Life has never really been easy for Detective Michael Bennett.  After he and his wife adopted ten , children (not a typo), she took ill and eventually died of cancer.  For years non Michael has been making it work with the help of Grandpa Seamus and the live in nanny Mary Catherine.  He juggles life between the kids and his job and for the most part it works.

Then Michael finds himself with the opportunity to be part of taking down a big time crime lord and after the set up is launched and the gun smoke has cleared, a good friend and fellow officer is left dead and the crime lord has escaped.  Michael feels as though he is about to crack in two, and instead grabs the whole family, Seamus and Mary Catherine too and  heads to the sanctuary of their family cabin in Newburgh New York. 

At first this time away is bliss, kids splashing in the lake, burgers and steaks on the grill.  really just what the doctor ordered – but as Michael has learned all to well time and again… things are not always as they seem.  When two of his kids get caught up with some local gang members things go bad very quickly… what starts out as looking random is soon discovered it is not.  It looks that Michael and hid family are being targeted.

Whats a guy got to do for a little “r and r”?

I have enjoyed the Patterson/Ledwidge author combo in this series since I first listened to the first book in this series, Step On A Crack, which explains the Bennett family dynamics.  This series is not as gruesome as some of Patterson’s books can be, the family dynamics really give it a nice level feel without being overly gushy the other direction…. Michael is still a detective in New York and the crimes are sometimes harsh.

As this series goes on I am really enjoying it.  The story line has not become old for me, I enjoy the family and the underlying possible relationship (someday…. maybe…) between Mary Catherine and Michael.  The kids, ages 3 to 13, offer a fun addition to the books to as kids will be kids… the little ones adorable… the older boys getting into mischief as you will see in this book. 

I have seen on-line a bit of grumbling about how this one ends and some others saying they didn’t know they would have to read another book. To that I say…. hello….. you are in the middle of a series and no one has said “Michael Bennett – The End yet. 😀  If I were to guess, I am going to say that due to the way this one ended I think the series is going to wrap up soon with this one big case. 

If you like a good detective story with really good characters and writing, give these books a try.  I have thoroughly enjoyed them all on audio.  Something about Patterson’s narrated books that are pretty AWESOME!