"Run for Your Life”                                                                       by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

Review #69 

Irish cop, Michael Bennett is an easy to like character. He is a dedicated police detective determined to make the streets of NYC safe, even though, he sometimes fantasizes about a career change. At the end of the day, Detective Bennett wants to be a great dad to his ten children. Having just lost his wife to cancer, Mike tries to pick up the pieces and move on while dealing with his grief. He stumbles and sometimes makes mistakes, but his family is his first priority.

While taking care of his lovable, flu-infested brood of children, he’s also dealing with a serial killer who calls himself the “Teacher”. The trail is initially ice cold but, Michael uses his instinct (combined with a lot of luck) to identify and pursue the Teacher, an egotistical psychopath, on a mission to teach manners to those condescending and rude people who have seemingly wronged him. Michael follows a series of clues which lead to an ultimate showdown with the killer.

In an unusual and totally unexpected twist of fate, Michael finds himself and a loved one hostages. He then must use reverse psychology, recall every trick he learned in hostage negotiation training, and every ounce of strength he can muster to save himself, his child, and New York City from the evil clutches of this killer.

On the home front, Bennett has some help to deal with his sick children in Mary Catherine, a live-in Irish nanny. Her patience and knowledge in dealing with all of the children make her a favorite person to all who benefit from it. Bennett also gets assistance from his grandfather, a Catholic priest who has some crime of his own to solve as someone is stealing from the church’s poor box. (Grandpa became a priest after his family was grown and his wife passed away.) The parts of the story with these characters provides some interesting lighter and often humorous moments in this very serious story.

Michael Bennett is becoming one of my favorite characters! Excellent read for guys and gals!