It is great to have James Patterson partnering with Maxine Paetro on PRIVATE VEGAS, the latest installment in his multi-faceted Private series. Paetro brought her collaborative magic to the Women’s Murder Club thrillers and has since proven to be an important element in the consistent and reliable success of those books. Patterson chose Paetro to work with him on the initial Private volumes, and her return takes this always intriguing ongoing saga to a new and loftier level that even casual Patterson fans will welcome and enjoy.

As has been Patterson’s wont with the Private series, PRIVATE VEGAS consists of four (actually, make that 4.5) separate plot lines that are independent of each other but have Jack Morgan, Private’s CEO, in common. While most of the action takes place in Los Angeles, the “Vegas” in PRIVATE VEGAS centers on an extremely ambitious grifter named Lester Olsen. A former card counter in the Vegas casinos, Olsen’s blackjack days are over. He now spends his time running a lecture series designed to educate attractive women on how to meet, woo and wed millionaires. For a select few, however, Olsen has a special arrangement, whereby he will set up an introduction between an especially ambitious woman and an aging billionaire whose days after the wedding will be numbered. Morgan gets wind of the scheme almost by accident, but his efforts to thwart Olsen may lose him a client, as well as an employee, in the process.

"Patterson and Paetro leave a couple of plot lines involving Morgan dangling, promising that things won’t exactly be going smoothly for Private’s founder, at least in the short term."

Speaking of personnel difficulties, Rick Del Rio, one of Morgan’s most valuable operatives, finds himself on trial, accused of a violent assault on a former girlfriend. This one is personal to Morgan, given that Del Rio saved his life. While Del Rio is a violent man with a hair-trigger temper, he vehemently denies that he attacked his ex-girlfriend, or any woman for that matter. Morgan believes him with all of his heart and soul, and yet the prosecution seemingly has enough evidence to secure a guilty verdict. Unless Morgan can somehow poke a hole in the state’s case, it appears he will lose an operative --- one of the best friends he’s ever had --- to prison.

While all of this is occurring, an uncle/nephew team of “diplomats” from an all-but-unknown country are tearing around greater Los Angeles, stealing, raping and even killing, all the while claiming immunity. Worse, they have an expert team of cleaners picking up after them, so there is not enough evidence to extradite them out of the United States. Morgan personally interjects himself into the investigation, putting the might and majesty of Private’s resources into stopping the pair, but even that does not seem to be enough. It appears that Morgan is about to face one of his greatest failures.

Someone is exploding luxury automobiles of the very, very rich, and Morgan’s car becomes one of their victims. It’s personal, but his investigation takes on added urgency when one explosion takes a human being as a victim. And then there is that woman who is trying to top her own record for getting from Point A to Point B on the Los Angeles highway system. Who is she? Why is she doing what she’s doing? And what is she doing in PRIVATE VEGAS, with no apparent connection to anyone or anything in the book? You’ll need to read to the end to find out, but you’ll be glad you did.

Patterson and Paetro leave a couple of plot lines involving Morgan dangling, promising that things won’t exactly be going smoothly for Private’s founder, at least in the short term. A somewhat explosive publicity campaign launched PRIVATE VEGAS, and those attracted to the book through that method will want to familiarize themselves with what has gone before and to anticipate what happens next.