Mistress is the first book James Patterson that I’ve read. I chose it because it featured on the bestselling fiction lists and I was looking forward to being engrossed in a good thriller.
Mistress got off to a good start and it’s certainly action packed — surprising me in virtually every chapter — for the first fifty pages or so.
Ben, the main character is a well-heeled journalist with a troubled history that dates from his mother’s murder when he was a young boy. He finds himself embroiled in a frightening and dangerous world as he seeks to find out what happened to his former girlfriend, Diana Hotchkiss.
Ben’s interior monologue is full of references to US presidents and action movies that may entertain readers who share his interests. For me at least, they became somewhat tedious as the novel progressed and I’d have liked to have seen a bit more depth in the characters.
Ben’s investigation is complicated and action-packed and quite visual at times, which might lend itself to exciting screening, but I couldn’t help feeling that here was an idea for a really good story that somehow got a little lost in the telling.