Customer Reviews

Honeymoon

5 star:		(81)
4 star:		(76)
3 star:		(56)
2 star:		(32)
1 star:		(52)

 

 

"It might be time to give up on James Patterson. His newest effort, Honeymoon, exemplifies everything that has gone wrong with the writer's career. First, he is cranking out 3 to 4 books a year, usually with the help of a co-author. How can the books be expected to be good when each gets about 3 months of work. Second, the tagline below the title, ""2005 International Thriller of the Year."" What a bogus and ridiculous claim that is. The publishers or author obviously added that line to sell books. Honeymoon has won no such awards or accolades.

Finally, the following quote comes fromt the author's website. "You've been asked before, "Don't tell anyone the ending." With Honeymoon, don't tell anyone the beginning either. All writers have a book that they know is their best book, ever. Welcome to James Patterson's HONEYMOON." Either this is shameless marketing, or Patterson has lost his mind.

The plot of Honeymoon is the basic black widow story, the book jacket will tell you that. Many men who come in contact with the beautiful Nora Sinclair are dying. That's why FBI agent John O'Hara is investigating her. That's what the book jacket tells us, O'Hara is FBI. But the novel pretends this is a mystery, trying to hide O'Hara's identity as well as Susan, his boss, like it is some big mystery. Another problem is Nora's mother, who is locked away in an insane asylum after killing her husband. Toward the end of the book, Patterson comes right out and says Nora's mom has a big secret that will reveal why Nora might be the way she is and why Nora's mom actually killed her husband, except Patterson never reveals it.

From the website, when Patterson says don't tell anyone the ending, or the beginning, I have to ask, why? The beginning is nothing special and the ending, is well, rather plain. The ending is just another twist in the plot, not a surprise twist on the fate or identity of the characters, and therefore, it isn't a surpise at all.

I urge Patterson fans to not pay full price for this pulp. I wish Patterson would reread some of his earlier books like Along Came a Spider or Kiss the Girls so he could rethink the claim that this is his best book ever. The so-called "2005 International Thriller of the Year" will be forgotten before summer of 05. It is not original or unique. If it wasn't for Patterson's history or his own hype over this rather ordinary book, then I wouldn't be bashing it so much. As it is, I give it one star.

In James Patterson's newest co authored novel, Honeymoon, one of the main characters is often heard saying to himself that "things aren't always the way they appear." And as the book Honeymoon unfolds these words couldn't be truer.

In this roller coaster read of a novel written by a master of suspense and co authored by Howard Roughan, readers are witness to a black widow, Nora Sinclair who masterminds the demise of three wealthy men. When an FBI agent is hot on her trail to prove her guilt. he finds himself unfortunately also caught in her web.

I really did enjoy this book. In many ways this was a return to
the old time Patterson writing that I have come to love over the year. And while I was still left with some unanswered questions I still highly recommend this book. Also, as I turned the last page it occurred to me that the word sequel was written all over this page as the main character John O'Hara is very bit as engaging as Patterson's well known character Alex Cross.

Finally, because I so enjoyed this book I also read Howard Roughans debut book The Up and Comer and plan on reading his second book as well. I always love finding a new to me author and if it wasn't for Honeymoon, this might not have happened.

I thought the story was very predictable but the most glaring disappointment was the shallow character development. I felt it was one of the worst books I have read in years. Short chapters; big print; large spacing. He must have written it in an afternoon! Save your pennies and buy something worthwhile.

If Honeymoon had been written by a lesser known author this book would never have seen the light of day. A lesser known author would have been told to go back to the drawing board, tighten the plot, make the characters more compelling and stop using clichés. But because James Patterson wrote Honeymoon, not only was it published but the book is being touted as the "2005 International Thriller of the Year!"

It is a disappointing book, especially compared to what James Patterson is capable of writing. Honeymoon falls far below the level of Patterson's Alex Cross or the Women's Murder's Club series.

Honeymoon lacks direction and thrill. The characters are under-developed. Frankly, I didn't care much for any of them. You can't even feel sorry for the men killed off by the main character, Nora Sinclair. Things just don't add up. A subplot about terrorism and money transfers does not add much; if anything, it serves to confuse matters even more rather than help build the main storyline. It's as if James Patterson and his coauthor, Howard Roughan, got lost in their own plot and subplots.

Publishers would do well not to rush with books that are not yet ready for publication. The fact an author is well known is no excuse for not demanding quality. As a matter of fact, one should expect more from a seasoned author. I would be more inclined to let go of a few imperfections when reading a new author than when reading established authors. They should know better than to disappoint their public!

The very complex Nora Sinclair is faced with the age-old question of whom to kill first---her husband or her fiancé. Murder is the name of her game, having already poisoned her first husband and currently in the process of whipping up tainted entrees for her two latest conquests. Nora is beautiful, seductive, and totally enthralling to men. Capturing them is easy; the thrill comes with the murders and the transfer of their millions to her Cayman Island account.

Will Nora meet her match in FBI agent John O'Hara? Will she be able to seduce the professional man hand-picked to destroy her? Will his cover be blown? And who is the mother of those children he is taking to Yankee stadium?

