nugget of an intriguing and puzzling mystery.

The summer house of the title was originally conceived, constructed and utilized as a seasonal retreat in rural Georgia for a wealthy family. Over the decades, however, the house passed outside of the family and gradually devolved into a by-the-month rental property which in the novel’s present-day has fallen into disrepair and disrepute. Indeed, as THE SUMMER HOUSE opens it is little more than a local hub for some small-time drug trade. Within the first few pages of the story it also becomes the scene of a horrific mass murder. The whodunit element of the novel seems resolved almost immediately. Eyewitnesses, forensics, and security video from nearby businesses all demonstrate conclusively that an elite team of Army Rangers known as the Night Ninjas are the doers. The Night Ninjas, recently returned from Afghanistan, are noteworthy and notorious for quickly and quietly attacking home bases and leaving carnage in their wake, which is exactly what occurred at the summer house. The Army sends Major Jerimiah Cook and his team to investigate and to make sure that all the ‘t’s are crossed. Cook is an Army combat veteran and former NYPD detective. He bears scar and secondary limitations from combat action but steadfastly refuses to let either prevent him from getting the job done. His team, each of whom possesses a particular investigative skill set, accompany him to look at what appears to be an open-and-shut case. Interestingly enough, no one, from the local sheriff who basically runs the county to officers on the nearby military base, seems to want Cook and his team around. The Night Ninjas are not particularly well-liked and the evidence seems incontrovertible. Cook, however, is determined to work the case by the numbers, even when the head of the Night Ninjas team strikes a plea bargain to plead guilty on the condition that the remaining members of his team are exonerated and released. Cook, however, can’t let things go, and when parts of the evidence begin to unravel he follows a slender thread of truth back to a place where he had vowed never to go to again. His team, meanwhile, is experiencing life-threatening danger from an unexpected source. Truth and lives are at stake, and there is a significant question as to whether either or both will survive to the end of the book.

Patterson and DuBois have collaborated on a number of occasions, and THE SUMMER HOUSE is arguably the best of the works that their writing partnership has produced to date, which is saying something, indeed. DuBois has been particularly prolific on his own during the course of his writing career, and the considerable chops he brings to the team will keep you reading THE SUMMER HOUSE well into the night. Full of twists, turns, and action, THE SUMMER HOUSE makes for terrific reading for this summer and for all seasons. Strongly recommended.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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