Shattered (Michael Bennett #14) (2024)

⚠️Warning. If you want to be surprised, don't read the blurb!

There's been ups and downs for me with the Michael Bennett series. Shattered is definitely an UP!

Book #14 was gripping from the beginning when a DC woman was strangled and went missing before dawn while training for a marathon. Michael Bennett is a twenty-year veteran detective with the NYPD but feels this case is personal to him and gets involved.

The honeymoon is over and Bennett is in DC driving a rented small purple Prius trying to embed himself in the investigation but is unwelcomed by the FBI and DC police. Knowing Bennett, that hostility won't stop him from solving the case. The situation is very suspenseful and the bad person is someone I didn't expect!

Shattered is fast-paced with short chapters and a multilayered mystery. Also, I genuinely adore Bennett's home life; his Au pair now wife, and 10 adopted children make this series interesting and enjoyable.

When FBI Agent Emily Parker, a good friend of Detective Michael Bennett of the NYPD, went missing, Michael and Mary Catherine had just returned from their honeymoon in Ireland. Remaining on leave, he immediately went to Washington DC where Emily was based. He couldn't run an investigation as such, as it, and he, wasn't approved by the NYPD, but with an FBI contact, Bobby Patel, giving and receiving information, Michael was determined to find Emily, confident she was alive.

With Michael's sights set on an anarchist group which Emily had been investigating, he discovered the leader was a bully, cruel and brutal. He was a big man, as Michael discovered to his detriment but he wasn't sure if he was the one who'd abducted Emily. There were others in his sights, but Michael was frustrated at the slowness of the investigation and he was missing his family. Would those searching for Emily, find her before it was too late?

Shattered is the 14th in the Michael Bennett series by James Patterson and I thoroughly enjoyed it once again. Michael is a great character who interacts with his family - 10 adopted children, new wife Mary Catherine and grandfather Seamus - very well. They are a close-knit family and Michael's proud of them all. I'm looking forward to the next in the series, Obsessed in the hopefully, not too distant future! Recommended.

4.5 stars!! Who doesn’t love a Michael Bennett novel? This is a good one with an ending I did NOT see coming. Murder, danger, family, church, friendship! I loved it!

Lots of smoke, but barley a fizzle. Don't care much for this character, especially when unable to defend himself in hand to hand combat. 1 of 10 stars

One of the least enjoyable of the 14 in this series.

I’ve got to give two stars for the effort of writing an entire novel in which next to nothing happens!

An easy one to miss!

One of James Patterson’s strongest series surely includes the Michael Bennett thrillers. Full of great action and offset by the detective’s massive family, Patterson has built a strong collection that series fans flock to whenever something happens. There is great writing here, which can be somewhat attributed to James O. Born, his collaborator, which only adds definite intrigue to the series. I was highly impressed with this newest instalment and hope it means there is more to come from NYPD’s sharpest detective.

After receiving a cryptic call while on his honeymoon in Ireland, Michael Bennett is keen to see what is was all about when he gets back home. After being barraged by his ten (!) children, Bennett makes some calls, only to discover that his friend and colleague, FBI Agent Emily Parker, has gone missing in Washington. Bennett, a dedicated detective in the NYPD, is as loyal as he is hardworking and makes an agreement with his new bride, Mary-Catherine, that he will spend a few days in the nation’s capital looking for Emily.

Using a few leads and a singlet FBI agent who agrees to help him, Bennett follows the crumbs from the last investigation on which Emily worked, which includes speaking to an anarchist group with strong ties all across the country. While they appear to be quite dopey on the surface, this group is strong, well-educated, and connected, making their repeated encounters with Bennett anything but chance. Bennett must also push back on the other police presence who my not want him there, including the Metro PD and FBI, both of whom have their own views on Bennett’s work.

