#BookReview :: Burn (Michael Bennett #7) by James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge

At last, Detective Michael Bennett and his family are coming home to New York City. Thanks to Bennett, the ruthless crime lord whose vengeful mission forced the Bennett family into hiding has been brought down for good.

Back in the city that never sleeps, Bennett takes over a chaotic Outreach Squad in Harlem, where he receives an unusual call: a man claims to have seen a group of well-dressed men holding a bizarre party in a condemned building. With no clear crime or evidence, Bennett dismisses the report. But when a charred body is found in that very same building, he is forced to take the caller seriously – and is drawn into an underground criminal world of terrifying depravity.




Michael Bennett has brought down Perrine for good and his family is finally safe. [Read My Review of Gone (Michael Bennett #6) by James Patterson]

Now back, Bennett is reassigned to “Outreach Squad” in Harlem. When a police report is made about a party of people in an unusual spot, but without any evidence of crime, Bennett is forced to pass it by, that is until a body is found in the exact same spot. With a group of misfits as his new team, Michael dives into the case. At the same time, Michael also gets a chance to catch a team of robbers who hit only the very high-end jewelry stores. Instead of giving up on the first case, Michael decides to work on both cases. To top it all, Michael has to fight his growing emotions for the nanny of his children and a threat from the biological father of one of his children. With so much going on around in and around his life, Michael has to step up his game is he wants to keep things under control.

The concept of Outreach Squad and its assorted team members really got me interested in the story and quite frankly I would have been happy reading about Michael getting the squad in form. The added mystery just crowded the story and to top it off was Michael’s personal life issues. Somehow everything got into a bit of a tangle. However, as usual, Patterson has done an excellent job of dealing out action and drama through the pages. With so much happening, the storyline kept flowing smoothly and the narration was good too. The anti-heroes of the story were probably the only letdown in the book, especially when compared to the other villains that Bennett has encountered previously. Hopefully Bennett and Mary Catherine will get together soon.

Overall, this is a typical James Patterson novel that will keep you glued to the pages until the very end.