Guilty Wives - by James Patterson

OK !! After my first review which drew a lot of my readers' attention and was appreciated, I am thrilled to write up the next one today. I usually read a mix of all kind of Stuff, but these days I am picking more of Action/Crime stuff to read in. And since I don't really get my choice of "pace" and “crime” in every piece of Tome, I keep on trying new Authors every week. Last weekend I picked up “James Patterson” as many of my friends
 recommended him for a fast paced Crime read. This book, as it says, doesn't disappoint the first timer at all. In fact I am half way through the next book from Patterson “Kill me if you can” and enjoying it so far.

To start with the storyline “ No husbands allowed..... Only minutes after Abbie Elliot and her three best friends step off of a private helicopter, they enter the most luxurious, sumptuous, sensually pampering hotel they have ever been to. 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 moves into pulsating discos, high-stakes casinos, and beyond, Abbie is transported to the greatest pleasure and release she has ever known.

What happened last night?

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. And now the vacation of a lifetime becomes the fight of a lifetime & for survival. GUILTY WIVES is the ultimate indulgence, the kind of nonstop joy-ride of excess, friendship, betrayal, and danger that only James Patterson can create."

The plot certainly has quite a few twists and the reader will be wondering about conspiracy, jealousy and revenge as motives. Although, a bit of it does require some suspension of disbelief. However, the narrative is well-paced and moves quickly, and rest assured that by tale’s end, all is explained and makes sense. It is obvious to everyone but the French judicial system that the women are being set up, and the reader even gets a hint near the beginning as to who is really responsible. But it is the how and why that maintains the mystery.

Abbie, the Narrator is made of stern stuff. She undoubtedly has a rough time in prison, from which she is almost certain not to walk away. Still, she refuses to knuckle under. I felt Abbie's angst, courage, pain and the eagerness to find the whole truth, I felt her Character. In desperation, she embarks on a crazy plan that seems doomed to failure almost from the beginning. Her intent is to escape from prison, prove her innocence, and find out precisely how she and her friends wound up in their predicament. It is at this point that the book really takes off. The arrest and trial are interesting, and the horrors that Abbie experiences while incarcerated are frightening, but it is the final half of the book that is pure adrenalin. Abbie follows a slim trail of evidence, while everyone else, from the people behind the frame-up to every gendarme in France, is following her. The ending is anything but predictable.  

This is a fast-paced book with plenty of action and Patterson’s usual short chapters.  The story is gripping. I couldn't wait to find out what happens next, this should certainly be made into a movie. There is so much action, suspense and cat-and-mousing going on here, that I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. The authors portray the emotion and intensity of this book so vividly. From page one, you feel the joy of an indulgent vacation, right along with the characters. You feel the fear of being trapped in a situation you cannot escape. You feel the deep sadness and terror of being locked in a jail cell.

If I have to give some negative points, then it could be that the 1st part of the story had a lot of French terms that were seldom explained which made it hard to understand what was happening. Also, there is probably a bit too much waffle at the beginning and too much prison in the middle, but despite this and the discrepancies, it was a good read. 

My Rating : 3 1/2 : 5