Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Shadows Still Remain by Peter De Jonge

I know I planned on starting this book Saturday, but really didn't get the chance to start until last night, and even then I only read about 50 pages. Today, I spent an hour outside reading after work and quickly finished the fast, page-turning read and I rate it a B+.

Inside cover:
New York City, 2005. Thanksgiving weekend. A topless Kate Moss poses down from a billboard over rain-splattered Houston Street. Escaping a troubled past, Francesca Pena came to the city and reinvented herself. At New York University, her beauty and charisma are the envy of her privileged pals, yet none knows the real Francesca- who after a night of drinking, is now missing.
Detective Darlene O'Hara of the Seventh Precinct and her partner Serge "K" Krekorian, set out to find Pena. But when the case turns high-profile and Homicide is called in, O'Hara-who has an eighteen-year-old son she saddled with the name Axl Rose O'Hara, and whose binge drinking exacerbates the massive chip on her shoulder- refuses to let go. Risking both her and K's careers, she defies NYPD brass and Homicide legend Patrick Lowry to secretly pursue her own investigation.
Following a deadly trail that leads from NYU's Ivory Towers to Brooklyn tatoo parlors, from a skanky strip club to a whitewashed boutique run by a Korean madam, O'Hara closes in on her prey. But she has to move fast, because Lowry and the NYPD are about to make a devastating mistake that will leave the real killer free.

You can see a lot of the same characterstics in Shadows Still Remain as you do in a lot of James Patterson's books, including really short chapters (which I really like) and and nail biting suspense (which I really love). I thought that the writing was a bit choppy, but overall, the suspense carried the story. The main character, O'Hara, is tough to like as she is constantly drinking and playing a wild maverick and ignoring others and not being a team member, but in the end her tenacity does win the reader over in the end. Mr. De Jonge has a wonderful, promising career writing solo books and I will be looking for more that he writes.

I am not sure what is up next, though it will be a library book because I still have two more to read. However, I have to sign off because the puck drops in about 30 minutes to what should be the final game of the Red Wings season with them raising Lord Stanley! Happy Reading everyone!

2 comments:

Thoughts of Joy said...

This hasn't made a big appearance in the blogosphere, but I'm glad to read that you enjoyed it. I have it and hope to read it when I get out from under so many other ARCs.

Kristie said...

It was quite good and one I enjoyed reading. I always like seeing how James Patterson's co-authors do on their own and see how the writing differs. I hope you enjoy it.