Customer Reviews

You've Been Warned

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(30)
2 star:		(54)
1 star:		(329)

 

 

Kristen is an avid photographer living in New York City in YOU'VE BEEN WARNED, the latest book to be churned out of the James Patterson factory. She's a good photographer and is close to making it big. Until the money starts rolling in, she works as a nanny for the two adorable kids of Michael and Penley Turnbull. Kristin seems like a normal 26-year old girl, except that weird things keep happening to her. She keeps having a reoccuring dream about four murders at a hotel. She keeps hearing a song in her head that she can't quite place. Some images in her photos are unexplainable, and she thinks she sees her dead father on the streets of Manhattan. Also, Kristen is having an affair with Michael Turnbull and expects him to leave Penley for her any day now. One night in a club, a stranger approaches her and tells her to be careful, and that now, she's "been warned."

Not counting the flying kids novels, this is the forth Patterson novel this year. He writes so many now that you can compare his novels to others quite easily to get a good idea of where they stand. STEP ON A CRACK had a poor sublot with the cop with ten kids. CROSS was great. The latest Women's Murder Club books have turned into 2 or 3 novellas combined to make a novel. THE QUICKIE grabbed me early and was full of twists. Definitely a great book. HONEYMOON faded at the end, BEACH ROAD featured a point of view gimmick, JUDGE AND JURY seemed like an afterthought, while LIFEGUARD was quite intriguing. You get my point, some Patterson books, are good, a few great, and many average. I believe there should be a new category shoud be created for YOU'VE BEEN WARNED. It sets a new standard for horrible awfulness regardless of what other book you judge it against.

The blurb on the inside jacket of the hardcover is SO misleading and tells you nothing about the type of book you are about to read. Sure, Kristen is a nanny and a photographer, But that in no way scratches the surface in what Patterson is trying to pull off here. In my opinion, the entire 374 pages of the novel is a beginning. This is a one note novel, with no turns, no transitions. I mentioned above the strange things that happen to Kristen, the dream, the music, the photos. None of it is ever explained. Strange things keep happening and piling on and Kristen keeps thinking she understands or is getting close to solving the mystery, before more strange things happen, and the reader is back at square one.

This is a gimmick novel, and it fails so miserably, it is hard to put into words. It is easy to read so you might want to check it out in the library just so you can get an idea for how bad it is. This is disappointing considering how much I enjoyed THE QUICKIE, but it is not unexpected because Patterson can be counted on to produce a clunker every third or forth effort. The last line of the inside cover blurb says "This novel of psychological suspense is a stunning new achievement for thriller master Patterson." There is no suspense, there are no thrills, only and endless cycle of unexplained occurrences that take the novel in a direction you don't expect by reading the blurb. And unfortunately, that direction is a place that no reader should ever be forced to go again.

I have read all of James Patterson's books but after the last few I have about decided to let him prove himself to me again! The flying children were awful, as well as the baby killing fiasco.

When he sticks to Alex Cross or the Women's Murder Club, one might expect to have a good read.......but, when he veers from that ...watch out! Maybe he should write solo again. I don't think the helper is working.

I have noticed that he gets in great detail on many subjects lately and the most recent is photography. I have been a member of the Professional Photographers of America for a number of years and even teach photography in a local college. I consider myself knowledgeable on the subject enough to criticize a bit. Patterson has come up with some real doozies. He is so far out ie: you don't use a safe light when film is in a developing canister, depth of field doesn't have a thing to do with sharpness of the subject.....I could go on. I guess I was expecting so much more...

Please go back to the good stuff Mr Patterson....you could still be one of my favorites if you would.

Ever enter a book store, and keep going until you find a book by an author you recongize, don't even glance at the back to find out what the books about and just buy it cuz of who wrote it? How many times do you pick up a book by an unknown author and do the same? NEVER FOLKS!! We were all taken by the Publisher of "You've been warned" - Lets get James Patterson on the phone, tell him we got this new kid who wrote a book, offer the man royalies and see if he will put his name on it, damn, got me. I bought this book, with the assumption it would live up to Patterson standards. I hope Mr. Patterson reads these reviews and realizes that we have finally caught on to the game.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ It was a waste of money and my time and effort to even finish this book. It was god awful, one of the worst books i've ever read. I read on average 3-4 books a week - i am the ultimate book nerd , I have a WIDE range of authors, love stories, chic lit, mysteries, true crime, science fiction, if its a book, and its good - you got me. But what the heck was this book??? It was just bad from beginning to end. I will not write any spoilers for this book, i will not go into detail on the storyline, it made no sense from beginning to end. This is my first ever review, because I could not stop myself, when finished, I wanted to throw the book in the trash.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
But hey lets give congrats to Howard Roughan, he just made a fortune from us "book lovers". I will have to pass on the next Roughan novel just for principal. (Of course, unless he writes the next a Potter legacy ;) )
Happy Reading everyone ... just don't let them fool with this one, if Patterson wrote a word of it.... i'd be compelety shocked!

When your book budget is low and your local library (though delightful) has a limited stock of new books, what to do? Lately I've been falling back on formula thrillers to lull me to sleep at night, and that's why I checked out this James Patterson offering -- a regrettable choice, I'm sorry to say.

I know James Patterson can put out a highly readable book, which makes it all the more unfortunate that he's squandering his reputation with something as unfocused as "You've Been Warned." He and co-author Howard Roughan have given us a superficial story that starts with a bad dream and never really gets off the ground.

