About the Book:

Two sisters go into the family business they didn’t know they had – catching killers.

Attorney Rhonda Bird returns home to LA to bury her estranged father, and discovers that he left her two final surprises.

The first is a private detective agency.

The second is a teenage half-sister named Baby.

When Rhonda goes into her father’s old office to close down the business, she gets drawn into a case involving a young man who claims he was abducted.

The investigation takes Rhonda and Baby to dark and dangerous places. Soon they are caught in the crosshairs of an angry criminal cartel and an ex-assassin seeking revenge . . .

A thrilling new novel starring a captivating sister-detective duo.

Published by Penguin Random House Australia

Released 28^th September 2021

My Thoughts:

The conclusion to this novel gives a distinct beginning of a series vibe, and if this is the case, I am completely on board with that. I’d love to read more thrillers such as this with Rhonda and Baby at the helm. These two sisters are as different as night and day, yet they slowly but surely reveal, to the reader and each other, the many ways in which they are alike. Patterson and Fox have created an impressive duo with these two. I grew to love them both over the course of the novel, Rhonda in particular with her intelligent wit and sarcasm. I loved how she could talk her way out of anything, or at least give it a red hot go. Plus, she was just epically cool and self-assured in a way I really admire.

I am a fan of Candice Fox, but I must admit, this is the first James Patterson novel I’ve read. I’ll pause for a moment so you can all gasp in shock and wonderment. I tried one of his romances many years ago, but they were not for me. This, however, was a different story. I recognised Candice Fox’s work within this collaboration, her fingerprints were all over the narrative, however, having never read Patterson before, I don’t know what his usual style is and whether it just seamlessly coexists with Fox’s so that what I recognised as her influence was actually the two of them. I am curious about how collaborations work. Who writes what? Does one author write the sections with these characters while the other author writes the sections with those characters? I found myself really dwelling on this all through the novel as I haven’t read many collaborations before, and my inner writer couldn’t help but curiously rear her head.

This novel is an absolute cracker of a thriller and highly entertaining. There are shades of macabre humour throughout, which suited me just fine, I like it when a book doesn’t take itself too seriously. Instead of dancing around the edges, this one is more like a sledgehammer through a plate glass window. It shocks, it thrills, it makes you laugh, it makes you gasp, and it never stops delivering. The chapters are short and sharp, which as the novel builds towards its conclusion, becomes furiously maddening because you just cannot put it down and the whole just one more chapter isn’t good enough – the chapters are too short, they don’t tell you enough, you have to keep going! My only let down with the whole thing was that a certain villain didn’t get their just desserts, something I had been counting on. Also, a picture of Rhonda’s car, with its leopard print paint job wouldn’t have gone astray…

I feel like I’ve been missing out now by never having read a James Patterson and Candice Fox team up until now. Fortunately, they have a backlist of collaborated titles, so I’m all set for more thrills in the coming months. I highly recommend this one if you are craving some escapism for yourself or looking for a guaranteed enjoyable read to give as a gift.

☕☕☕☕

Thanks is extended to the publisher for the review copy.