The Private experience gets better and better. Private, as envisioned by James Patterson, is the most important investigative and security agency in the world. CEO Jack Morgan is the very much hands-on founder of Private, which is based in Los Angeles and has branch offices in all of the world’s hot spots. The potential for stories is limitless; London and Berlin already have been featured, with promises of more and other exotic locales (did someone say India?) on the way. For the moment, however, the latest installment is PRIVATE DOWN UNDER, in which Patterson has teamed up with Australian thriller author Michael White to give readers one of the most exciting installments of the series to date.

"As should be obvious by now, there are enough plots to fill three novels. However, Patterson and White keep their story lines from getting tangled even as the reader feels compelled to move as quickly as possible from one scenario to the next."

PRIVATE DOWN UNDER begins on the eve of the opening of Private’s latest office, located in Sydney, Australia. The man at the helm of Private Sydney is Craig Gisto, who had managed his own very successful PI agency for several years before being tapped by Morgan to establish an Australian beachhead for the company. His capabilities are matched only by his confidence in himself. As we soon learn, though, Gisto is no stranger to personal tragedy, given that his wife and young son were killed by a drunk driver a few years ago. It is also revealed that his rival for his late wife’s affection during their courtship was none other than his cousin, Mark Talbot, who still carries a grudge. That Talbot is a Sydney police inspector doesn’t help matters for Gisto either professionally or personally.

Gisto and Talbot find themselves at loggerheads almost from the first page of PRIVATE DOWN UNDER. The party that commemorates the launch of Private Sydney is rudely interrupted by a bloody murder. The victim, who staggers into the middle of the soiree, is a young Asian man who is the son of Ho Meng,  a very wealthy importer-exporter who is engaged in a struggle against a ruthless gang affiliated with The Triad. When Meng refused to knuckle under, even after his son was kidnapped, the gang decided to deliver a message. Meng, who is very unhappy with the local police force, retains Private to obtain justice for his son. At the same time, a wealthy rock star who appears to be on the downward side of his career retains Private to protect him when it appears that his manager is planning to kill him in order to give his back catalog a sales boost from the resultant publicity.

If those cases were not enough, Private quickly finds itself aiding in the investigation of a series of grisly and frightening murders that are taking place in Sydney’s fashionable east end. Someone is killing the wives of the rich and very rich, and not even trying to be subtle about it. Private Sydney has more than enough work to keep it busy for its first week of operation. But will it, and its founder, survive long enough to see a second week?  That is the question, among many others, that will keep readers turning pages from beginning to end.

As should be obvious by now, there are enough plots to fill three novels. However, Patterson and White keep their story lines from getting tangled even as the reader feels compelled to move as quickly as possible from one scenario to the next. The personal entanglements and drama of the principals, particularly Gisto’s, nicely balance the darkness of the crimes that Private Sydney investigates, so that the occasionally graphic violence that is part and parcel to the crimes involved is offset by a bit of passion here and there, unrequited and otherwise. One can only hope that Patterson and White will revisit the offices of Private Sydney in short order.