Often known as the “man who can’t miss,” James Patterson has been filling the bookshelves of millions worldwide for two decades. In his latest, “Run for Your Life,” Patterson teams up with popular novelist Michael Ledwidge to continue the tale of Michael Bennett and his chase after New York’s latest madman, The Teacher.

As the massacre escalates, seasoned detective Michael Bennett is assigned to the case, but with only hours left to prevent one of the biggest disasters in the city from happening, as well as raise his motherless children at home, and deal with the consequences of a failed hostage event, Bennett certainly has his work cut out for him.

One of the greatest highlights of this book is the intense, fast-paced movement of the plot and the intrigue of mystery within it. The beauty of Patterson’s writing is that he never reveals more than what is required to keep a reader pulled into his books. He really understands the power mystery can have over the audience, such as hiding the true intentions behind the story’s killer. From the very beginning, one wonders why the man is even called The Teacher. Eager to learn the answer, readers will chase after the trail of The Teacher to discover what crimes have been committed, despite how disturbing they turn out to be. But with every flip of the page, a new twist in the story appears, prolonging the suspense.

Although Patterson doesn’t take the most unique approach to the common crime thriller, his clean-cut style of writing wastes no time on needless information, and presents a strong focus on the central plot of the story, which progresses and builds nicely throughout the entire book.

Patterson’s characters are quietly static, though. Each person fills his or her place in the story dutifully, but without a dynamic flair to really impress upon the reader the worth of such character roles. It’s frustrating to see that a talented author such as James Patterson pays so little attention to the importance of character development, and the impact that it can have on a story.

Readers will not struggle with this book in the least. It is not a challenging piece of literature, and reads more like an actual movie than a novel. Both highly entertaining and easy to get into, “Run” deserves a place in every book collection.