You've Been Warned

Published on November 19, 2007

Aspiring photographer Kristin Burns is a happy woman. Her images have been accepted at a gallery, she has a great job as a nanny to two kids she adores and she's in love. Everything would be perfect if it weren't for the chilling dream that haunts her nights. And now the nightmare seems to be part of her days too. Is she really seeing a corpse's hand moving or is she going insane?

So begins the latest thriller by James Patterson and co-author Howard Roughan, the team that also brought us "Honeymoon".

There are several problems with this book, the main one being that each chapter is a mere two or three pages long, so it reads more like an action movie than a thriller novel.

It's also hard to generate much sympathy for Kristin, not least because she's having a torrid affair with a wealthy married man and it often seems that her guilt is the explanation for why she's having the terrible visions. There are also hints of an abusive past and of childhood encounters with the dead, although these are not explored in sufficient depth to add credibility to the plot.

Patterson has written several good books, among them his excellent Alex Cross series, but he seems to falter when he joins up with other, lesser-known talents. That said, "You've Been Warned" is probably a pleasant-enough way of whiling away a rainy afternoon.