Title: Guilty Wives
Authors: James Patterson and David Ellis
Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
No Husbands Allowed
Only minutes after Abbie Elliot and her three closest friends step off a private helicopter, they enter the most luxurious, sumptuous, and sensually pampering hotel they have ever seen. Their lavish presidential suite overlooks Monte Carlo, and they surrender--to the sun and pool, to the sashimi and sake, to the Bruno Paillard champagne. For four days they're free to live someone else's life. As the weekend brings pulsating discos, high-stakes casinos, and beyond, Abbie is transported, finding the greatest pleasure and release she has ever known.
What happened last night?
Then in the morning's harsh light, Abbie awakens on a yacht, surrounded by police. Something awful has happened--something impossible, unthinkable. Abbie, Winnie, Serena, and Bryah are arrested and accused of the foulest crime imaginable. Now the vacation of a lifetime becomes the fight of a lifetime--for survival. GUILTY WIVES is the ultimate indulgence, the kind of nonstop joyride of excess, friendship, betrayal, and danger that only James Patterson can create.
Review
I know what you're thinking--another James Patterson novel? Yes, it sure is, and this time it's co-authored with David Ellis, who also has generated a few suspense or legal thrillers under his belt (though come to think of it, James Patterson seems to be collaborating a lot with other writers for his books lately). As I have mentioned in a previous book review, you'd tend to get tired of reading James Patterson's novels especially if you read them in succession, when you begin to notice similarities among them. I've told myself over and over that I would probably take a break from reading his novels for a while, but I end up getting attracted to his novels each time I browse through the bookstore. Guilty Wives certainly caught my attention--reading the synopsis at the back of the book made me want to read it more.
Guilty Wives, compared to the other James Patterson thrillers I've been reading lately, is quite different. For one, the main character is a woman; it's also not the "mysterious-killer-with-a-slightly-cheesy-alias-who'll-seek-out-to-kill-the-main-character" type of story, as in the case of A LOT of James Patterson's novels. In fact, a big (as in BIG) clue on as to who was behind the heinous crime was dropped early on in the novel in the fifth chapter.
However, even if a big clue was dropped, that doesn't stop the novel from being a page-turner. The book still has its share of surprising twists that you wouldn't see coming. The bulk of the novel is about the time Abbie and her friends spend in a French prison as convicted murderers (and their--though mostly Abbie's--misfortunes under the hands of the cruel guards), while the rest chronicles Abbie's daring escape from prison and her quest for the truth. You can't help but admire Abbie's intelligence and determination, as she tries to evade capture from prison officials, and the people behind the crime, as she refused to confess to the crime while she was in prison.
The authors have done a pretty good job of making the readers sympathize with Abbie, especially during the beatings and blackmail Abbie had to go through during the initial interrogation and during her time in prison. While at some point the prison scenes may seem quite dragging (though it does help in diverting your attention away from the real suspects who rarely make an appearance at this point in the novel), it does well in bringing out the human side of the main character.
Still, though, I wish the authors hadn't revealed the killers' identity early on in the novel--it would have been better if the readers figured out who the killers were along with Abbie. I mean, isn't this what makes reading these type of novels much, much more exciting? This premature revelation somehow takes away the suspense in certain parts of the novel, especially when Abbie begins to put the pieces together as more truths are revealed to her. If you're planning to read this novel (and I still recommend it), I suggest you skip the fifth chapter--I think this is the secret to fully enjoying this novel.
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