Crazy House

by James Patterson, Gabrielle Charbonnet (With)

Overview

Hand-book of prohibition 1885.

This book, "Hand-book of prohibition", by Andrew J. Jutkins, is a replication of a book originally published before 1885. It has been restored by human beings, page by page, so that you may enjoy it in a form as close to the original as possible.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316431316
Publisher:	Little, Brown & Company
Publication date:	05/22/2017
Series:	Crazy House , #1
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	274,426
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.40(d)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

James Patterson had been working as a very successful advertising copywriter when he decided to put his Masters degree in English to a somewhat different use. Inspired by bestselling hair-raising thrillers like The Day of the Jackal and The Exorcist, Patterson went to work on his first novel. Published in 1976, The Thomas Berryman Number established him as a writer of tightly constructed mysteries that move forward with the velocity of a bullet. For his startling debut, Patterson was awarded the prestigious Edgar Award for Best First Mystery Novel—an auspicious beginning to one of the most successful careers in publishing.

A string of gripping standalone mysteries followed, but it was the 1992 release of Along Came a Spider that elevated Patterson to superstar status. Introducing Alex Cross, a brilliant black police detective/forensic psychologist, the novel was the first installment in a series of bestselling thrillers that has proved to be a cash cow for the author and his publisher.

Examining Patterson's track record, it's obvious that he believes one good series deserves another…maybe even a third! In 2001, he debuted the Women's Murder Club with 1st to Die, a fast-paced thriller featuring four female crime fighters living in San Francisco—a homicide detective, a medical examiner, an assistant D.A., and a cub reporter. The successful series has continued with other numerically titled installments. Then, spinning off a set of characters from a previous novel (1998's When the Wind Blows), in 2005 he published Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment. Featuring a "flock" of genetically engineered flying children, the novel was a huge hit, especially with teen readers, and spawned a series of vastly popular fantasy adventures.

In addition to continuing his bestselling literary franchises, Patterson has also found time to co-author thrillers with other writers—including Peter de Jonge, Andrew Gross, Maxine Paetro, and Howard Roughan—and has even ventured into romance (Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas, Sam's Letters to Jennifer) and children's literature (santaKid). Writing at an astonishing pace, this prolific author has turned himself into a one-man publishing juggernaut, fulfilling his clearly stated ambition to become "the king of the page-turners."

Hometown:

Palm Beach, Florida

Date of Birth:

March 22, 1947

Place of Birth:

Newburgh, New York

Education:

B.A., Manhattan College, 1969; M.A., Vanderbilt University, 1971

Website:

http://www.jamespatterson.com

Editorial Reviews

03/13/2017
In this boilerplate dystopian thriller, set in the not-too-distant future, twin sisters discover that their peaceful existence in a strictly regimented farming community is a lie and struggle to survive against overwhelming odds. When 17-year-old wild child Becca Greenfield is kidnapped and imprisoned in a terrifying, violent institution, her sister Cass is desperate to find out what happened. While Becca fights for her life, Cass enlists the aid of Nathaniel, the handsome son of her town’s provost, who’s part of an underground rebellion. As the sisters unravel the deadly secrets of the so-called crazy house, they’re shocked by the part it plays in a larger conflict between world-controlling elites and the general population. While the premise is sound, Patterson and Charbonnet (the Witch & Wizard series) offer up a derivative story with predictable twists, fairly shallow characters, and revelations that won’t surprise anyone familiar with the dystopian genre. The worst offense: when Becca casually reveals that she’s pregnant after being raped by a teacher, has a miscarriage, and overcomes the traumas in record time. Ages 14–up. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Seventeen-year-old orphaned twins Cassie and Becca Greenfield live in the United, a rigidly controlled society of Sections further divided into thousands of township-like cells which produce food or manufacture goods for everyone. All citizens must stay united, faithfully performing their assigned tasks to make their cell the best. Cassie has always been one of the model citizens, succeeding in school while struggling to maintain the family’s farm. Her twin, however, is Cassie’s opposite, skipping school, hanging out with undesirable Outsiders, and breaking all the rules of citizenship. Becca is always disappearing, but this time it is serious. Seized by the authorities along with other undesirable teens, Becca is on death row in the brutal and nightmarish prison known as the Crazy House. Cassie, aided by Nathaniel, the cell leader’s son, and the Outsiders, must rescue her twin. The collaboration responsible for the Witch and Wizard series writes again about teens rebelling against a dystopian political system. In this novel, the authors sacrifice style and character development in an effort to capture the teen market with a plot that relies heavily on violence and crude language. Stereotypical characters, lackluster worldbuilding, and a cliché-laden style would normally make this a marginal purchase, but libraries will be obligated to acquire this title because of Patterson’s name. The surprise ending, that will shock only the most unsophisticated readers, suggests a sequel in the works. Reviewer: Jamie Hansen; Ages 15 to 18.

VOYA, April 2017 (Vol. 40, No. 1) - Jamie Hansen

04/01/2017
Gr 8 Up–This first installment in a new dystopian thriller series centers on twin sisters living on their own in a highly regulated farming community. Trying to make it through high school so that they can start their vocations and keep off the radar of the watchful and authoritarian ruling body The United, Cassie and Becca have never been outside their little town, known as a cell. When rebellious Becca goes missing, the narrative splits into two—Becca's harrowing tale of the mysterious and violent prison she is being held in, and Cassie's determined attempts to rescue her. Neither of the sisters' voices rings true, and the farming metaphors both of them use feel clunky and heavy-handed. The book features Patterson's trademark short chapters, violence, teens breaking in and out of prison, and rapidly shifting alliances, but the lengthy stretches of awkward plotting dilute the suspense. The action does get going in the last few chapters, and a welcome reveal sets the story in a promising direction for future volumes. VERDICT This title will be in high demand among fans of suspense/thrillers, and things will hopefully pick up steam as the series progresses.—Beth McIntyre, Madison Public Library, WI

School Library Journal

2017-02-20
A teen girl goes looking for her missing twin sister.In the absence of their parents, Cassie and Becca, both white, are doing their best to tend to the family farm. One morning, Cassie wakes up to discover Becca is missing. Meanwhile, Becca wakens in a horrific children's prison, in which the detained are forced to fight to the death. As Cassie searches for her sister, Becca does her best to survive the torture her captors put her through. The novel is set in a future in which populations are organized geographically into isolated cells. The government controls all the information going in and out. More lurks beneath the surface, and the book sets up further installments, but few readers will feel the need to keep reading. The world is poorly built, the characters are dreadfully thin, and the plotting is drastically uneven. When Cassie and Becca are finally reunited, readers will have little reason to celebrate: their relationship is so thinly sketched they barely feel like sisters. The torture sequences in the teen prison are gratuitous and dreary. A last-minute twist is easily predicted, making the slow, tedious burn toward the reveal and the barely distinguishable characters all the more intolerable. Yet another bland, half-baked dystopian exercise. (Dystopian adventure. 14-17)

Kirkus Reviews