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Lifeguard

by James Patterson and Andrew Gross



      Ned Kelley is a Brockton, Massachusetts guy who now spends his summers in Palm Beach, Florida, as a lifeguard, pool boy, bartender and gofer. His family life growing up was rough, with his father spending most of his youth away in jail and his older brother dying in a liquor store robbery. Until now, Ned has always managed to stay out of trouble, even managing to get a college degree. He taught school for a while, but an unfortunate incident made him give up.

Ned meets the woman of his dreams, a well-to-do socialite and seems to be falling in love. To get ahead, he agrees with some lifelong friends to help pull the ultimate art heist. They have an easy in and with one night's work they can have a million each and Ned can live the life he dreams of. But something goes terribly wrong and Ned is accused of not only the robbery, but several murders.

Ned goes on the run with a feisty FBI agent hot on his trail. After taking her hostage, Ned convinces the agent, Ellie, that he is innocent and needs her help. The story then begins its high octane run with this reader holding on in every high speed curve.

With James Patterson's usual short chapters and wild twists and turns, this book was a definite one-nighter. I read it in one night, unable to put it down. This is one of several times that James Patterson has paired with writer Andrew Gross. The two writers work extremely well together and I could not tell where one ended and the other began. I remain a devoted James Patterson fan.

The Book

Little, Brown / TimeWarner
July 11th, 2005
Hardback
0-316-05785-1
Suspense
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Excerpt
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The Reviewer

Susan Johnson
Reviewed 2005
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© 2005 MyShelf.com