Book Review: The Writer by James Patterson and J.D. Barker

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The Writer by James Patterson and J.D. Barker  was published on March 17, 2025. It opens with Detective Declan Shaw at a closed subway station trying to work up the nerve to commit suicide when he receives a call from his partner about a break in and homicide at the home of a true crime author. Shaw makes his way to the crime scene to work the case, and in a turn of events, Declan comes under scrutiny in another case loosely connected to this new case. I received an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of The Writer  from NetGalley and Little , Brown, and Company for free in exchange for my honest review. I'm appreciative that my request for this book was approved. With this story opening with the main character trying to commit suicide, I almost didn't go any further with the book. However, I am glad I stuck with it as it took me on a fantastic ride and had my emotions all over the place. There were so many twists and turns that just when I thought I had it all figured out, there was ...
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Book Review: The Cabinet of Dr. Leng (Aloysius Pendergast, #21) by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

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book review the cabinet of dr leng preston and child
The Cabinet of Dr. Leng (Aloysius Pendergast, #21) by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child was published on January 17, 2023 by Grand Central Publishing.  It tells the story of how Constance has found a way back to 1880 and is on a quest to save her sister and brother from a certain fate.  In the present day, Pendergast is searching for a way to reunite with Constance.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for free in exchange for my honest review.  I was thrilled to be given this chance as I've heard such great things about the writings of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.  However, I wasn't aware that it was the twenty-first book in a series until after I started reading it.

Well written, engaging, and entertaining are a few words that describe The Cabinet of Dr. Leng by Preston and Child.  I really enjoyed reading this story and was glad that I was finally able to read something by these authors.  I will definitely go back to the beginning of the series and work my way through the twenty other books that preceded this edition at some point in time.

However, this is not a book that can be read as a stand alone.  I was a bit confused when I started reading it because I felt like I was plopped right in the middle of a book, and I had no idea what was going on at first.  It took a few chapters to be given a synopsis of what had happened in previous books in the series.  Then, as the book was coming to a conclusion, I was expecting it to be wrapped up in a bow, but it wasn't . . . at least not entirely because there is a cliffhanger, and I really hate cliffhangers.

There was an authors' note at the end of the story that basically said that The Cabinet of Dr. Leng was just one book of a four book arc that basically picks up where the last one ended and ends in a cliffhanger.  Preston and Child apologized for this and stated that they were working as fast as they could on the next book.

Because The Cabinet of Dr. Leng (Aloysius Pendergast, #21) by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child picked up where the last book ended without giving a reader any context of the previous book and ended in a cliffhanger, I could only give the story three out of five stars.  Had this not been the case, it would have been five stars.  Fans of this series will likely be in love with this story regardless.  With that being said, if you haven't read any of the other books in the series, you should at least start a few books back to have some context for this one.  I look forward to reading other books by these authors.

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