THE GIRL WHO WROTE THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

My review 

In retrospect, I liked this book. It was different from the previous seven and in order to get this one in my "head" I needed to divorce myself from the ones preceding it. Maybe I misperceived, but I got the impression that the author wanted to put something different out there for us "Thaddeus" lovers. If that what was in his mind, he succeeded. Thaddeus came through in the end, as he always does. Pure poetic justice!
I don’t re-tell story lines in my reviews, however, in this instance and in order to do the review I wanted to do, I must admit that there is a ***spoiler alert***, so be warned accordingly.
I have several criteria that I rely upon when I review a book:

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1. It must have a "thread". By that I mean if I put the book down and later come back to it, I do not want to have to re-read pages in order to remember where I left off. This book had an excellent thread. I purposefully put it down several times to see if I could recall what was happening where I left off. I did not have to re-read pages.
2. In order for me to write a review of a book it must hold my interest to the last page. If I put a book down 3 times, for whatever reason, that tells me I've lost interest and will not finish it. I never lost interest in this book.
3. I want/need strong character development. That’s so I can "walk along side" the protagonist(s) and understand what they are thinking and why. Every principle protagonist in this book was very well developed. I say this particularly for the benefit of those readers not familiar with Thad's background. Those readers were rewarded with his history thanks to the NY Times writer.
4. The plot line must flow. I like a starting point and an ending point and I like the start to flow to the end. Now, I do appreciate retrospective. As an example, a Prologue whets the reader’s appetite for explanation transporting the reader back in time in order to make sense of what is going to happen.
In this case while there was a straight line approach to the story, I posit whether some attention to retrospective may have worked. Here’s what I mean, the book starts out with one concept I really like--shock opening. That gets the reader's juices going to see what’s going to happen next and so on. This book had an excellent shock opening. So, I'm curious whether that could have been worked into a look back, so to speak, with the reader wondering why Christine is in such a mess?
*** My next point may contain a spoiler***
5, Feasibility is big for me, i.e., was the read farfetched, or was it logical? I have to say that this was a weak point for me. Considering Christine's plane got high jacked to Moscow, why would the Russians automatically assume it was a U.S. ruse to get her there for the purpose of assassinating their President? That, even conceding they knew she was CIA traveling under an assumed name. I really struggled with this.
6. The story line has to be interesting. A really interesting segment of this book for me story line wise was from pages 300 to the end. I liked that section very much. No question, the story held my interest throughout (see 1 above), but I was especially intrigued with those pages.
The above, albeit lengthy, was a necessary component to express my feelings about this book. As I say above, I’ve read all the Murfee books and while I’ve enjoyed them all, each has its own message to deliver. The Girl Who Wrote the NY Times Best Seller: A Novel was indeed also a favorite which keeps me a staunch fan of John Ellsworth.

Release date 

March 28, 2015

Book description 

From Kindle All-Star John Ellsworth, author of #1 bestseller in thrillers category

Attorney Thaddeus Murfee is skyjacked to Moscow. Next to him on the plane is Angelina Sosa, a brash 20-something with a degree in journalism from the esteemed University of Chicago.

Angelina decides to write a New York Times best-seller based on the skyjacking. She isn’t sure if it will be fiction or non-fiction, but she has her topic once the plane is diverted.

Thaddeus Murfee has just received front-page notoriety in the Tribune for his extraordinary courtroom defense of a World War II death camp survivor. Lately, Thaddeus' name is being mentioned at all the important lawyer gatherings as the lawyer to keep an eye on in the U.S. In fact, there is even talk about him running for public office, maybe even U.S. Senator.

Angelina tells Thaddeus she will base new best-seller on the skyjacking. Surely a Pulitzer Prize isn’t even out of reach. Thaddeus declines all interviews with Angelina and the struggle begins.

What follows is an incredible legal thriller in Moscow, where Thaddeus and Angelina are the unwilling guests of the Russian President.

Thaddeus Murfee is at the top of his game in this book. The The New York Times Best-Seller will delight all Thaddeus Murfee fans who just can’t get enough of this young lawyer.