The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Crime
novel fans would be the first to admit that their beloved genre tends
to stick to patterns and formulas. A crime occurs and then the
lead detective starts chasing clues until the murderer is caught. The
storyline
often culminates in a physical confrontation between the good cop and
the
murderer; in which case, the cop always wins. Very few novels break away
from
that pattern to offer a different perspective on the crime world.
Unfortunately, Patterson’s Tick Tock sticks to the standard formula.

Tick Tock is the fourth book in the Michael
Bennett series. Bennett has decided to retreat and take some time off. He’s vacationing with his large family of ten
kids, a grandfather and an Irish nanny when he gets a phone call from his boss.
A mad bomber has left explosives at the main branch of the New York City Public
Library.

But it really isn’t just about the
bombings. Weird crimes occur throughout the city, and it’s up to Bennett to
catch the person behind them. The mastermind seems to be imitating infamous
crimes of the past. The victims appear to have nothing in common, and it seems like a
dead-end to this worn-out detective.

As
if things weren’t complicated
enough, Bennett struggles with the burden of being a single parent, and
his love life
spins out of control when he finds himself torn between his feelings for
two beautiful women; Mary Katherine, the Irish nanny, and Emily Parker,
an FBI
agent who is called in to help with the complicated case.

It’s not the plot that makes Tick
Tock an enjoyable thrilling read; the trick lies in Patterson’s writing. He
has an incredible ability to keep you on the edge of your seat. As you flip
from one page to the next, you find that it is virtually impossible to put down
the novel until you have figured out who committed the crimes and why. Patterson
continues to write in his style of short and gripping chapters, so you find
yourself swearing that you’re only going read one more chapter.

Patterson infiltrates psychotic
minds and writes about them in true-to-life voices. He vividly describes how
they think and how they view life. Readers actually get to understand how these
twisted minds operate. It’s also amazing how Patterson swiftly switches from
the voices of the demented to those of the sane.

Contrary to what many fans of this
genre prefer, Tick Tock doesn’t have any surprising twists. It’s just
good old-fashioned storytelling.