Has James Patterson jumped the shark? For those of you who don’t get the obscure reference, I’m referring to the Happy Days episode where the Fonz went water skiing and literally jumped over a shark, thus ending all the fun and good things that series had done in one spectactular moment. Let’s face it, all creative people have their good days and their bad days. I hate to think that James Patterson’s good days are in the past, but the more books that he writes with Andrew Gross, the more that I wonder if Patterson hasn’t “jumped the shark”.

I didn’t get sucked in to the story and didn’t really care about the characters from the start - NOT a good sign. At least it moves quickly and there’s some satisfaction in the end (after a whole lot of wondering if the plot will EVER tie up).

While not as bad as “You’ve Been Warned”, which was TERRIBLE, “Judge and Jury” is so formulaic that it seems pointless. Good cop tries so hard to get bad mafia guy in jail. Finally manages to arrest him only to see the whole thing potentially fall apart at the trial. It’s up to “THE JURY” to decide (cue the cheesy Perry Mason music). More drama, more horror, hired killers, blah blah blah.

It won’t make my list of books never to read, but it surely isn’t on my top 100 list.

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