It is only when Bennett learns more about Emily Parker and her personal life that the investigation opens up even more. While she had a calm exterior, Emily liked daring things and found herself involved with some powerful men, something DC breeds. What Bennett discover when looking into the lives of congressmen, business tycoons, and even a US Supreme Court Justice is that anything goes and all are potential suspects. When news comes that it may be more than a kidnapping, Bennett is shattered, but refuses to stand down, even after multiple warnings, focusing his attention on the murder. If he is going to get to the bottom of this, Bennett will do it for Emily and face any consequence put before him. A chilling addition to the Michael Bennett series, which James Patterson and James O. Born have woven together flawlessly.

There are time that James Patterson shines and is not simply slapping his name onto the cover of a book. This is one of those occasions, surely due to the hard work of James O. Born. The two work well together to keep the story strong and the action ongoing. A great narrative flow, helped along by Patterson’s trademark short chapters, provides guidance for the reader as they navigate through the countless spins the novel encounters. Decent characters, flavouring the piece in depth and humour, help offset some of the darker moments of the piece. Plots are strong and leave the reader wanting more, which opens the door to the next book in the series. There are moments when I lost myself in the action, while others were great filler moments to offer character development or series broadening before moving on. I am eager to see where things are headed, as this is one series that has much potential. I will say that I was a little displeased that Bennett’s trio to DC could not, even in passing, have had some Alex Cross.

Kudos, Messrs. Patterson and Born, for breathing new life into Michael Bennett.

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Not as expected

I was quite bored with this novel and frankly quite surprised with Mr Patterson. His Micheal Bennett stories have always been my favorite. But this time, it was truly a let down. Very slow & even less action.

3.5 stars

Love Michael Bennett and his brood This one did make me cry. Great series

This one is probably the most interesting book in the series. Very good story. Some sad parts. Twists and turns. Surprises. Awww moments.

And onwards we slug to the 14th instalment of the Michael Bennett series. While I finally got a death! It wasn’t the one I wanted. lol. Still a semi main character that’s been in multiple books so while it wasn’t a main death, it still satisfied that craving for now.

We normally get two perspectives in Patterson books, one of Bennett and one of the big bads, which we didn’t get this book and just had Michael’s perspective which I really liked and set up a surprise ending that took me by surprise.

Once we got going, there were a lot of characters introduced and none of them were super interesting to remember so it was a little confusing on who was what.

Overall I still liked it but I’d still like to see Patterson take some risks with this character. 3 and a half stars.

It's a series I've always liked but it was a bit disappointing. Michael and Mary Catherine return from their Ireland honeymoon to learn his FBI friend Emily is missing and later found dead. He decides to head to DC to see if he can "help". Of course he solves both this murder and another but along the way there are the usual politicans threatening his job, getting him an IRS audit etc- are there really no good politicans at all?

A former colleague sets him up with Emily's partner to get info on the case while he is also investigating alone. Did Michael really allow himself to be "peed on" and blindsided twice by the Supreme Court justice's sister? Would neither be held accountable- I guess not!

It would also be great if Mary Catherine would be less of a wuss and Micheal stop referring to her as "a good woman"! Just ugh!!!

Other books in the series have been better.

I’ve read all the books in the series and enjoyed them. I did enjoy the book because I knew the characters. But I found Michael Bennett to be changed from his character in previous books. He’s not as tough and I found the book to be boring and somewhat tedious to read. I prefer the old tough Michael Bennett. I do like his self deprecation tendencies and his sense of humor

James Patterson has several bestselling series, each carrying different levels of readership popularity. Detective Alex Cross is his coveted franchise and most successful series, followed by the Women’s Murder Club, Detective Michael Bennett, NYPD Red, and the Private novels.

The Detective Michael Bennett series is one of Patterson’s better feel-good characters. Bennett is a successful Detective working special crimes in New York City. His home life and (very large) family are really the center of his world and provide the primary reason for the readers to cheer him on. Bennett’s first wife, Maeve, died after fighting a losing battle with cancer, leaving him with their 10 adopted children to raise, along with his sour grandfather and catholic priest, Seamus. During most of the books, Bennett has moved on by falling in love and getting engaged to his wonderful housekeeper, Mary Catherine. Finally, at end of the last book, they were married.

