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Swimsuit |  | Authors: James Patterson, Maxine Paetro
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
This item is no longer available
Rating:  256 reviews
Sales Rank: 461
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Pages: 416
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
Publication Date: June 8, 2009
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Product Description
THE BEACH...
A breathtakingly beautiful supermodel disappears from a swimsuit photo shoot at the most glamorous hotel in Hawaii. Only hours after she goes missing, Kim McDaniels's parents receive a terrifying phone call. Fearing the worst, they board the first flight to Maui and begin the hunt for their daughter.
...WILL NEVER BE...
Ex-cop Ben Hawkins, now a reporter for the L.A. Times, gets the McDaniels assignment. The ineptitude of the local police force defies belief--Ben has to start his own investigation for Kim McDaniels to have a prayer. And for Ben to have the story of his life.
...THE SAME FOR YOU AGAIN.
All the while, the killer sets the stage for his next production. His audience expects the best--and they won't be disappointed. Swimsuit is a heart-pounding story of fear and desire, transporting you to a place where beauty and murder collide and unspeakable horrors are hidden within paradise.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 256
 An actual review of the book - not the price June 29, 2009
Mitzi Gee (Palm Coast, Fl United States)
205 out of 234 found this review helpful
I read this via audio book and honestly, it was NOT the best Patterson book. As a matter of fact, if that had been my first Patterson book, I wouldn't have gone back for more. The book is basically broken into 3 parts.
The first third we are treated to horrendous descriptions of rape, torture and decapitation. Much too graphic and much too disgusting for just casual reading. The killer is pretty good because he's so rutheless, but some of the people that end up killed are just so unexpected and seem like we wasted time getting to know them only to have them murdered within the first third of the book.
The second third of the book is a cat and mouse type situation between the killer and the novelist.
The final third is more cat and mouse between the killer, the novelist and an underground group. And then *POOF* its all wrapped up in a neat little bow and its done. The ending was such a cop-out I was shocked. I kept thinking that maybe I didn't have the complete audio book because as I was nearing the end so much was still going on and still unanswered. But of course, the epilogue wrapped it all up and stuffed it in a box.
So I suffered through the must vile descriptions of murder and barely anything really happened and then it was over. I was disappointed, to say the least.
 "Its to Die For" if you read it July 24, 2009
J. Shafer
38 out of 43 found this review helpful
Swimsuit, James Patterson's latest piece of dreck to be published, starts off with a swimsuit model mysteriously disappearing, leaving no trace of herself behind. Shortly after she goes missing, her parents receive a chilling call late at night from someone telling them that bad things have happened to her. After receiving the call they immediately book a flight to Hawaii - were the photo shoot was taking place - and with the help of ex-cop turned writer for the LA Times Ben Hawkins, they begin to search for her, hoping that the worst wont come.
Words cannot describe how awful this book was, and using the word awful doesn't seem to be a fair word to use either. Before even finishing the description on the book jacket, you can already tell were this book is going to be heading: the daughter is obviously dead, the parents will find her, and everything from that point on will be boring. The book even saves us the trouble from this by having the daughter killed within the first three chapters of the book. Sure the book was predictable, but the fact that we already know what happens in the beginning takes away any thrill or mystery to the story that could have been there if we hadn't known before-hand.
The story itself was tiring and trite. The only thing that was going on was some guy going around, picked up women, spiked their drinks, and then making a pornographic snuff film with them so he can sell the tape to a group of rich people in Europe. Yes, you read that right, a pornographic snuff film. For those that don't know, a snuff film is were someone tapes them self killing someone else, however this killer added a twist to this by having porno in it. It wasn't exactly porno per se, but it involved him hog-tying the woman down, raping them, and then proceeding to decapitate her with a knife, ignoring the fact that someone would probably hear large amounts of screaming coming from the hotel room, but Patterson skips this by not mentioning it, ever. Nice. Being a guy, I still found it somewhat offensive to a woman's intelligence in general, because according to Patterson, a woman's IQ doesn't exist if she's on vacation. Honestly, any woman reading this right now, can you honestly say that if some random guy were to walk up to you and offer you the world, would you go with him? Let me answer for you, no, you probably wouldn't, and yet he manages to pick up well over ten women. Apparently they don't bother to read the news either about a random guy doing this to women either because apparently people don't read about news anymore either.
While the two things listed above make the book bad, what does this book in is the ending. You'll just be sitting there reading the book when all of sudden, it just comes to an abrupt halt, like Patterson himself was reaching through the pages to give you the finger and tell you that he didn't feel like finishing the book. The sheer stupidity of this jumps out from the book and sears the readers eyes. Apparently its too much effort to add a few more pages, but I guess we'll never know what happens.
To sum it up, this book sucked. The story went nowhere, the characters were stupid and you could care less about them, and the killings - while somewhat original as I have never read this before in a book - were over the top with too mucn violence and unnecessary raping. There's a fine line between just killing someone, to cutting off their freaking head. A definite skip.
 Murder, She (and He) Wrote June 30, 2009
Elliott (L.A.)
89 out of 108 found this review helpful
Quite possibly, you'll see this book next to a towel and sunscreen. You'll see someone on a chaise lounge with a cold drink nearby. And they'll be reading this book at poolside or on a stretch of beach.
They'll be reading about Henri Benoit, master of disguise and master of disaster, one of the most sinister characters in contemporary fiction. He murders people due to a vicious inner compulsion and for the big bucks his super-rich clients pay him. These clients enjoy watching people who are brutalized and murdered. Henri films his murders and disseminates the film via the Internet.
