This strikes us as a book that’s a little insecure about what it is. Maybe it doesn’t trust readers to figure it out on their own, so it spells things out: “A Thriller” and “You’ll Never Forget the Ending…” (Neither of which are review quotes, by the way—just bold declarations slapped on the cover like a marketing intern’s fever dream.) And ANY book can say “You’ll never forget the ending.”
The oversized gold text screams JAMES PATTERSON while poor J.D. Barker plays the backup singer with slightly smaller font. Oddly, the smallest name is “James.” Go figure.
The title, The Writer, is vague bordering on generic—but the design does pull us in. That blazing red aura around the woman’s silhouette (the writer, we assume?) gives the whole thing a heat that’s hard to ignore. Paired with the tagline, it’s trying really hard to say, “Something shocking is coming…”
We’re not diehard Patterson readers (sorry), but this cover might get us to flip it over and check the back. Mission accomplished?
If we had to guess…
It’s about a famous female writer whose life unravels when a man accuses her of stealing his book. She insists it’s fiction. He insists it’s his life. Someone’s lying—and someone’s about to turn up dead.
Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
NYPD Detective Declan Shaw is called to a luxury apartment overlooking Central Park, where a woman covered in blood stands over a dead body. The walls are lined with books—all written by bestselling true-crime author Denise Morrow. “You’re the writer?” Shaw asks. But only one person knows how this story ends—was it the killer, or the victim?