The good news is that most of the books in this series have been pretty enjoyable and worth reading for the most part. The first nine books in the series were co-authored by Howard Roughan and built up a nice consistency and rhythm in the plotting and overall character development. However, from the tenth book on there was a change, and not necessarily a good one.

The last five books have a new co-author - James O. Born - working with Patterson. With that came change. Change in style, plotting, character development (or lack thereof) and quality. To be honest, I personally found the first three of the four books co-written with Born to be less than pleasing due to weak plotting and several characters acting inconsistently. They were definitely my least liked Bennett books in the series. I felt like Born was struggling in his understanding of the characters, especially after having Bennett’s son arrested for selling drugs. That just made no sense at all and was so completely out of character, I am still trying to figure out how this move was consistent to any of the character’s previous history.

Now, their fifth book together – “Shattered” – is out, and having finished it I am ready to share my review.

When it starts, Michael and Mary Catherine are finishing their honeymoon in Ireland. As they prepare to return home, Michael misses some calls from his previous partner, FBI abduction agent, and close friend, Emily Parker. When they arrive back home, he finds out that Emily has gone missing while jogging near the Potomac in Washington D.C. Her car was found left in a local grocery store parking lot. Nobody has heard from her and family members have no idea where she could be.

Although happily married to Mary Catherine, Emily holds a special place in Michael’s heart. She protected his family when they were in witness protection. He and her also worked several serious and near-death cases together. Mary Catherine supports his need to investigate Emily’s disappearance and urges him to do what he needs to do.

Michael immediately takes additional vacation time and uses his connection with Roberta Herring, a supervisor in the Department of Justice of the Inspector General, and a trusted friend from years of working together when she used to be in uniform. Herring helps set-up him up in Washington D.C. and connects him with one of the lead FBI agents working on Emily’s disappearance. Michael will be able to help them out “unofficially” as long as he stays under the radar which may be too much to ask of him.

Michael dives into his investigation and finds Emily knew a lot of people, but none of them want to talk to him about their relationship with her. Not at all. In addition, there doesn’t appear to be a shortage of suspects, including a Supreme Court Justice, his rebellious wife, his protective sister, his powerful senator from New York father-in-law, and a dangerously violent leader of an anti-government group that assaults Michael in a bad moment.

As his search develops, a surprising image of Emily’s personal life starts to emerge that conflict with everything Michael’s ever known about Emily. It appears that her personal life was filled with many powerful connections and secret relationships. The type of people willing to make Emily disappear permanently. Then things get worse when he upsets the wrong people and he gets ordered to return home NOW, forcing him to risk his own career for something that is deeply personal…

As for my review, I must admit that for me, this was my favorite book in the series co-authored with James O. Born. It delivered a focus investigation style mystery that worked well. The authors hit their happy place with the characters, plotting, and locations. It was a very good combination of all of the elements coming together in the writing recipe.

It reminded me of another Patterson novel that I just finished – “Escape’ – that had too much happening and so many twists that the reader almost got whiplash. This book is a good example of trying not to do too much in the delivery. Focus on a primary mystery along with a few good sub-plots and make them good. No need to overcook the entree.

It also reminded structurally of the classic Spenser novels, in which the client hires Spenser to find who is trying to kill him or her. Spenser comes in and starts interviewing everyone, irritating and making everyone around him frustrated with him. Then the killer starts to react and give away clues that Spenser pieces together, eventually revealing and capturing the villain. Bennett follows fairly closely the proven Spenser method of discovery and detection. And Michael even has some of those familiar Spenser smart-alecky responses that make you chuckle.

Overall, this book was Patterson’s and Born’s best outing with Michael Bennett and his family. Where the previous four books together felt disjointed, this one flowed smooth. Where those previous ones didn’t do much to challenge me as a reader, this one engaged me. And this one nailed the characters, especially the family members and Michael’s/Mary Catherine’s relationship so much better than those. This was an engaging and worthy read. One that I had missing in the series for too long.