The story is told in the first person by an aspiring Manhattan photographer, Kristin Burns (her catch phrase: "Don't think, just shoot!") Kristin is tormented by bad dreams that seem to come true, warned darkly by dead people, and freaked out by creepy effects on her photographs. She thinks she may be going mad.

The authors' choice of the first person, present tense for this tale is not effective. Kristin has no idea what's going on and there isn't enough information for the reader to guess -- or care. There are very few clues given; is it a horror tale? or did Kristin capture something on film that she shouldn't have? or is it a psychological thriller with madness or evil at its core? The book doesn't quite settle on a theme.

Several major events from Kristin's past are thrown into the mix near the end, a frenzied deus ex machina. There was the feeling that the book was approaching its target word count before the author thought to check the outline -- OOPS! Here, have this ... and this ... and this.

With all the poor pacing and stream-of-consciousness narration, you may wonder where the two stars are coming from. There are two delightful children in the story and they deserve one each even though their roles are small. Also, the New York setting is vivid and the photography theme, though not well enough developed, is somewhat interesting.

It's heartbreaking, really. If the elements of "You've Been Warned" were to be Mixmastered and served up fresh with some loving care, we COULD have a book we deserve.

Linda Bulger, 2008

Have you ever watched a movie or television show that started out good but about halfway through you realize that the story isn't going anywhere and you think about leaving but you stay because you think that the story is going to resolve itself in the end and then it doesn't and you want to ask for your money back? This book will duplicate that experience for you. The story starts out pretty well and then goes in circles and down dark alleyways that lead absolutely no where. One is lead to believe that the two authors wrote different chapters but never got together to talk about where the story would lead. Additionally, the character development is so poor that you start out only feeling tepid about the protaganist who is having an affair with a married man and who happens to be the nanny to his children, which brings her into daily contact with his current wife, and wind up not really caring what happens to her or anyone else in the story. (Spoiler alert) - The ending is ambiguous and not in a good way. Take a pass on this one.

Dear James and Howard:

You are two of my favorite current suspense writers. Howard, the Up and Comer is one of my favorite mysteries of all time. James, the Alex Cross books still stand up wonderfully. I liked your last book together, Honeymoon.

What on earth happened here?

Okay, I know the authors aren't really reading this review. But in some ways, doesn't it feel like this book demands a personal explanation? I mean, this was just wrong. It reads like it was written by a computer program ("Write in James Patterson Style!"). Is there even a complete paragraph in the book?

All the paragraphs.
Are written.
Like THIS!
BOO!

No, it doesn't make a bad book any more suspenseful.

It's not the subject matter -- I don't mind the unreliable narrator/psychological thriller aspect or the gimmick of the book (in fact, I like it!) but this was NOT well-executed. Read some Jim Thompson, Jason Starr, or Howard Roughan (hey! that's you!) to see how it's done well. If you want to enjoy a good story about this subject matter, *mild SPOILER ALERT!!! warning!* you have SO many more good options. Rent Jacob's Ladder. Mulholland Drive. Or even the freaking Sixth Sense. This is just heinous. They telegraph the ending halfway through the book. It is no surprise. It is one giant badly written cliche.

Really, what happened? How could two writers I like so much go so wrong? Unlike some of the other reviewers, I can't blame Roughan b/c I have read all his other books, and not a single one is anything less than great. My only conclusion is that they had a terrible ghostwriter, because this in no way resembles anything either of them have written before.

The title is indeed apt -- I wish I had read the reviews before I spent my money on this. My advice? Save your money on this hardback and order Roughans The Up And Comer instead. Now THAT'S suspense.

I LOVE James Patterson. He is by far my favorite author and I was on pins and needles awaiting the release of this book. I must say that I thought that The Quickie waas bad...You've been warned is far worse. I believe that I will just stick with Pattersons Alex Cross series and Womens Murder Club Series, as the books outside of these series are a great dissapointment. For the first time I think I will try to sell my copy on Amazon as this is a novel I will not be reading again!!!

HUGE DISSAPOINTMENT!!!!!!!!

The star of this one is aspiring-photographer-but-current-nanny Kristin Burns; she adores the children that she cares for but loves their father, Michael, even more. The two carry on a torrid affair that is made that much more exciting by Michael's seemingly lack of concern of being caught. Haunted at night by recurring nightmares featuring body bags and the deaths of the people that she loves, Kristin is also seeing dead people by day. Not sure if she is losing her mind, and having difficulty separating fact from fiction, Kristin seeks the help of her therapist, who is so uncharacteristically uncaring that the entire scene seems surreal...but then, so does the entire book. One is somewhat breathless, wondering, where will it all lead? How will it all tie together? The answer: Nowhere, and it doesn't. A shockingly bad book from the same literary duet that created the highly enjoyable novel Honeymoon. What happened here? Anyway, readers....the title says it all. You've Been Warned........


DYB

I waited for this book and was warned by all of the negative reviews, yet I bought anyways. I tried to like and I kept reading but there was just no way to even semi-like this book. Its too weird and I can't believe either author wrote this. It was HORRIBLE!!!!

Skip this book and save your money. I read this one and The Quickie from the library.
As other reviewers stated, how much more drivel will Mr. Patterson put his name on just to sell books?
They all seem to make the Bestseller lists so I guess the answer to my above question is -many more.