WOW. What a book. One of his best. The ending was not what I expected. But was perfect for this story. A cat cam, who knew? One of my favorite authors.

Wow, was this book a thriller!! Tons of twists that you will definitely not see coming. It is a great suspense, and I found my jaw dropping many times. And the ending, lets just say, WOW! Highly recommend this read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for gifting me this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Wow, JP and JD blew me away with this one!! Seriously, it is just so clever and unpredictable in every way.

I am a James Patterson super fan, have been for as long as I can remember. I am always thrilled when I get the chance to read any of his books early, and The Writer doesn’t come out until March 2025!! Thank you so much Little, Brown Company, thank you!

Whenever James cowrites with JD Barker you just know it is going to be dark and wild. I was not prepared for just how twisty this was going to be. A police officer gets a call from his partner to get over to an apartment complex in New York, just as he is about to take his own life. When he gets there, the case seems cut and dried, the wife is sat in the floor next to her dead husband, covered in blood with the knife in the floor. Case closed right? Nothing could be that simple and that is where this book just excels. You will never figure this out and you will lose sleep staying up to read it.

Another absolute belter from this duo. Not only is there a police investigation, a murder or 2, but did I say that the wife is best selling true crime author….. yep!! Ups the stakes right there,

Just read this book and see why I am always telling people to get in the James Patterson train with me.

Published on March 17th.

I am giving five stars to "The Writer" by Patterson and Barker and applauding its brilliance. As a long-time fan of Patterson's suspense mysteries, I found this novel exceptional. "The Writer" is a gripping police procedural filled with emotion and unexpected twists right up to the last page.

Detectives Shaw and Cordova respond to a crime scene where renowned author Denise Morrow is covered in blood, and her husband is found stabbed nearby. What seems like a straightforward case quickly reveals its complexity, with surprises until the last page. This book will undoubtedly generate discussions among readers and friends, so make sure to put it at the top of your must-read list!

Declan Shaw is in an abandond subway station, contemplating suicide. He gets a call to come to a crime sceen at the Beresford buiding. There he finds author D enise Morrow. Denise is covered in blood, her husband in lying on the floor next to her dead.;She has requested Shaw personally.
While collecting evidence they discover the blood on denises husbands. So who killed her husband and whose blood is Denise covered with. thanks netgalley

The Writer by James Patterson and J. D. Barker had some good twists.

The story starts with NYPD Detective Declan Shaw getting a call: How fast can you get to the Beresford building on Central Park West?
 
In the tower apartment, Shaw finds a woman waiting for him. She’s covered in blood. A body is lying dead on the floor of the luxurious living room. Every book in the apartment’s floor-to-ceiling shelves is by the same author: bestselling true-crime writer Denise Morrow. 
 
I keep reading Patterson's books even though sometimes they are slow and seem to have suffered in storytelling over the years.

Overall, The Writer is an okay read and would be good for die-hard fans of Patterson. I would rate this a 3.5 out of 5 stars (rounded to 4).

#TheWriter #NetGalley @littlebrown

This book features Declan Shaw who is called to a murder scene in a high-rise building in New York City. This book has lots of twists and turns you don't what's coming until the end and the number of murders stacks up. This a really great read!

James Patterson is a staple for the fiction world and I find his story and the formula to be easy and fun to read. I know what to expect and I like it. I think Patterson is a master of the genre and how books are easy to digest.

I could scream from the rooftops about how much I loved this book. JD Barker is my absolute deborjre other, so of course I enjoy anything by James Patterson as well. Put the two together and you have the best writing possible. This one kept me holding my breath until the very end.

WHAT DID I JUST READ??!!
This was the most insane and complicated mystery with so many twists and turns! I lost count of how many times I legit gasped out loud! These 2 are a dynamic duo in storytelling! Just dynamite! Many thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this early copy for read and review!

I think James Patterson and J.D. Barker have created a new murder mystery trope: people who organize their bookshelves by color should be automatically considered murder suspects. Just kidding (but you know who you are, you overly-obsessed, constantly-rearranging, buying-books-for-their-cover-colors folks and then posting on social media….)

As usual, you can expect a great action thriller from Patterson and frequent co-author Barker (this is their fifth collaboration). “The Writer” isn’t part of a series (yet!) and the chief protagonists are a suicidal police officer, Declan Shaw, and main murder suspect, Denise Morrow. Denise is a true crime author and she’s found with her dead husband’s body in their upscale Central Park West apartment. She called 911 and specifically asked for Declan, interrupting another of his multiple attempts to die by subway train. It turns out that Denise was writing the story of the murder of a fourteen year old in Central Park, a case where Shaw arrested the primary suspect. But Denise’s book is subtitled “Incompetence in the NYPD.” So why did she call for Shaw?

