Mum's Monday: The Black Book by James Patterson and David Ellis

WARNING SPOLILERS

The start of the book ends on some good news, and now this book goes back to, as the book says on recent events, the past.

Six officers are on surveillance; this is well described with some amusing parts interweaved. The surprise comes in the form of who they observe. The plot thickens. It now seems Billy Harney has made some very powerful enemies.

With modern technology, just finding a black book gets even more complicated, as a black book doesn’t need to be an actual book, it is just the general term used to get the point of what you are looking for and what it represents across. Nowadays a black book, as says in in this story could be anything from an actual book to a computer or tablet. This proves sometimes technology, sadly doesn’t always make life easier.

I have often wondered how and why the little details can get in the way of things, but a homicide cop doing a vice cop’s job doesn’t help or could hamper the case in this book so now I know.

Back to the present and chapter twenty-two is brilliant, it is written from the prospective of Billy in and waking up from a coma. Unfortunately, he is in trouble and can’t remember what exactly happened, but at least by the end of chapter twenty-three the old Billy is back.

Going now back to the past, it is not surprising what people will do if it means they could be the next Mayor. It also seems Billy is working on two cases, one we know about and one that only he and one other knows about. this is intriguing and seems it won’t be good for the Chicago police force.

As the various investigations become intriguing, as I read connections are made, sadly people have to be killed off for this to happen.

Now we are back in the present. It is not good that the cop they have nicknamed The Wiz, due to his name, Lieutenant Paul Wizniewski, has taken over Billy’s case, to say he is a bad choice would be an understatement. Seeing that Billy has lost two weeks of his memory, there doesn’t seem to be anything Billy can do about it at the moment. I just need to read on to see how it all pans out.

It must be horrible to lose part, in this case two weeks of memory and seeing text messages at the end of the two weeks, just before the shooting. It is intriguing and weird as to how the text messages came about. although Billy and Amy have started something.

Now back to the past, we may find out more about the case.

This story has a surprising eye opener, Brothels are normally associated with men, however, we have a female visiting, what she’s there for we don’t know for sure yet, but in these modern times why not? So although this is a new development, this is an acceptable revelation and brilliantly worked out and written about, the different angle this could represent blew me away.

This book sadly highlights it is very hard to truly trust people and promises can be broken.

Back to the present and Billy is playing a very dangerous game, if he pretends to get his memory back and makes what happened up. it is best to see if he gets his actual memory of events back, even as the story suggests, so far it isn’t looking good for him.

At the end of chapter sixty-five, Billy announcing to a room full of cops, including The Wiz that he remembers what happened, I get the impression he is testing something out at the moment, I could be wrong and when I read on hopefully it will become clearer either way, right or wrong.

Now we go back to the past and this shows that police work done based on instinct however correct could get the guilty off scot free. There were some good points made in court, but a warrant should have been attained.

I don’t agree on how Kate is going to try and convince the Judge to take the case further.

Just when I have thought one thing, Billy and Amy blow what I think has happened wide open.

Now we come back to the present and having read about the development in the last chapter before coming to the present, I wonder what Patti is doing or planning. As I read on Patti shows a dark side of herself. It is intriguing this new twist and I wonder if Patti is not all she seems. With the things adding up with what Patti has said, what she has done, and the fact that Billy cannot remember what happened either by his injury or by choice. It all points to an overly traumatic crime that sadly all points to one person so far.

Despite trying to talk Billy out of the trial we jump quickly to the trial.

As I read the part of the trial I learn a lot about the technical aspects of a crime, regarding DNA and gun ballistics, this has been well researched and well written about.

I have forgot that someone else could be a suspect as well, it all seems a little confusing how it will all work out.

It is weird how you try to keep someone quiet who cannot remember what happened anyway, only to do something to cause the complete opposite of what you wanted to achieve. Did that little game plan, if it was a game plan, work? Only time will tell.

Now we come to the past and present as Billy is going to give his evidence, yet another twist it is surprising who you cannot trust, but with what is found there is more than one person.

Well what an incredibly shocking revelation, the twist is a big one. it is lovely to see an old late friend and his daughter help Billy, it is heart-warming to read.

It is sad how I interpreted helping Billy as guilt. It is good to see the four kids helping one another.

Who’d have thought running for Mayor could be so full of catastrophic twists and turns and even murder over a Little Black Book.

If you get a chance you can visit The Richard J. Daley public courtyard, which is mentioned in this book, in Chicago, where the story is set. It is situated next to the Richard J. Daley Center and the Cook county court. it is on the corner of W Washington St and N Clark St. I went there around Halloween in 2007 and it was decorated for Halloween including having orange water in the fountains. There is also the impressive Picasso sculpture to see as well.