Watchlist: Two Serial Thrillers in One Killer Book

Watchlist

My Synopsis:

Watchlist: Two Serial Thrillers in One Killer Book by Jeffery Deaver

This book isn't your typical thriller. Based on an idea by New York Times bestselling author, Jeffery Deaver, 22 writers from the International Thriller Writers group came together to produce this, two-part serial thriller. Each author, famous in their genre takes a chapter to develop of the story of Harold Middleton, former military intelligence officer, who has returned to his first love of music by cataloging and authenticating musical manuscripts.

In the first part of this serial thriller called "The Chopin Manuscript", Middleton must stop a terrorist plot involving a Chopin composition that has never been seen by the public. The villain, known as "Faust" is someone Middleton has dealt with in the past. This story brings Middleton's old crew all back together again when the manuscript causes murder and betrayal. In the second part of the thriller, "The Copper Bracelet", Middleton's team must stop an assassination attempt, on the Secretary of State while preventing an all out war between India and Pakistan. If you like 24 you'll love this book!

My Thoughts:

I was really interested to see how this one was going to pan out. I had never read a serial thriller before, where more than one author was writing the book. I enjoyed the fact that Jeffery Deaver both opened and closed each section of the thriller. This gave it more continuity and showed Deaver's vision for this thriller.

It was really interesting to see if you could pick out the different styles of authors like Lisa Scottoline and Lee Childs. It didn't seem like 14 different stories it was very cohesive and flowed well. There were obvious differences with each writer but knowing in the beginning it was a new author writing each chapter just made it that much more interesting.

The story itself was reminiscent of the wildly popular television series, 24. Harold Middleton was a wonderful character with a lot of depth. When I was reading the book I was imagining someone like Harrison Ford playing the role of Middleton. Middleton as a character, was loyal and patriotic and believed in ridding the world of men who seek to destroy it for their own purposes. The book delved into a lot of terroristic activity and showed the mentality behind the people who get involved in these sorts of crimes. Inevitably, it all boiled down to power and money and how they could benefit from ruining the world as we know it.

Supporting characters in the book like Middleton's daughter, Charley and his team of crack intelligence officers helped to create an atmosphere of strong ties and loyalty within a group who work together and in some cases die together. Middleton uses his ties from ex- military days to bring about the conclusion of the story and leaves readers wondering what is going to happen to him next.

I enjoyed the fast pace and the suspense of the novel and would definitely recommend it to my readers.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

MIXED BAG

Unlike some composite books where every chapter is written by a different author, this book suffers from a lack of a plot outline. The first book suffers from an especially egregious mish-mash of writing styles that is really irritating to read. If you really like a tight and well-disciplined plot, this book is not recommended.

Not recommended

I prefer to read Jeffery Deaver books, this one is nothing like any I have read. I could not finish it. If this is first time reading Jeffery Deaver I suggest reading The Bodies Left Behind.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Recommdended

It takes a little bit to get into the writing styles of each contributor. The effort is worth it.

Good in Theory

This idea was good in theory, but did not meet the mark for me. I found the plot confusing at best, the characters taking too many turns and the styles often not to my liking.

New idea for a book

This book is written by many authors each writing a chapter to make up a story line. It is well written. I thought it was a little hard to get into at first, but then it starts to take twists and turns with every chapter as each author writes. I think you will enjoy reading this book.

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