Patterson’s signature thriller structure is many short chapters (under 100 chapters this time, a surprise) with frequent revelations and twists. This thriller is a bit different, too, because it’s definitely clear that Shaw isn’t an angel, but is he that corrupt to warrant all the antagonism surrounding him? Denise, from the start, is presented as slick and uncaring, but is she a manipulative genius trying to get away with murder and sell books? Deciding that perhaps neither Shaw or Morrow was worth any empathy, I didn’t want to overlook both real victims, Maggie Marshall and David Morrow, neither who deserved to be viciously un-alived. Are their real killers going to escape justice? At the very least, Detective Cordova and ADA Saffi seemed like decent people. And the real life Otto Penzler makes an appearance.

The plot gets very complicated (about the 80% point you sort of want a flowchart to keep track of the reveals), but it continues with more twists (even when a reveal seems to resolve most of the hanging threads). Anyway, this Patterson book is definitely a step up from his usual procedurals with satisfying endings. 5 stars!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES Quimby the cat has green eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO Someone does dream of palm trees they’ll never see.

Thank you to Little, Brown, and Company and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

I have always been a James Patterson fan, but I do think some of his books can be lacking in suspense/realistic plot. The Writer, however, was NOT lacking in suspense. I struggled to complete my daily tasks because I wanted to keep reading this book! I will admit that it became a bit slow in the middle, but once the twists started coming, I didn't want to put the book down.
The book details a famous female writer who has been accused of murdering her husband, despite the lack of evidence. The other main characters are the police officers and district attorney who try to get her behind bars.
Overall the twists and turns along with the short chapters made this book one to read!

Wow wow wow!!! This was such a ride. The character development and world building was top notch. This is a must read!!

The Writer was a JOURNEY. I will have a special place in my heart for this book always. Great premise, great characters. It will keep you turning pages.

I love everything James Patterson! This book was no different. Perfect pacing and the storyline was soooo good! Thanks for the ARC!

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy of this book.

NYPD Detective Declan Shaw gets a call: How fast can you get to the Beresford building on Central Park West?

In the tower apartment, Shaw finds a woman waiting for him. She’s covered in blood. A body is lying dead on the floor of the luxurious living room.

Every book in the apartment’s floor-to-ceiling shelves is by the same author: bestselling true-crime writer Denise Morrow.

"This is you?" Shaw asks the woman. "You're a writer?"
​
Only one person knows the ending to this story. Is it the victim or the killer?

I haven't read a James Patterson book in many years. I uses to read everything he wrote. It came to a point where the books seemed to predictable to me I thought I'd give this book a go. However, I felt like the same old James Patterson book to me. 2.5 out of 5 ⭐️

Detective Declan Shaw is about to jump in front of a train when his phone rings. His partner telling him to get to The Beresford Building fast.
So off he goes.

Once inside, a woman is sitting by a bloody man. Covered in blood and next to a bloody knife. Seems pretty cut and dried. But nothing in this story is as it seems. Not one thing. And I loved it.

Denise Morrow is a true crime writer. A very successful one. She seems to have information only the police have and she is very slick. Is she just a writer or is she also a killer?

This was the twistiest thriller! I thought I knew who did what. I did not.

These two writers, for me, are perfect.

NetGalley/ Little, Brown, and Company March 17. 2025

This book is fantastic. One of my favorite Patterson books. A famous crime writer comes home to find her husband murdered. The cop that catches the case has been disparaged in her latest book. He’s being investigated by Internal Affairs because of her book, so how are they connected? This truly is a twisty thriller that I couldn’t put down.

Another stellar collaboration from Patterson and Barker! Neither of these authors have ever disappointed me with their novels. They have always delivered fast, exciting reads. But I have to say, when you put them together, they are FIRE! The thought process to even think up this story is unfathomable. This book literally blew my mind! I was captivated from the very first page and stayed hooked until the very end...which was satisfyingly sublime. There was a lot going on in this one with quite a few characters, but I had no trouble following along. It was also fast paced with short chapters. A double plus in my opinion. I loved every minute of this twisty, high-octane thriller and think it'll definitely be a fan favorite of 2025. I highly recommend this book! It's a MUST READ!!

Thank you to Little, Brown and Company for granting me digital access via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review!

Patterson and Barker together...absolute perfection! I loved every single second of this book. I was hooked from the first page. The twists and turns! I was engaged and intrigued the entire time. One of my top thrillers for sure!