Review: Swimsuit by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

Swimsuit model Kim McDaniels has gone missing during her big photo shoot in Hawaii. Her father receives a call in the middle of the night from a man claiming to have taken his daughter. Along with his wife, Barbara, Levon rushes to Hawaii to find his missing daughter. Once there, they meet up with LA Times reporter Ben Hawkins. The search for Kim McDaniels will ultimately lead to something much more dangerous than one missing girl.

This book is consistent with most of Patterson's thrillers. He has a wonderful imagination, creating interesting and surprising plot lines. He writes in a clean and somewhat simplified manner. I am not saying this is a bad thing, I have read books from many authors and find that there are winners and losers with every style of writing.

I found the characters interesting, especially the villain in this story. His evil was complex and truly reflects that most evil comes from unsuspecting sources. I also enjoyed that the character of Ben was not written to be the perfect good guy. His human wants interferes with his being morally responsible.

The overall flow of the story did not work for me. I liked the plot of the book, but somehow felt that the story was not pieced together as well as it could have been. While reading this I remember thinking that it sounded like a first draft from a very good outline. Some polishing could have smoothed some of the rough edges in my opinion.

I enjoyed this book and it is a fast read. But do not expect anything more than a good book.