The Last Days of John Lennon

by James Patterson, Casey Sherman (With), Dave Wedge (With)

Overview

The greatest true-crime story in music history, as only James Patterson can tell it.

With the Beatles, John Lennon surpasses his youthful dreams, achieving a level of superstardom that defies classification. "We were the best bloody band there was," he says. "There was nobody to touch us." Nobody except the original nowhere man, Mark David Chapman. Chapman once worshipped his idols from afar--but now harbors grudges against those, like Lennon, whom he feels betrayed him. He's convinced Lennon has misled fans with his message of hope and peace. And Chapman's not staying away any longer.

By the summer of 1980, Lennon is recording new music for the first time in years, energized and ready for it to be "(Just Like) Starting Over." He can't wait to show the world what he will do.

Neither can Chapman, who quits his security job and boards a flight to New York, a handgun and bullets stowed in his luggage.

The greatest true-crime story in music history, as only James Patterson can tell it. Enriched by exclusive interviews with Lennon's friends and associates, including Paul McCartney, The Last Days of John Lennon is the thrilling true story of two men who changed history: One whose indelible songs enliven our world to this day--and the other who ended the beautiful music with five pulls of a trigger.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538753033
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	09/21/2021
Pages:	464
Sales rank:	108,431
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

James Patterson is the world's bestselling author. The creator of Alex Cross, he has produced more enduring fictional heroes than any other novelist alive. He lives in Florida with his family.


Casey Sherman is a New York Times bestselling author of eleven books including The Finest Hours and Hunting Whitey. He's an award-winning journalist who's written for the Washington Post, Esquire, and the Boston Herald.


Dave Wedge is a New York Times bestselling author of four books, including Boston Strong and Hunting Whitey. He's an award-winning journalist who's written for the Boston Herald, Vice, and Esquire.

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

Editorial Reviews

A must read for music fans, true crime aficionados, or anyone looking for a deep, insightful dive into a dark chapter of American history.”
 —Town & Country

“Incredibly tense and thriller-like … I totally recommend it.”—Lee Child, #1 bestselling author of the Jack Reacher series

“A first-rate book . . . a winner.”—Baltimore Post Examiner

From the Publisher

07/01/2020

In what sounds like an unbeatable setup, blockbuster crime writer Patterson joins forces with New York Times best-selling authors Sherman and Wedge to chronicle the last days of John Lennon. With a 300,000-copy first printing.

Library Journal

2021-01-07
Beatlemania meets autopsy in the latest product from the Patterson factory.

The authors take more than half the book to reach John Lennon’s final days, which passed 40 years ago—an anniversary that, one presumes, provides the occasion for it. The narrative opens with killer Mark David Chapman talking to himself: “It’s like I’m invisible.” And how do we know that Chapman thought such a thing? Well, the authors aver, they’re reconstructing the voices in his head and other conversations “based on available third-party sources and interviews.” It’s a dubious exercise, and it doesn’t get better with noir-ish formulas (“His mind is a dangerous neighborhood”) and clunky novelistic stretches (“John Lennon wakes up, reaches for his eyeglasses. At first the day seems like any other until he realizes it’s a special one….He picks up the kitchen phone to greet his old songwriting partner, who’s called to wish him all the best for the record launch”). In the first half of the book, Patterson and company reheat the Beatles’ origin story and its many well-worn tropes, all of which fans already know in detail. Allowing for the internal monologue, things improve somewhat once the narrative approaches Chapman’s deranged act—300-odd pages in, leaving about 50 pages for a swift-moving account of the murder and its aftermath, which ends with Chapman in a maximum-security cell where “he will be protected from the ugliness of the outside world….The cell door slides shut and locks. Mark David Chapman smiles. I’m home.” To their credit, the authors at least don’t blame Lennon’s “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” for egging on the violence that killed him, but this book pales in comparison to Kenneth Womack’s John Lennon 1980 and Philip Norman’s John Lennon: The Life, among many other tomes on the Fab Four.

A thimbleful of fresh content lies buried in tales familiar and often told.

Kirkus Reviews