A strong 4 out of 5 stars for me.

Welcome back Michael Bennett. Now let’s hope that the next book builds on this new momentum…

The book’s blurb is a pretty accurate description of its contents. The character Michael Bennett is a likable detective, extremely loving family man, and loyal to his true friends. His tongue in cheek humor made me laugh out loud at times, but make no mistake, he’s focused on business until the job is done.

Twists, red herrings, great story.
Can be read as stand alone.

4.5 Stars

The Michael Bennett series is my favorite from among all the Patterson series...Love the characters, values and even the love of the Big Apple that seeps out through the pages...Now married to Mary Catherine, the newlyweds are separated when Michael, on a personal mission seeks to solve the murder of his dear friend and FBI agent, Emily Parker, in Washington DC...A real page-turning police procedural with a huge twist at the end...Good Stuff!!!

So. Here's the thing. When a character (read: author) spends time explaining to you how they are not sexist and racist, we all know what that means; they are. However, in my persuit of tolerance, I will allow that those are learned behaviors. The problem is that in order to UNlearn, one has to be self-aware enough to admit they might actually exhibit said behaviors. My guess is that a 'character' who still uses the word "thugs", who goes out of their way to make fun of Prius cars, and who actually pulled a WWJCD does not have much ability to be that open-minded. Why is this important to mention in a book review? Welp, this kind of static thinking is not only toxic, it's contagious.

The story? Pshhh. Non-existent. This whole book/series is a a vehicle for the kind of "I'm gonna tell it like it is" status quo BS branding that promotes devisive thinking. Nope. No thank you.

Let me preface this with the fact that I have read all the Bennet books and I’m a fan.

Thriller?? 😂😂😂😂😂 This book was so repetitive and basic.

- how much he misses his family
- how beautiful his wife is in just jeans and a shirt
- how much he hates the FBI
- how much the FBI hates non FBI
- how many damn times he is asked/explains why a NY detective is in DC and all the hate that comes with that
- how butt hurt he is by a stupid thug getting the best of him (he is literally pissed)

Take all that repetitive crap away, and you have a weak and boring story.

And What arresting officer reads the person their rights in a restaurant and then says, “will you speak to us? We’ll listen to explanations. Maybe there was a reason you murdered that person like self defense. Maybe we can work something out.” Really? Right there in the restaurant? 😏

Read if you like the other Bennet stories, otherwise, save yourself the trouble and read a good book (anything non Patterson).

I see that some people are saying it’s not the best Patterson book. Do we even know what his voice and writing style are anymore? He is the Walmart of writers and has completely sold out.

I don’t know that he has even penned a sentence in this book (or any others in the last decade) If he did - retire before you drive your once decent writing into the ground. Your name is turning into a laughing stock.

If you are just lending your name to sell other peoples work, shame on you and your publisher. It’s clear you’re not even reading what you put your name on.

Loved this one too.

Waiting for MB #14 was worth the gray hair I have grown over these years!

Each time I read a new Michael Bennett novel I think it is my favorite but Shattered has definitely won the prize for best of the bunch! The love between Mary Catherine and Michael is heartwarming and a true romance readers have waited years to experience! The murders and crime solving are intriguing and suspenseful as always and hearing Michael refer to his wife is the icing on the wedding cake! Well done!

I enjoyed Bennett's interactions between police departments and the FBI and how they did or didn't work together and how a separate department helped him solve the murders because, of course, they were solved. There were some ridiculous phrases used that were below Bennett's intelligence. One of the bad guys could have used those phrases and gotten away with them. Bennett's getting old and slow if the Burning Land guy could get him down and pee on him. It was demeaning and should never have happened. I did enjoy it when Beth, a strong, fit woman, got the better of him a couple of times and he took it in stride. The family life is important to the story. The writing is changing. This book was different.