The book has a lot of graphically described lust. A lot of graphically described violence. There's crude language. The authors, James Patterson and Maxine Paetro, set much of the story in exclusive hotels. Fine wine, fine food; and, often, rotten people.
The plot spins off of the kidnapping of a beautiful young swimsuit model who has journeyed to Hawaii for a photo shoot. Her fate and the frantic fears of her parents launch the tale.
It's certainly a quick read. The prose flows very well, particularly the bit set in the trailer in the middle of the forbidding Joshua Tree National Park. It took me about ten hours of fairly concentrated reading to finish the novel.
Some of it is goofy. Much of it doesn't make a lot of sense: an L.A. Times reporter/failing novelist/fired cop is coerced to put together a soulless killer's autobiography. Sure....
But I don't think people will buy this book because they want a scholarly treatise on the criminal mind. People who buy this book are not looking for airtight logic. They want a little escape. Readers get to go to Hawaii, Paris, Amsterdam, and the Swiss Alps. Eat exotic food with names they can't pronounce. That sort of thing.
Why Did I Bother? July 2, 2009
Nancy R. Katz (NJ)
121 out of 155 found this review helpful
I must preface this review by saying that I have read every book by James Patterson. Some were really good ie Along Came a Spider and Sail some were OK ie like Beach Road and The Jericho Commandment, some were even sweet ie Sam's Letters to Jennifer and Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas and then there are some all time bombs like The Jester and SWIMSUIT. Now, I must also say that I am from a generation of readers who were taught and then expected to finish every book they begin BUT I got over that a long time ago and thank goodness I did.
Now, a funny thing happened to me on the way to reading this book. To begin with I was in the midst of reading another book when I was notified by the library that this reserved book was waiting for me. I immediately put down the other book, ran to the library and began reading Swimsuit last night. It doesn't take much to get into Patterson's books and I managed to finish 100 pages before going to sleep. This morning I woke up to this niggling family that something was not all together right in my reading world. I thought about this a bit and then finally admitted to myself that I was terribly BORED with this title. Gratutitous violence, poorly presented characters and a plot which goes round and round is hardly ever my thing and I was beginning to think about closing this title. But I must also admit that I suffer from reader's guilt and wasn't ready to throw in the towel quite yet so I decided to do something I rarely do until I finish a book and that was to read some of the reviews and I found myself agreeing with the reviews and have now invoked a reader's right to close the book and return it to the library.
Now, I'm not about to give up on Mr. Patterson. As a matter of fact, just the other night, I reserved a slew of his future titles (for the most part I rally inhale the Alex Cross books), but I also am hoping that perhaps Mr. Patterson writes fewer titles, perhaps he writes them by himself and there is a quick return to good characters and exciting themes.
Finally, I find it really unfair for reviwers to complain about Amazon and the prices of the Kindle version of books. The reviews area of Amazon is eactly that, an area where readers can not only review books but read other reviews. It really quite unfair for readers eager for a review to plough through these reviews to find so many one star reviews which have almost nothing or little to do with the books themselves.
And now I will return to the book I was previously reading and hope I continue to enjoy this title, Shadows Still Remain by Peter deJonge, who ironically co-authored The Beach House with James Patterson.
Do yourself a favor. Put on your own swimsuit, go to the beach, and enjoy the sunshine. August 9, 2009
Durling Heath (Cohoes, NY)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
When a book written by a premier author requires the kind of promotions budget that "Swimsuit" has, I wonder whether the publisher believed it produced too many copies of a pedestrian effort.
James Patterson's latest follows the story of Ben Hawkins, a best-selling author, reporter for the Los Angeles Times, and former Seattle police officer. Hawkins reports on the story of a missing supermodel on location in Hawaii for the swimsuit edition for a popular sports magazine. Hawkins' investigative instincts get the better of him as he discovers the model has been murdered by a serial killer who uses the name, Henri Benoit.
It turns out that Benoit is one sick puppy. A master of disguise, Benoit has actually been retained to make a series of snuff films for a group of similarly sick, but very wealthy puppies to whom Benoit refers to as the "Peepers." The Peepers actually call themselves "The Alliance." After Benoit kills a couple of the swimsuit models, a 12-year old girl, and the parents of the one of the models in Hawaii in particularly gruesome ways, he realizes Hawkins is on his trail. Rather than kill Hawkins, however, Benoit enlists Hawkins to write his biography. In the words a famous big-screen character spoke more than three decades ago, Benoit made Hawkins "an offer he could not refuse."
Maxine Paetro, who "co-wrote" The Women's Murder Club books with Patterson also collaborated on "Swimsuit." I have to assume that Paetro wrote most or all of "Swimsuit" because it seems to lack some of the sharpness and wit found in some of Patterson's earlier novels. In fact, the writing seems mechanical and unimaginative, which starkly contrasts the potentially engaging premise.
The chapters are short and the language is simple, which clearly intended to appeal to a mass audience, so the pages turn easily. However, as the story progresses and Hawkins must decide whether to simply obey Benoit and finish the story or to try to bring Benoit to justice for his own safety, the story meanders pointlessly. In fact, "Swimsuit" does not even seem to have a meaningful climax and the denouement is obviously and artificially manufactured.
Fans of James Patterson - and there are many - will definitely feel compelled to read "Swimsuit." For the rest, do yourself a favor. Put on your own swimsuit, go to the beach, and enjoy the sunshine.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 256
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