#BookReview: The cookie cutter crime novel strikes again

When I picked up the latest crime thriller by one of the biggest-selling crime writers of all time, I did not expect to be so thoroughly disappointed.

‘2 Sisters Detective Agency’ by James Patterson and Candice Fox looked promising at first, perhaps a little on the light side, but that is not always a bad thing.

The story follows a sassy and rather overweight attorney who has a soft spot for teen delinquents.

But when Rhonda Bird returns home to LA to bury her estranged father, she discovers that he left her two final surprises.

The first is a private detective agency that he set up after leaving his job as an accountant; the second is a brash teenage half sister named Baby, who wants nothing to do with her.

The unlikely pair get drawn into a case involving a hit man forced out of retirement by grief and a group of spoilt, demented teens who get their kicks hurting people.

Things get messy and dangerous for the two wannabe detectives.

Ultimately this feels like good crime writing has deteriorated into a cookie cutter recipe for selling books.

You won’t mind it if you chanced upon it in your holiday flat, but you will be peeved if you bought it expecting to be genuinely thrilled.