The 14th book in the Michael Bennett series. Michael Bennett is a detective in New York City. He is recently married, but gets pulled into a case when an FBI agent he knows goes missing. Fast-paced story. One of my least favorites in this series.

I usually love reading James Patterson books. I recently started re-reading the prey series and they're great the second time. But Shattered didn't feel like a Patterson novel, it had a romance novel feel to it. Not that I've ever read a romance novel, because I'm sure I wouldn't like those either.

is there going to be a book 15.

I luv this character, can’t wait to read the next one! I have read all the MICHAEL Bennett. They are excellent!,

**2.75 stars.

Meh. That is the best overall descriptor I can give. I enjoyed that the book was fast-paced and the characters were all relatively interesting. The writing itself left a lot to be desired.

The Good:
- Vivid descriptions. More so than other books, I felt like I could really picture the plot in my head as it was unfolding. There was not an over-abundance of imagery, but the presentation of most scenes was quite well done.
- It's a mystery! There are a few suspects that our main character, Detective Bennett, zeroed in on, but ultimately it was difficult to guess which one actually ended up committing the crime until it was overtly told. The big reveal was not exactly suspenseful or totally out of left field, but it was certainly not my first guess.

The Bad:
- The writing is cheesy. There's no sugarcoating it. From the smug internal monologue of the narrator as he tries to convince us what a Master Negotiator he is. The over-the-top nonsensical law enforcement interactions trying way too hard to paint the narrator as a badass detective and buddies with everyone else. The fight scenes rooted more in WWE than in reality. I wasn't expecting it to read like a PhD thesis, but it would not have hurt my feelings at all if some of the sensationalism was curbed.
- MODERATE SPOILER: What happened to Jeremy Pugh??? One of our three main suspects throughout the majority of the book, and yet his name doesn't need a single mention in the last 100 pages of the book? I recognize he did not end up committing the crime, but one page he was the central focus and the next he was completely dropped. Felt rushed and poorly planned.

The Very Bad:
- The cringey overuse of the formal name of the victim, Emily Parker. We set up this entire background between our narrator and the victim regarding how close their relationship is, but he only ever refers to her as Emily Parker aside from talking with her relatives? Come on. People that are seemingly so close-knit do not go out of their way to use the full name of the other over, and over, and over again. It may have been somewhat minor, but this was nails on a chalkboard for me. Would it kill him to refer to her as "my friend Emily" once in a while?

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book despite what I found to be true limitations. I would not read it for a second time, but would not strictly tell others to stay away from reading it themselves.

#14 in the Michael Bennett series Michael is on his honeymoon with his new wife Mary Catherine. He receives a call from his friend and FBI agent Emily Parker. He figures he will call her when he is back. When he returns home he finds out Emily is missing. Michael extends his leave from the NYPD to head to DC to find out what happened to Emily.

I thought this book was ok. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t awful either. I prefer Michael Bennett in NYC chasing the bad guys versus off on his own going rogue in DC. The plot wasn’t great, but it also wasn’t predictable either. Without going into spoilers, there were a couple things that happened in the book that seemed to just be in the book to fill space and did not add to the plot or story line whatsoever.

Overall an ok book, but not great. If you haven’t read the rest of the series, I would probably pass on this book.

Another Bennett that just sucks you into a black hole of mystery.

I always feel the need to defend my high ratings for JP’s books. I know they are so poorly executed and extremely repetitive. However, these are my comfort reads. I’ll admit this one in particular was a bit of a slower one, but more personal. There wasn’t the high stakes anxiety of me feeling like Bennett was possibly going to die. Which at just #14 - too soon!

The day JP kills off Bennett, Boxer, or Cross; is the day I go into a literary mourning.

Can’t wait for the next one!!

Very good Michael Bennett book. Fast paced and kept me interested. One of the best lately.

Do not understand why people rated this book so highly. It’s the lamest book I’ve ever listened to. Why did I even bother.

Solid next book in the series. I like this charachter and his family.