It all starts with an innocent phone call, a neighbour complaining about water coming from his apartment, and it ends with Michael Kepler finding a body in his bath tub. This would be a traumatic event for anybody, finding the body of a stranger dead in your apartment, but it is just the start of the nightmare. The LAPD are convinced that Michael and the victim knew each other, that they had a relationship - and even Michael has to admit the evidence is pretty convincing. As they dig into the case Michael is forced to admit to his past, that he hasn't been Michael Kepler since he was a child - his legal name is Michael Fitzgerald, and he has spent the last few years working as a long haul truck driver, estranged from his adoptive parents trying to make a life of his own. Even the death and funeral of his adoptive father isn't a compelling enough reason to return to the 'loving' home he grew up in.
Michael seems to be in a dream he can't wake from, a nightmare in which he is pursued by Detective Dobbs from the LAPD, and FBI Agent Gimble. The only lifeline he has is his adopted sister Megan, who has faced her own share of challenges over the years at the hands of their parents. From the outside Michael and Megan were both lucky to have ended up with Doctors Bart and Rose Fitzgerald, a respected psychologist and psychiatrist - but living with them was not the rescue either of them needed or deserved. Doctor Bart was not raising the children, he was conducting an experiment, and as Michael and Megan know only too well it was not for their benefit. As Michael runs he experiences crippling headaches, blackouts, and a string of bodies is left in his wake. As Michael ang Megan race to reach the last two names on what appears to be more of a hit list than patient list, they will uncover secrets that were better left buried. Detective Dobbs and Agent Gimble are in a race against time, and they don't know what they are facing - no one really does.
The coast to coast murders is the kind of action driven, completely absorbing thriller I have come to expect from James Patterson and his coauthors. This is a departure from the stories about detectives and agents, although both are included - this is a thriller about a young man who has woken up in a nightmare where he is not a victim but a criminal. You don't know what to expect, it seems so cut and dried and obvious that he is the killer, but once he is on the run you are confronted with a more startling reality - instead of being nurtured and protected by his guardians he was instead subjected to experimentation that would break most adults. The true horror of his upbringing is slowly revealed as his story blends with the written statement from his adopted sister Megan. It is also clear that the two siblings looked out for each and still look out for each other - important when you have been through what they have.
This is one of those stories where I am trying not to say too much because the twists and flow of the story depends on you coming into it with no idea what is coming - it is more enjoyable and awe inspiring that way. This is a crime thriller unlike any I have read this year and it is going to take some serious skill for anyone (alone or co-authored) to knock The coast to coast murders off the throne of best crime thriller for 2020 for me. It uses all of it's 554 to drag you on a twisting and twisted ride as you try and figure out what is really happening and why.
If you like this book then try:
- Kill me if you can by James Patterson and Marshall Karp
- Lost by James Patterson and James O. Born
- Never never by James Patterson and Candice Fox
- Good me bad me by Ali Land
- Spare me the truth by C.J. Carver
- Orphan X by Greg Hurwitz
- Eeny meeny by M.J. Arlidge
- Sticks and stones by Katherine Firkin
- The better sister by Alafair Burke
- The vanishing season by Joanna Schaffhausen
- Killing trail by Margaret Mizushima
- Breaking Creed by Alex Kava
- City of fear by Alafair Burke
- Gathering dark by Candice Fox
Reviewed by Brilla
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