The hostage by James Patterson with Robert Gold

"The hostage" by James Patterson with Robert Gold. The book was published by BookShots in 2016 and has 144 pages. This is Book 1 of Jon Roscoe series. 

Tribeca, luxury hotel with 40 floors, is being inaugurated in London. Someone important is murdered by a masked man in full view of the invitees. Jon Roscoe, Head of global security for Tribeca wants to apprehend the killer. Inspector Savage, corrupt nemesis of Roscoe, reaches the scene with the force. Three more people are murdered brutally.

Who is the murderer? What does he want? Why the brutalization?

It's a pacey story. Short and simple. Expected to be completed in one sitting (Although I did it in two). There is thrill and there are murders. 

But what is missing is investigation. The protagonist starts stitching things together by deduction but the killer is always two steps ahead. The protagonist is not able to stop the crimes but becomes only a witness to the aftermath. In the end Jon Roscoe also commits a crime on humanitarian grounds.

Although it's a small book, it has 29 chapters. Thus the chapters are short. Authors have done a good job in accommodating all the essentials and doing away with the fat to keep the book small.

The book is titled 'The Hostage' but ironically, the murderer does not take any hostage. He simply kills them one by one.

There are a few holes in the story. How does the murderer kills the victims but no one sees him. Why the security footage was not detected by the watchers. Who were the other two children? Was it the short book length that did not allow the authors to tie up the loose ends?

This book is from Bookshots series. Bookshots is a series of Thrillers under $5 and 150 pages. These are stories at the speed of life. 

Why did I read this book? Curiosity about Bookshots. 

What I didn't like? Protagonist can't stop crime. 

What did I like? Compactness. 

Read for a change.