"The Quickie"

I try not to buy hard cover books anymore. They take up a lot of shelf space, and they cost a lot more than paperbacks, so most of the time I just wait another six months and save the $14.00, give or take.

Yesterday we were in Borders and James Patterson's new book, "The Quickie," was front and center. I'd actually seen a commercial for it on TV earlier in the day, which surprised me. I don't know if I've ever seen a TV commercial for a book. I guess when one has been writing stories for thirty years, publishers go the extra mile for advertising. In my case, James Patterson could write the alphabet and I'd probably buy it. I just love his style.

In any case, I had my copy by the time we left the store, and I had two chapters read before we got home. Last night about 10:30 I realized I had two choices: put it down and go to bed, or fall asleep in my chair and risk drooling on the pages. It wasn't a difficult decision; even at 30% off, I paid too much for the book to ruin it the first night. I had it done before noon today anyway.

I can't get into the plot much without spoilers. Basically, a woman discovers her husband is cheating on her and decides to get even, and it goes terribly wrong. The plot has more twists and turns than a North Carolina back road, and somehow, inexplicably and in a fashion on James Patterson can manage, it comes out right in the end. That's really all I can say.

Borders has it 30% off--I mentioned that, right? Go get the book and take it when you go on vacation. If you can wait that long to crack the cover. I couldn't.