Step on a Crack Written by James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge

A new cop is introduced in this book, Senior Detective Michael Bennett, Homicide Department of the NYPD. Bennett and his dying wife, Maeve, had ten children all of which were adopted from various areas of the world, had had a fantastic life together as a family. Maeve had untreatable cancer and it hurt Bennett so deep watching his Maeve slowly slip away from life.Michael was called into a case after the wife of the ex-president of the United States had a horrible attack while eating in their favorite restaurant that ended in death. It was discovered that she had been allergic to peanuts and somehow, a peanut product was placed in her food. At first thought an accident, there were too many things pointing otherwise. Bennett spread his time between the hospital visiting his wife, keeping tabs on all the children, and working this case connected with the death of the President's wife.During the funeral service for the President's wife in St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City,
a group of strange ski-masked men appeared in the cathedral, loaded with guns and weapons of many types and taking over the inside of St. Patrick's. They sealed all the doors and turned the funeral service into a shambles. Eventually most were released but all the famous people that had come to bid farewell to the President's wife were kept under guns and ski-masked eyes.All the NYPD and other resources were on the scene quickly. Eventually Bennett was placed in charge of negotiations, a job he did not want since for years he had not been involved with any negotiation, but he was the only one that those inside the cathedral would deal with. Negotiations went on and on with several attempts by the authorities were made to find ways into the cathedral without success. Other negotiators joined Bennett but the head gunman, Jack, would still only deal with Bennett. During the breaks when things calmed down for a while he would leave and visit his wife in the hospital and his chi
ldren at home. Maeve's mother had hired an au pair named Mary Catherine who took over the children much to Bennett's distress, but eventually calmness, with the way she handled the children and the home, let Bennett accept her.During the negotiations several of the famous were killed and sent out through the front door of the cathedral so the authorities would know this was serious and they meant what they said. They wanted money from all these people and many millions was to be transferred to a special account. While all of this was proceeding, or in some ways going backwards, the authorities worked on the transfer of money with the cooperation of the victims families. The very ugly situation became uglier since this all occurred around Christmas time and the slowness of money transfer did not make the killers happy so they continued to kill a few more.Step On A Crack is a very fast moving story that is well told by the authors. Patterson and his co-writers usually come up
with a great story. This one is one of the best. I know I have said that before but once in a while a book stands out and this one did to me. Keep them coming and keep Michael Bennett in your plots. He and his family is a great asset to any story.

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