Ha, the jokes on me. I recently saw James Patterson in person, and during his discussion, he joked around in a fun way. At some point he was asked if he had a favorite or best book, and he answered it was this one, his first book. Naturally, I "had" to read it. Oh my goodness, he's come a long way since he was 26, thankfully. This book was disjointed, didn't flow, did nothing to carry it along and was boring. I struggled to finish it. I don't think I'll bother to look for other early works. ( )

First edition good

Very difficult to read and understand this murder mystery. Like a movie with much editing. The end did not suit me. Each chapter has a date and you keep having to check the date. Patterson certainly improved as he got going. Most authors, when i read their 1st book it is among the best.. ( )

My first thought after finishing this book was "I didn't get it!". It is written by one of the biggest selling authors in history who is known for thrilling, fast-paced, unputdownable blockbusters, and it has won The Edgar Award, so that should not be the reaction, should it? But, unfortunately, this book is a huge letdown, even for diehard fans of James Patterson, as I can see from the reviews here.
The narrative is utterly confusing due to its erratic jumps in time; it takes a lot of concentration just to be aware of what happens when. Also, there is a lot of atmosphere building that doesn't work for a reader like me who has negligibly little knowledge about the America of the sixties and seventies. And the author has left a lot for the reader to figure out by way of gaps in the plot.
Apart from some humorous descriptions of places, people and life in general, reading this novel felt like an unrewarding chore, which is a sad thing, really. ( )

I have a ton of Patterson's old books that I haven't read yet and, because I was starting to feel guilty about it, I finally pulled this one off the shelf. It was truly not worth the time. I was surprised, because I love James Patterson, but I guess he hadn't yet honed in on his forever writing style since this was his earliest book published. It was literally all over the place and hard to follow. The only thing I found interesting was the wacked-out characters. They were crazy and so was the plot of a hired killer stalking another hired killer. Poor Oona Quinn! ( )