Private: #1 Suspect

In chapter one of Patterson and Paetro’s lackluster second novel featuring Jack Morgan (after 2010’s Private), Morgan, the founder of an L.A. investigative firm “with clients all over the map who demanded and paid well for services not available through public means,” returns home to his mansion from an overseas trip to discover the blood-soaked body of his ex-girlfriend, Colleen Molloy, in his bed. Whoever shot Molloy, who tried to kill herself six months earlier at the time of their breakup, has planted evidence incriminating Morgan. Before alerting the police, Morgan has forensic expert Dr. Sci and tech geek Mo-bot comb the scene, but his delay in reporting the crime only makes him more of a suspect to the LAPD. Unrelated subplots, including a serial killer who leaves his victims in different locations of a hotel chain, serve only to add to the book’s length. An evil identical twin doesn’t help with plausibility. (Jan.)