Baron de Coubertin’s Folly-James Patterson’s Private Games-(2012)-A Book Review

By Lane Lawrence  

Private Games, James Patterson and Mark Sullivan, Grand Central Publishing, New York, 2012 

Frankly although I knew the name James Patterson (and friend Mark Sullivan although I am not sure why the task of writing action thrillers would require two separate hands on the word processor) I am an extremely late newcomer to his work, and to this genre in general. I happened to be travelling and one night I stayed at a hotel where somebody had left a copy of the book under review, Private Games, in the bedside drawer (on top of the ubiquitous Gideon’s Bible. Not feeling sleepy and not interested in some academic heavy reading at that hour I plucked the book out and plopped it on my chest to see why he has been touted and the Number One New York Times bestseller and according to the paid accolades the number one or most popular thriller writer in the world. Funny that night I read many more pages that I thought I would have and eventually finished the book in a few days when I had some spare time. My real question is since I have been informed by a reliable source that Patterson has written scads (that’s my term when I don’t know the exact number, okay) of these thrillers where this one should be rated. I will provisionally rat it as three-stars and either up or down grade the novel after checking out some other of the author’s work.

Patterson has written a number of series of thrillers this book which is part of a Private series featuring private investigator I guess is the best way to state his profession Peter Knight who works for, well,  Private, an American-based international investigation and security operation. Mr. Knight, unusually I thought for an a old throw-back detective willing to take a punch or seven or a few stray bullets for the cause, is a widower with two small adored children, twins, and is based out of London. And that happens to be fortunate for him, I think, since he is up to his elbows in helping provide security for the 2012 Olympic Games held at that venue. Perhaps if you are not a rabid sports fan or a careless reader of the newspapers you were not aware, not thriller plot aware, that Games were very troubled, almost became the last of the breed of what old Baron deCoubertin started over one hundred years ago as a revival of the ancient games held long ago in Greece without the advantage of 24/7 television. 

And that’s the rub that is why our man Knight winds up taking punches and dodging bullets.  See some nefarious (or irate anyway) person or persons are out to destroy the games, to destroy the Olympic spirit whatever that is these days. The idea is to return to the ancient and honorable traditions that those wise ancient Greeks adhered to. Not the crass commercialization or the drug-addled athletes of the modern era. Or so the evil genius behind the sabotage of the Games wants everybody to know. Not just a letter to the editor or to the IOC bureaucracy but by wasting any number of athletes or officials who are on a “hit list,” have made some egregious transgression. Does this dastardly work using a bevy of females from Eastern Europe whom he picked up during the Balkan conflagration (okay I will let you know that the “dastard” when discovered is a “he”). War criminals to boot.      

So you can see where Mr Knight and his agency have their work cut out for them trying to find the evil genius who almost ended the Games with all hell breaking loose. The end for Knight though was when his kids were used as hostages to the evil scheme. That put papa Knight on high level vengeance. So if you are willing to suspend your disbelief about the events that you never had heard about happening in the summer of 2012 in London this this is satisfactory fare. As for me I am off to get another Patterson book or two to see if he can beat my rating on this one.