Eden in Winter

May 5, 2014
In the middling conclusion to bestseller Patterson’s Blaine trilogy (after 2013’s Loss of Innocence), an avid prosecutor believes that someone pushed author Benjamin Blaine from a cliff on Martha’s Vineyard, and wants to charge Ben’s gay son, Teddy, or Ben’s brother, Jack, with committing the crime. Adam, Teddy’s CIA agent brother, deploys his professional skills in Teddy’s defense, and brokers an uneasy truce between his family and Carla Pacelli, a former actress who was Ben’s girlfriend. Amid memories of bitter competition and harsh betrayal by Ben, Adam grows closer to Carla. Together, they dissect their personal histories, choices, and struggles in lengthy conversations. North is at his best when characters’ keen insights lead to broader truths about the human experience. However, heavy-handed observations, repetition, and excessive dialogue and introspection weigh down the plot, which fails to gain traction as a mystery or achieve its potential for psychological depth. Agent: Cullen Stanley, Janklow & Nesbit Associates.

June 1, 2014
Patterson (Loss of Innocence, 2013, etc.) concludes his Blaine family trilogy with Adam home on Martha's Vineyard coping with the fallout from the death of his estranged father, Benjamin, a world-famous novelist.Opening with Ben dead, this novel chronologically follows the first in the series, Fall from Grace (2012). The state is determining Ben's cause of death-an accidental fall or murder, with Ben pushed from a steep promontory. Adam knows it was murder, and he knows the killer. Nevertheless, given a multigenerational web of betrayals, infidelity and abuse, Adam decides to protect the murderer. And he can: He's proficient in tradecraft learned as a CIA special operator in Afghanistan. Complications compound after it's learned Ben has left almost his entire estate to Carla Pacelli, a gifted young actress recuperating on the island after a stint in rehab. Carla's pregnant with Ben's child. Given the bad blood between Adam and his father, the narrative moves past Freud into Oedipal complexity when Adam and Carla become attracted to one another. Patterson's a pro-the narrative flows easily, set mostly on the island, with a quick, sand-and-bullets Afghanistan action sequence. Patterson also uses the romance to allow Adam and Carla to blossom into more sympathetic protagonists. Patterson does yeoman work turning this tale of an unhappy family into a believable psychological drama by having Adam consult a local therapist. What transpires there makes the unusual love story seem a natural turn of events and, in fact, offers multiple perspectives to more than a handful of shrink-worthy dramatic elements-betrayals that damaged multiple generations; infidelities that leave one man raising another man's child; class resentment; destructive, overweening ambition-all of which lend depth to the novel as Patterson carries the trilogy toward the happy-ever-after country where he concludes the Blaine family's Thorn Birds-like saga.An intriguing psychological examination of a damaged family.

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June 1, 2014
The conclusion of the Blaine family saga (Fall from Grace, 2012; Loss of Innocence, 2013) finds Adam Blaine trying to protect both his brother, Teddy, and his uncle, Jack, from accusations that one of them killed his father, revered novelist Ben Blaine. Readers of the previous two books will be well aware of all the family secrets and betrayals Adam is wrestling with, and Patterson sprinkles in flashbacks and references to help readers catch up or refresh their memories. In addition to the murder rap his loved ones are facing, Adam is also contending with his growing feelings for Ben's mistress, actress Carla Pacelli, who is carrying Ben's child. Because the answers to the mystery surrounding Ben's death have already been revealed, the novel is a slow burn until Adam, a CIA agent, gets dispatched on a harrowing rescue mission in Afghanistan, and Carla experiences some potentially serious complications with her pregnancy. Those who enjoyed the first two installments will definitely want to see how things wrap up for the Blaine family.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)