Private

by James Patterson, Maxine Paetro

Overview

Former Marine pilot Jack Morgan runs Private, a prestigious investigation company. But the world's darkest secrets can only stay private for so long . . .


Private: it's 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.


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.


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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316096157
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	06/28/2010
Series:	James Patterson's Private Series , #1
Pages:	385
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

James Patterson has had more New York Times bestsellers than any other writer, ever, according to Guinness World Records. Since his first novel won the Edgar Award in 1977 James Patterson's books have sold more than 300 million copies. He is the author of the Alex Cross novels, the most popular detective series of the past twenty-five years, including Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider. He writes full-time and lives in Florida with his family.

Hometown:

Palm Beach, Florida

Date of Birth:

March 22, 1947

Place of Birth:

Newburgh, New York

Education:

B.A., Manhattan College, 1969; M.A., Vanderbilt University, 1971

Website:

http://www.jamespatterson.com

Read an Excerpt

Private

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By Patterson, James

Little, Brown and Company

Copyright © 2010 Patterson, James
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9780316096157

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Prologue

“YOU’RE DEAD, JACK”

One

TO THE BEST OF my understandably shaky recollection, the first time I died it went something like this.

Mortar rounds were thumping all around me, releasing what sounded like a shower of razor blades. I was carrying Marine Corporal Danny Young over my shoulder, and I loved this guy. He was the toughest soldier I’d ever fought beside, funny as hell, and best of all, he was hopeful—his wife back in West Texas was pregnant with their fourth kid.

Now his blood bubbled down my flight suit, splashing on my boots like water from a drainpipe.

I ran across rocky ground in the dark, and I choked out to Danny, “I’ve got you; I’ve got you. Just stay with me, you hear me?”

I lowered him to the ground a few yards away from the helicopter, and suddenly there was a concussive explosion, as though the ground had blown up around me. I felt a stunning hammer strike to my chest, and that was the end.

I died. I passed to the other side. I don’t even know how long I was gone.

Del Rio told me later that my heart had stopped.

I just remember swimming up to the light, and the pain, and the awful reek of aviation fuel.

My eyes flashed open and there was Del Rio in my face, his hands pressing down on my chest. He laughed when my eyes opened—and at the same time tears ran down his cheeks. He said, “Jack, you son of a bitch, you’re back.”

A dense curtain of oily black smoke rolled over us. Danny Young lay right there beside me, his legs splayed at weird angles, and behind Del Rio was the helicopter, burning bright white, getting ready to blow.

My buddies were still in there. My friends. Guys who had risked their lives for me.

I choked out a few words. “We’ve got to get them out of there.”

Del Rio tried his best to hold me down, but I used an elbow to swing at his jaw, and connected. He fell back and I got away from him, started running toward the fallen bird just as its magnesium skin caught fire.

There were Marines in there, and I had to get them out.

The fearsome chunk-a chunk-a chunk of fifty-caliber machine gun ammo hammered. Ordnance exploded inside the aircraft. Del Rio shouted, “Get down, asshole. Jack, get the hell down!”

I felt all of his hundred and ninety pounds as he tackled me to the ground, and the helicopter disappeared in white-hot flames. I wasn’t dead, but a lot of my friends were. I swear to God, I would have traded myself for them.

I guess that says a lot about me, and I’m not so sure that all of it is good. You’ll see, and you can be the judge.

Sit back; it’s a long story but a good one.

Continues...

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Excerpted from Private by Patterson, James Copyright © 2010 by Patterson, James. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

James Patterson knows how to sell thrills and suspense in clean, unwavering prose.

People

The prolific Patterson seems unstoppable.

USA Today

"America's #1 storyteller."—Forbes

"The prolific Patterson seems unstoppable."—USA Today

"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

From the Publisher

"America's #1 storyteller."

Forbes

James Patterson knows how to sell thrills and suspense in clean, unwavering prose.

People Magazine

For several years now, major authors have headlined books with a co-author—no doubt the idea is to sell more copies. This fast-moving mystery, ably narrated by Peter Hermann, has an awful lot going on. Jack Morgan, head of a global private investigation firm called Private, is called upon to investigate the death of a friend's wife, plus the serial murders of more than a dozen high school girls. He’s got more technology at his disposal than the CIA; furthermore, he’s known to make his own rules—rules that allow him to indulge in a dose of revenge along with securing justice for the victims of crimes. Frankly, without Peter Hermann's quick-paced narration, this listener might have abandoned ship. But Hermann's perfect style and diction make this a quick and palatable listen. A.L.H. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2010 - AudioFile