The Postcard Killers [Hardcover]

James Patterson (Author), Liza Marklund (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 16, 2010

Paris is stunning in the summer

NYPD detective Jacob Kanon is on a tour of Europe's most gorgeous cities. But the sights aren't what draw him--he sees each museum, each cathedral, and each cafe through the eyes of his daughter's killer.

The killing is simply marvelous

Kanon's daughter, Kimmy, and her boyfriend were murdered while on vacation in Rome. Since then, young couples in Paris, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, and Stockholm have been found dead. Little connects the murders, other than a postcard to the local newspaper that precedes each new victim.

Wish you were here

Now Kanon teams up with the Swedish reporter, Dessie Larsson, who has just received a postcard in Stockholm--and they think they know where the next victims will be. With relentless logic and unstoppable action, The Postcard Killers may be James Patterson's most vivid and compelling thriller yet.

Editorial Reviews

Review

APPLAUSE FOR JAMES PATTERSON:

"The Man Who Can't Miss." (Time Lev Grossman )

"Patterson boils a scene down to the single, telling detail, the element that defines a character or moves the plot along. It's what fires off the movie projector in the reader's mind." (Michael Connelly )

"Patterson's novels are sleek entertainment machines, the Porsches of commercial fiction, expertly engineered and lightning fast." (Publishers Weekly )

About the Author

James Patterson has had more New York Times bestsellers than any other writer, ever, according to Guinness World Records. Since his first novel won the Edgar Award in 1976, James Patterson's books have sold more than 170 million copies. He is the author of the Alex Cross novels, the most popular detective series of the past twenty-five years, including Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider. Mr. Patterson also writes the bestselling Women's Murder Club novels, set in San Francisco, and the top-selling New York detective series of all time, featuring Detective Michael Bennett. He writes full-time and lives in Florida with his family.

Liza Marklund is a Swedish journalist and author of the Annika Bengtzon series, which has sold 9 million copies in 30 languages. She lives in Sweden and Spain.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (August 16, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316089516
• ISBN-13: 978-0316089517
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.5 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (196 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61,896 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

From my publisher:

James Patterson...


* James Patterson holds the New York Times bestsellers list record with 63 New York Times bestselling titles.

* JP has sold more than 220 million books worldwide. And considering pass-along and libraries, it's safe to say many more people than that have read a Patterson!

* In 2010, JP was named by kids everywhere the Children's Book Councils' Children's Choice Book Awards "Author of the Year" in 2010. More than 15,000 kid and teen readers voted for JP in a category he shared with Suzanne Collins, Carl Hiaasen, Jeff Kinney, and Rick Riordan. His Witch and Wizard series saw the biggest launch of a series for young readers ever, surpassing sales of first installments of Twilight, Diary of A Wimpy Kid, and Percy Jackson & The Olympians.

* JP has grossed over 3 billion dollars in worldwide sales. This is larger than the worldwide theatrical gross of Avatar, the highest grossing film of all time.

* JP has had 43 New York Times hardcover #1 bestselling novels, also a publishing industry record.

* Last year, JP has sold more books than John Grisham, Dan Brown, Tom Clancy, and Stephen King combined (source: Nielsen BookScan).

* JP properties are gaining wide interest amongst film and TV producers. JP's award-winning series for young readers, Maximum Ride, is currently with Avi Arad (Spiderman, Iron Man) and Universal Pictures. Lloyd Levin (Green Zone, Watchmen) is attached to produce a feature film adaptation of JP's newest young readers series, Witch and Wizard, and James Patterson Entertainment is set to produce the next Alex Cross film, I, Alex Cross which will feature Idris Elba (The Wire, The Losers) as Alex Cross. And, a television adaptation of JP's 2007 love story Sundays At Tiffanys aired in December 2010 starring Alyssa Milano and Eric Winter.

* JP's books are licensed in 43 countries worldwide, and are in print and actively sold in 100 countries.

* According to a 2010 Bowker Sisters in Crime Survey, JP is the favorite mystery writer amongst readers under 50...AND over 50! Survey respondents comprised American men, women and teens who bought at least one mystery fiction title in 2009 and/or 2010.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars No more Patterson for me, September 4, 2010

By 

janandrub - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Postcard Killers (Hardcover)

This is the second worst James Patterson book I've ever read, the first being "You've Been Warned." I really don't know why I even finished reading the book because I was disappointed within the first few chapters. There is absolutely no character development and the writing style is awful. It sounds like alot of us Patterson fans are fed up with his "book factory" that cranks out a dismal book every other month. I think I'm officially done with Patterson which is a shame considering he used to be one of my favorite authors.

129 of 149 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Wow, this was bad!, August 21, 2010

By 

Reacher Creature (Rochester) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Postcard Killers (Hardcover)

First off, it was my fault that I read this. I should have learned from Patterson's past books, on how bad this would be, and I should have listened to myself. I used to like Patterson a lot, but now his books are hit and miss, much more of them are a miss, and this is no exception. This is a clunker.

I won't ever bother going over the plot. I read it once and I don't want to remember it. Honestly, it's that bad. What makes it that bad? Well my fellow reader, I'm glad you asked.

The Characters: All of the characters are annoying. One of the main characters is Jacob, a cop from NYC, and he annoyed the bejesus out of me. He flashed his badge and expected people to jump and do what he wanted. The problem is that he was pretty much all over the world doing it. I guess it never occurred to him that his NYC police badge would mean diddly squat outside of his jourstiction. People were doing what he wanted, pretty much. If he didn't get what he wanted, he'll throw a hissy fit and throw things through windows and start yelling a people like he owned the place. The other main character was Dessie, who's a sometimes gay and sometimes straight reporter. I guess she hasn't made up her mind yet. Not only is she a reporter, but she feels the need to solve big crimes for the cops. I found that to be laughable.

Also, the repetition of things grated at me nerves. How many times do we have to hear different and the same characters tell us that "The American smells", "Can't the American take a shower", "Why does the American smell so bad." "Hasn't the American heard of soap?" Okay we get it, Jacob stinks.... do we really need to read bout it so much? Speaking of repetition let's talk about Dessie, the sometimes report/crimfighter, shall we? Over and over again we are treated to , "Why did the killers contact me?" "Why did the killers choose me?" "Why would the Postcard killers send me a postcard". Then if that isn't enough, we're treated to other characters ask over and over, and over, "Why would the killers contact you?" Then when the killers do their things, we get to see them do the set up over and over, and over. When they started setting the victims up, I knew exactly what they'd do and what they said before they did it. Yeesh!

The writing style if just awful. There's no plot twits, nothing to keep the reader hooked to the page. Nothing like, "OMG, I never saw that coming!!" The sad truth my friends, is that we see everything coming, and there are no surprises.

Usually, I'd say get it from the library, I won't even suggest that. This is a clunker. Don't even waste your time on this.

46 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Gads!!!, August 29, 2010

By 

Dee Phelps (Upland, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Postcard Killers (Hardcover)

Over the years I have read the Alex Cross books and enjoyed them. Recently, though, Patterson's other books and all the books he is "co-writing" with some aspiring author, are just AWFUL!! Luckily, my library charges $.50 for each brand-new book I recieve written by authors of my choosing. This last one wasn't worth the $.50!! I've about had it with James Patterson and Whomever. There is little substance and I am finally giving up. Mr. Patterson, have you just run out of ideas? Go back to the drawing board and see if you can find some "creative juices".