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An overhyped, pedestrian thriller

"It might be time to give up on James Patterson. His newest effort, Honeymoon, exemplifies everything that has gone wrong with the writer's career. First, he is cranking out 3 to 4 books a year, usually with the help of a co-author. How can the books be expected to be good when each gets about 3 months of work. Second, the tagline below the title, ""2005 International Thriller of the Year."" What a bogus and ridiculous claim that is. The publishers or author obviously added that line to sell books. Honeymoon has won no such awards or accolades.

Finally, the following quote comes fromt the author's website. "You've been asked before, "Don't tell anyone the ending." With Honeymoon, don't tell anyone the beginning either. All writers have a book that they know is their best book, ever. Welcome to James Patterson's HONEYMOON." Either this is shameless marketing, or Patterson has lost his mind.

The plot of Honeymoon is the basic black widow story, the book jacket will tell you that. Many men who come in contact with the beautiful Nora Sinclair are dying. That's why FBI agent John O'Hara is investigating her. That's what the book jacket tells us, O'Hara is FBI. But the novel pretends this is a mystery, trying to hide O'Hara's identity as well as Susan, his boss, like it is some big mystery. Another problem is Nora's mother, who is locked away in an insane asylum after killing her husband. Toward the end of the book, Patterson comes right out and says Nora's mom has a big secret that will reveal why Nora might be the way she is and why Nora's mom actually killed her husband, except Patterson never reveals it.

From the website, when Patterson says don't tell anyone the ending, or the beginning, I have to ask, why? The beginning is nothing special and the ending, is well, rather plain. The ending is just another twist in the plot, not a surprise twist on the fate or identity of the characters, and therefore, it isn't a surpise at all.

I urge Patterson fans to not pay full price for this pulp. I wish Patterson would reread some of his earlier books like Along Came a Spider or Kiss the Girls so he could rethink the claim that this is his best book ever. The so-called "2005 International Thriller of the Year" will be forgotten before summer of 05. It is not original or unique. If it wasn't for Patterson's history or his own hype over this rather ordinary book, then I wouldn't be bashing it so much. As it is, I give it one star.