Written by James Patterson & Duane Swierczynski
SUMMARY:
Released by Little, Brown & Company in 2023, James Patterson collaborated with co-author Duane Swierczynski on this murder-mystery pairing rival Philadelphia private detectives in the most dangerously high-profile case of their careers. At its seedy core is the city’s premier power couple: Grammy-winning songstress Francine Pearl Hughes and the Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl-winning quarterback, Archie Hughes. To some degree, Francine’s glamorous talents overshadow her husband’s legendary gridiron exploits.
Late in the night before the NFC Championship Game, Archie is found murdered inside his flashy Maserati near the city’s art museum. All too conveniently, his brutal homicide is missing from all adjacent security camera footage. Given the inevitable public outrage, Philadelphia’s best homicide cop, Mickey Bernstein, urges the city’s police commissioner to assemble a task force, so the unknown culprit (or culprits) can be quickly apprehended. A world-weary Bernstein, per his own recommendation, is assigned this team’s command by the commissioner.
Meanwhile, with two young children at home, Francine isn’t exactly grieving. With the murder weapon found partially buried in the garden of the posh Hughes estate, she becomes the instant prime suspect. Scandalized in the media, her arrest for killing Archie is now imminent. Francine’s defense counsel hires unorthodox private detective Cooper Lamb, Sr. to quickly confirm her client’s innocence. Having successfully negotiated his list of demands (including access to Philadelphia Eagle autographs for his kids), Cooper immediately pivots towards Archie’s questionable choice in associates.
The Philadelphia district attorney similarly hires Veena Lion – Cooper’s professional rival and friendly ex-lover, to investigate the case independently of Bernstein’s high-powered task force, which he is already leery of. Behind a pair of ever-present sunglasses, Veena (and her knack for secretly recording conversations) suspects that likely others, besides Archie’s widow, may have wanted the quarterback dead for reasons beyond the Super Bowl’s outcome.
Cooper, a divorced dad with two young children, uses his military experience, wits, and, rather shamelessly, his cute canine sidekick, to compile a growing list of alternative suspects. Courtesy of his assistant Victor’s computer hacking expertise, Cooper eyes the Eagles’ sleazy father-and-son owners; an assortment of jealous teammates; and possibly even Archie & Francine’s enigmatic nanny.
Complicating Cooper’s probe is a resentful Bernstein, as they mutually despise one another. Bernstein’s rival efforts include fast-tracking the search for Archie’s missing Super Bowl ring. This stolen ring may be crucial to building airtight evidence against Francine and her possible accomplices.
Veena and her own assistant, Janie, pursue additional leads, including the Hughes’ disgruntled ex-chef and rumors of shady dealings linked to Atlantic City gambling circles. Probing parallel trajectories, Veena and Cooper regularly compare notes over drinks. They both commit to exposing the sordid truth – no matter how ugly it is becoming.
With two subsequent murders quickly hushing up witnesses, Cooper is repeatedly threatened by multiple sources to stop digging. In only a few days, Veena and Cooper’s tenacity has their shadowy opposition desperate enough to make the Hughes murder case their last, no matter who must die next.
Notes: This title is also available digitally and as an audiobook. The story’s occasional profanities are blacked out.
REVIEW:
One can’t be too surprised that Lion & Lamb just marginally surpasses its eyerolling title. Co-authors James Patterson and Duane Swierczynski’s slickly plotted thriller gladly follows a genre blueprint on how to best please readers with superficial effort. Hence, the novel’s undemanding contents are a veritable cliché-fest from the get-go.
For red flag starters, the notion of Philadelphia’ district attorney would regularly employ freelance private detectives to run shadow investigations exudes far more glaring implausibility than mere contrivance. Analogy-wise: having Scotland Yard routinely consult either Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot makes sense because Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and later Agatha Christie sold this premise well enough.
Lion & Lamb, by comparison, opts to have its rival freelancers interchangeably taking gigs from the highest legal bidder – including a district attorney, who should logically have a staff of in-house investigators available. In other words, the underlying motive for ultra-cool sleuths Veena Lion and Cooper Lamb tilts more towards opportunistic paydays and bragging rights than any supposed search for ‘truth’ they commit to share.
One might say Lion & Lamb resembles Janet Evanovich’s Fox & O’Hare series, along with some elements of the 1991 Bruce Willis/Damon Wayans action thriller, The Last Boy Scout. Throw in unsubtle allusions to NFL corruption and mob-affiliated gambling, and one gets the gist of the plot’s shallow contents. With a complicated homicide investigation deftly wrapped up inside of two weeks, the storyline’s absurd lack of realism is only exacerbated by a feel-good, family-friendly finish.
Lion & Lamb is obviously meant to spawn Hollywood-style thriller entertainment, presumably with hopes of snaring a potential TV or film adaptation. One needn’t look further than the book cover to guess where these seemingly mismatched partners are inevitably going. Hence, the unoriginal tag line’s wording is exactly what one might expect to see on a movie poster — for instance, perhaps pairing Ana de Armas and Chris Evans again. More so, the novel’s hip substitution of ‘transcripts’ in lieu of building a chapter’s substance is seemingly lazy code for what this formulaic potboiler would look like in script form.
Ironically, the underwritten Veena Lion and Cooper Lamb don’t stand out amidst a glut of competition in this genre, whether it’s in literature or Hollywood. Aside from Veena’s vivid green eyes, far too little describes what either of these sleuths even looks like. For that matter, only the presence of Cooper’s ex-wife and their young children (and a reference to his military stint) gives readers some idea of his backstory.
Veena’s past doesn’t even reach such minimal details – the authors convey her personality as stylish and high-maintenance, leaving it at that. Hence, Patterson and Swierczynski have imbued their title characters with supposedly catchy last names and virtually nothing else. It’s no wonder then that their storyline relies upon cruise control in peddling this unimaginative whodunnit’s allotment of plot twists.
For practicality’s sake, it’s probably best to catch Patterson & Duane Swierczynski’s Philadelphia private eye caper at the library. Lion & Lamb is otherwise an easily forgettable diversion for readers.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES:
The co-authors provide an acknowledgements page, along with their paragraph-long biographies. After its black-and-white cover image, included is a twelve-page preview of Patterson’s next collaboration. With co-author Mike Lupica, the novel is entitled 12 Months To Live. It’s the start of a new mystery-thriller series featuring defense attorney/ex-NYPD cop and ex-private detective Jane Smith.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 5 Stars
