Private Rome: A Private novel-Adam Hamdy, James Patterson, authors; Adam Sim, Rachel Handshaw, narrators
Jack Morgan was opening up a new “Private” office of investigation in Italy. At the opening of the office in Rome, his brand-new hire to set it up, Matteo Ricci, a former top cop, was arrested for the murder of a priest that had just entered the office, frightened and ashamed, desirous of making some sort of a confession of guilt. Matteo offered to help him. Then he was dead, and Matteo held the murder weapon.
The story went in multiple directions with an abundance of characters. I needed a cheat sheet to remember them all. I have to admit that I found it so silly, at times, that I would hesitate to even recommend it as a beach read. The restaurant menus, myriad street names and locations, multiple blood stained suits, varied criminal gang members, “Private” employees and “I love you” comments were simply too distracting. I did not care if Jack Morgan ate braised ox-cheek or if his girlfriend Justine wore a Pucci dress, or if he and Justine missed each other while he was in Italy and she was in the states. This was supposed to be a thriller not chick lit.
I cared about who was killing the mounting number of victims, the mounting number of murders occurring wherever Jack happened to be. I wanted to learn why the police in Rome seemed so corrupt and/or incompetent. I wondered why they seemed so dead set on arresting Matteo and Jack for the murders that kept befalling members of the cloth. I cared about why so many priests were either committing suicide for no apparent reason or were being murdered. I wondered if the Vatican bank and the Swiss Guard were somehow being infiltrated by criminals. Who was doing the money laundering and why? Why would Matteo Ricci, a former decorated officer of the law, kill a priest with so many witnesses and in so public a place? I wanted to understand how a seasoned investigator, like Jack Morgan, could make so many naïve judgements leading to so many incorrect conclusions! He seemed to be clueless. Who was being framed and who was guilty?
The themes of money laundering, multiple violent mobs, savage criminals, wanton murders in broad daylight, naïve law officers, inept investigators, unscrupulous, faith-challenged priests, and trite romantic scenes like Justine and Jack taking a romantic walk while people around them were being killed, were all so repetitive, they simply made this book a chore to finish. There was so much hackneyed dialogue that seemed to be there to simply add pages. Perhaps absent the excessive and unnecessary amorous conversations at inappropriate moments, the excessive scenes of murder and brutality that defied reality, the incredible escapes from danger that required the suspension of disbelief, the obsessiveness of the idea of the corrupt church that often seemed ludicrous, and the defiance of law officers while in a foreign country that challenged common sense, this would have been a book I could recommend. This was the first time I read a book in this series, and I am afraid it will remain my only time.