Private

By: James Patterson, Maxine Paetro

Narrated by: Peter Hermann

Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

The police can't help you....

Former Marine helicopter pilot Jack Morgan runs Private, a renowned investigation company with branches around the globe. It is where you go when you need maximum force and maximum discretion. The secrets of the most influential men and women on the planet come to Jack daily - and his staff of investigators uses the world's most advanced forensic tools to make and break their cases.

The press will destroy you....

Jack is already deep into the investigation of a multi-million dollar NFL gambling scandal and the unsolved slayings of 18 schoolgirls when he learns of a horrific murder close to home: his best friend's wife, Jack's former lover, has been killed. It nearly pushes him over the edge. Instead, Jack pushes back and devotes all of Private's resources to tracking down her killer.

Only one place to turn: Private....

But Jack doesn't have to play by the rules. As he closes in on the killer and chooses between revenge and justice, Morgan has to navigate a workplace love affair that threatens to blow the roof off his plans. With a plot that moves at death-defying speeds, Private is James Patterson's sleekest, most exciting thriller ever.

©2010 James Patterson (P)2010 Hachette

Critic reviews

"James Patterson knows how to sell thrills and suspense in clean, unwavering prose." ( People)

"Patterson's novels are sleek entertainment machines, the Porsches of commercial fiction, expertly engineered and lightning fast." ( Publishers Weekly)

Patterson does it again!! Another winner.

Can't wait for the next book in the series. Another winning James Patterson series with an interesting group of characters!

Good but not Great

I listened to this book because it was a free offering from Audible and the editor's summary intrigued me. I love a great crime novel. This one is good. You're following two main characters and the three cases they are working. There are several twists but you see the end a mile away. It ended all nice and tidy. Which isn't bad but, it doesn't make for much mental exercise on the listener's part. I personally like to be surprised at the end of a book by a twist I didn't see coming. The authors didn't do much to set up a series here so I'm guessing most of the books in this series will be pretty good stand alone books. My only complaint, and it's a personal preference, is the excessive use of profanity. In my personal opinion, profanity is a crutch and intelligent people should be able to express themselves without resorting to its use. The characters in this book are setup and developed as highly intelligent and professional yet, the dialog sounds like teenagers trying to impress each other with their knowledge and use of foul language. I understand the author may feel certain extreme situations call for the use of a blurted/muttered/screamed epithet. But it's gratuitous throughout this novel. Really, it got old hearing the same words repeatedly. I began to wonder if the authors knew any other. At one point, I thought a well placed "damn" would have been a welcome relief from the F bombs going off all around my head. This is my first James Patterson novel and I've never heard of his co-author. So, if you're saying I should have known better, maybe I should. I do now. For this one reason, I don't think I'll be spending my credits to listen to the rest of the series. It's not THAT interesting.

I couldn't get into it

As much as I tried, I just couldn't get into the story. The characters are bleh, I couldn't associate with any and honestly, I really don't recall any memorable moments.

Great Story/Bad Narrator

If you could sum up Private in three words, what would they be?

Suspenseful/Mysterious/Interesting

Who was your favorite character and why?

Jack, of course

What didn’t you like about Peter Hermann’s performance?

Voice/speaking was monotone, and when narrating other characters I could not detect a difference. Especially the female parts. I have listened to hundreds of audiobooks and a lot of male narrators have a decent change when speaking a female part; but Peter Hermann needs to work on this.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Not really; most of my audiobooks are for when I am traveling for work. Which is weekly, so I like that i can listen a little every other day.

Any additional comments?

I have never listened to or read any books by James Patterson. But after listening to Private I may start. The story line held my interest even with the not so preferred narration.

I AM HOOKED

If you could sum up Private in three words, what would they be?

exciting till the end

What was one of the most memorable moments of Private?

Jack Morgan is like a true life person having to work through his past mistakes in life.

What does Peter Hermann bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

he is a great narrator, enjoy listening to his voice.

Very good novel. Was not to crazy about the narrator. Other that great story.

Very good story,but was not to find of the narrator. He read it to fast and breathless to my liking.

Great Book

So I love mysteries and this one was great I loved following the different cases they were trying to solve and thought the characters were great.

Not great...not horrible...

This was my first Audible introduction to this category...it wasn't enough to discourage me but it wasn't great story-telling. It was hard to tell what the main story-line was. Was it case #1, #2, or #3? The last case to wrap up...possibly? Unfortunately, there wasn't enough intertwining of the cases to make them feel like they all needed to be part of the overall narrative. Maybe it was just meant to be some days-in-the-life-of-Private? So many characters, so many arcs, such short chapters. I really just felt like it skipped around way to much in short amounts of time -- segments too-short to achieve some semblance of character vesting. There was also too much "tell" and not as much "show". I really dislike when authors feel the need to use model and part numbers to describe something that doesn't really matter. Feels lazy and who-cares to me -- yanks me out of the immersion. In fact, there was a lot about the story that felt lazy to me. Overall, I finished the book and didn't feel like I needed my credit or time back. I could probably listen to more in the series...maybe. As mainly a Sci-fi/Fantasy fan, it is somewhat telling that I'm certainly game for more in this genre.

Very enjoyable

This is a good sturdy page-turner, will be enjoyed by Patterson fans. Excellent narration; would listen again.

Great book, very engaging performance

Really great aside from the occasional Irish accent. Great book and performance. I liked the short chapters as well.