So it is that in the closing days of summer, we have bestowed upon us what might be the beach read of the season. James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge are the bearers of this gift, the latest installment in their Michael Bennett series. The two open the zone with this one, that state where you are so totally immersed in what is occurring within the story that you forget all else. And yes, it is that good.

Michael Bennett is the widowed father of 10 children whose parental duties are balanced by his vocational position as a New York detective. The home fires are kept burning by Bennett’s Uncle Seamus, who is a priest, and the lovely Mary Catherine, who started off as an au pair for the family but has become much, much more to Bennett. As with many of Patterson’s books, BULLSEYE is driven by multiple plots, and the three featured here move along at top speed.

"BULLSEYE is one of the best volumes in the series, in part because it focuses primarily on Bennett’s abilities in the field as the ticking clock of the plot grows ever louder with each page."

For one, a mysterious, highly professional team hits a drug-manufacturing laboratory, killing everyone inside. The same team may or may be the ones that came within a hair’s breadth of assassinating the recently installed President of the United States before he could complete his first year in office...and they may be planning a second, even more dramatic attempt. The third plot hits much closer to home. The Bennett clan takes in Marvin, a young man who attends high school with son Brian. Marvin is a star athlete who comes from a disadvantaged background and needs a place to stay for two weeks until his uncle can get to town to provide him a home. That’s all well and good, but Marvin has a problem dogging him that won’t let him be. Brian attempts to help, but is way out of his league. Or is he? It’s a hair-raising dilemma, one that neither Brian nor Marvin may emerge from intact.

Meanwhile, Bennett has a President to protect, and one failed assassination attempt isn’t enough to deter the newest occupant of the White House from making a return visit to New York. Bennett is modest, self-effacing, a dad first and a cop second. But, as demonstrated time and again in this latest installment, he has the right stuff in spades in a pinch.

Patterson and Ledwidge have incrementally and steadily made Michael Bennett one of Patterson’s most iconic characters. BULLSEYE is one of the best volumes in the series, in part because it focuses primarily on Bennett’s abilities in the field as the ticking clock of the plot grows ever louder with each page. True, his domestic homefires are featured, but the book is interesting and noteworthy in regards to Brian and Marvin. Neck deep in a sea of rising trouble, they ultimately must fend for themselves without assistance from a parental deus ex machina.

Throw in enough twists and turns for a couple of novels, and you have BULLSEYE, which, with its excruciating suspense and explosive action, is worth every minute of your time and attention.