The Inn, by James Patterson {Book Review}

There’s not a month that goes by without a James Patterson review, right? As I typed out this review, I realised that I had completely forgotten about another review I had planned to do. It wasn’t a good one though, so maybe best I let sleeping dogs lie.

If you read my book reviews, you’d know that James is very much a hit, miss or okay sort of author for me. He churns out so many books…I mean some months there’s more than one..I don’t even know how he does it. So I realise that with the demand for so many books, some stories seem familiar, some are tired, some are great. James Patterson has a GINORMOUS following though, so I know there are people that love the reviews. It helps them decide if they’re interested in the book or not. Today, we’ll find out if The Inn is one you need to add to your ‘to be read’ stack.

What is The Inn about?

Ex-Boston homicide detective Billy Robinson has retreated to a quiet life on the New England coast. Struggling to cope following the death of his beloved wife, he must now run the inn that Siobhan took care of so well.

The inn’s quirky residents help keep Billy on solid ground as he grieves, and the group soon become an unconventional family. But this small town is in the grips of a growing opioid epidemic, and when a young resident gets hooked into the crisis, Billy knows he must act to save the people in the inn that he has grown to care so much about.

With his secretive past in Boston catching up to him, can Billy survive long enough to save the town – and its beloved inn – from ruin?

My thoughts

The characters

The Inn is full of an assortment of characters, people who really have no business living together, but it’s very convenient in this book that they do. Of course there’s Billy, an ex-cop. We have an ex gangster, the Sheriff, an ex FBI agent and a person that loves to shoot rifles.  All while there is a drug dealing bad guy on the loose.

As is common in James Patterson novels, the villain is usually all sorts of nasty and bad. The baddest bad guy who ever lived. A guy who is feared, says the most cliche bad guy things and never cares who they kill. So let’s just state that nothing is different in this book, bad guy…check.

The Storyline

I enjoyed the way this book started. We meet Billy in the very moment that his ‘secret past’ event is happening, that causes the move to the New England coast. However, that being said, I’m not really sure that this past event really had much bearing on the story at all…though I guess it sets up why they moved.

There is a bad guy in town and the residents of the Inn are not going to allow this. For all the mocking I appear to be doing, this was a decent storyline and plot. I personally always feel for the lone wolf, the hero with no friends. Billy has a house full of friends, so I loved that sort of camaraderie within this book.

My rating

This book progressed at a decent pace. There are some flaws, some things that don’t make sense, but I still found this to be an entertaining read. I enjoyed the banter and I had some really good LAUGH OUT LOUD moments. I didn’t take the book too seriously, and you know how this is all going to go down, but it’s still worth a read. A quick read in between some more serious books, or for a-day-at-the-beach kind of read. Also, I think this plot would make a cool movie.

The Inn has a 3.8/5 star rating on Goodreads which is a fairly decent rating for a book. I’d rate it around 3.5/5 stars. This book is available at all leading book retailers.

Disclaimer: This book was sent to me by Penguin Random House SA. All opinions are my own.