The novel races along with short, suspenseful chapters that keep the reader's adrenaline flowing and make it near impossible to quit turning the pages.

O'Hara's father warned him that things aren't always the way they appear and many twists in this book give credence to that mantra.

My only disappointment is that the author failed to let us know the contents of the letter Nora's mother, a husband-killer herself, wrote to her daughter. However, if you like your sex steamy and your plot twists surprising, this will be a top-notch story for you to savor.

Even though this is the best Patterson book in a decade (and he has churned out dozens over that time) this statement is by no means charitable. Honeymoon is one of the laziest, loosely edited bits of slop I have ever come across. The plot is about as formulaic as can be, and is as digestible as the poison used within these pages. Huge, giant swaths of the story essential in holding it all together are added in with castaway sentences. Instead of any sign of integrity, sex scenes haunt a good 20% of these pages (and poorly written B grade soft porn sex at that).

In some respects you've got to just admire the sheer lengths James Patterson traverses to sell his books. The man is utterly shameless in his efforts to produce as many titles as possible while creating some of the worst fiction of our day. It wouldn't surprise me at all if he had a stable of ghostwriters helping him get this stuff on the shelf. At least Honeymoon is not another poorly written addition to the Alex Cross series (I did enjoy a couple of the early Cross books). And thank god this is not yet another sequel to his Nancy Drew series or the genetic mutant Angel books.

I just keep asking myself, why do I read or listen to this monster of a writers books? They are so bad, and I know that they will make me wretch even before I pick them up. Maybe it is because they are like the McDonalds of fiction that makes them appealing. Its intellectual equivalent is like sitting in front of the TV and channel surfing.

Please, instead of getting this book, try Harlan Coben's newer work (just not his Simon Bolitar series) or Dennis Lehane (in my opinion the best thriller writer at work today)

Nora Sinclair is a black widow. She kills the men in her life for financial gain. This isn't an original premise and it isn't done particularly well. I am surprised by all the glowing reviews for this book. I can't find much to recommend here. Nora is a truly despicable character. Some of the dialog is painfully silly. The sex scenes were gratuitous. The suspense...well, there wasn't much. It's all fairly predictable. The twist at the conclusion seemed like it was added at the last minute to save the story. It didn't work. Thankfully the chapters were short and the pace quick. I was grateful to be done with this one.

When James Patterson is "on" -- there is no one better. Unfortunately, this book is lame and he is way off his game. Honeymoon and London Bridges are two books that I was very sorry I spent money on. I don't know if he has a certain quota of books he has to fill each year or what, but Honeymoon has the feel of someone sitting down to bang out a book to meet a deadline/quota. It is not captivating or well-crafted at all. I will be much more cautious next time a new Patterson book comes out. I'm sure I will wait for the paperback (if I buy it at all) rather than shell out hardcover prices for subpar work.

This was the first book I read by Patterson and it will be the last. He had me with him until he lost his own train of thought in the middle of the book. Chapter 80 ends with a purse incident and is never metioned again. What happened to the letter from Nora's mom? Hello, the ending in one word a "DISAPPOINTMENT". oh and what's with two page chapters. I seen children books with more flare,,,

Sometimes the blurb in the magazine makes a book out to be far more interesting and worth reading than it really it is, but then again, that's the job of the marketers, to make a mediocre book seem like something outstanding. Honeymoon is an excellent example of this. I was originally interested in reading the book after I saw an advertisement for it in one of the monthly newsletters I receive from my book club. It seemed like it would be very interesting and since it had won the 2005 Thriller of the Year Award, I figured that it would be worth my money. Well, I was wrong. I am not saying that Honeymoon is a "bad" book, but it just wasn't that good. Most of its problem had to do with the plot.

Nora Sinclair is a beautiful, but deadly woman, and John O'Hara is a pursuing officer. It had the right setup to be like a "basic instinct" kind of thing, but it slips a little. Basically, Nora marries men and then kills them for their money, and O'Hara is there to (a) determine if she is innocent or not and (b) to arrest her if she is guilty. There were several subplots involving Nora's mother and one of O'Hara's other cases, which serve no function other than to neatly tie up the ending. Each of these subplots could have mined for its potential plot value, but instead they really just make the ending more plausible. And the ending itself is terribly written and very sloppy.

Moreover, there were several plot holes, which I find most irritating because I like to feel a sense of completion upon finishing a book. The characters seemed to be somewhat inconsistent. There didn't seem to be as much of a driving motivation from Nora, as I would have expected. They set up Nora up to be a gold digger who marries handsome, rich men who are actually in love with her then kills them for their money. Money seems to be the only motivating factor for her even though these are actually decent guys who truly care about her. There are other ways of getting rich guys money that do not involve homicide. I thought that part was underdeveloped.

Basically, the writing, the plot, and the character development are pedestrian and very disappointing. I don't really recommend it. It has an interesting premise and it's a fast read, so it may be worth your time if you have nothing else to do, but overall, I'd just let this one sit on the library shelf. Grade: D+ (2.5 stars)