The last days of John Lennon /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Discover one of the greatest true crime stories in music history, as only James Patterson can tell it.

With the Beatles, John Lennon surpasses his youthful dreams, achieving a level of superstardom that defies classification. "We were the best bloody band there was," he says. "There was nobody to touch us." Nobody except the original nowhere man, Mark David Chapman. Chapman once worshipped his idols from afar--but now harbors grudges against those, like Lennon, whom he feels betrayed him. He's convinced Lennon has misled fans with his message of hope and peace. And Chapman's not staying away any longer.



By the summer of 1980, Lennon is recording new music for the first time in years, energized and ready for it to be "(Just Like) Starting Over." He can't wait to show the world what he will do.



Neither can Chapman, who quits his security job and boards a flight to New York, a handgun and bullets stowed in his luggage.



The greatest true-crime story in music history, as only James Patterson can tell it. Enriched by exclusive interviews with Lennon's friends and associates, including Paul McCartney, The Last Days of John Lennon is the thrilling true story of two men who changed history: One whose indelible songs enliven our world to this day--and the other who ended the beautiful music with five pulls of a trigger.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

In what sounds like an unbeatable setup, blockbuster crime writer Patterson joins forces with New York Times best-selling authors Sherman and Wedge to chronicle the last days of John Lennon. With a 300,000-copy first printing.

Kirkus Book Review

Beatlemania meets autopsy in the latest product from the Patterson factory. The authors take more than half the book to reach John Lennon's final days, which passed 40 years ago--an anniversary that, one presumes, provides the occasion for it. The narrative opens with killer Mark David Chapman talking to himself: "It's like I'm invisible." And how do we know that Chapman thought such a thing? Well, the authors aver, they're reconstructing the voices in his head and other conversations "based on available third-party sources and interviews." It's a dubious exercise, and it doesn't get better with noir-ish formulas ("His mind is a dangerous neighborhood") and clunky novelistic stretches ("John Lennon wakes up, reaches for his eyeglasses. At first the day seems like any other until he realizes it's a special one….He picks up the kitchen phone to greet his old songwriting partner, who's called to wish him all the best for the record launch"). In the first half of the book, Patterson and company reheat the Beatles' origin story and its many well-worn tropes, all of which fans already know in detail. Allowing for the internal monologue, things improve somewhat once the narrative approaches Chapman's deranged act--300-odd pages in, leaving about 50 pages for a swift-moving account of the murder and its aftermath, which ends with Chapman in a maximum-security cell where "he will be protected from the ugliness of the outside world….The cell door slides shut and locks. Mark David Chapman smiles. I'm home." To their credit, the authors at least don't blame Lennon's "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" for egging on the violence that killed him, but this book pales in comparison to Kenneth Womack's John Lennon 1980 and Philip Norman's John Lennon: The Life, among many other tomes on the Fab Four. A thimbleful of fresh content lies buried in tales familiar and often told. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

James Patterson was born in Newburgh, New York, on March 22, 1947. He graduated from Manhattan College in 1969 and received a M. A. from Vanderbilt University in 1970. His first novel, The Thomas Berryman Number, was written while he was working in a mental institution and was rejected by 26 publishers before being published and winning the Edgar Award for Best First Mystery.

He is best known as the creator of Alex Cross, the police psychologist hero of such novels as Along Came a Spider and Kiss the Girls. Cross has been portrayed on the silver screen by Morgan Freeman. He has had eleven on his books made into movies and ranks as number 3 on the Hollywood Reporter's '25 Most Powerful Authors' 2016 list. He also writes the Women's Murder Club series, the Michael Bennett series, the Maximum Ride series, Daniel X series, the Witch and Wizard series, BookShots series, Private series, NYPD Red series, and the Middle School series for children. He has won numerous awards including the BCA Mystery Guild's Thriller of the Year, the International Thriller of the Year award, and the Reader's Digest Reader's Choice Award.

James Patterson introduced the Bookshots Series in 2016 which is advertised as All Thriller No Filler. The first book in the series, Cross Kill, made the New York Times Bestseller list in June 2016. The third and fourth books, The Trial, and Little Black Dress, made the New York Times Bestseller list in July 2016. The next books in the series include, $10,000,000 Marriage Proposal, French Kiss, Hidden: A Mitchum Story (co-authored with James O. Born). and The House Husband (co-authored Duane Swierczynski).

Patterson's novel, co-authored with Maxine Paetro, Woman of God, became a New York Times bestseller in 2016.

Patterson co-authored with John Connoly and Tim Malloy the true crime expose Filthy Rich about billionaire convicted sex offender Jeffrey Eppstein.

In January 2017, he co-authored with Ashwin Sanghi the bestseller Private Delhi. And in August 2017, he co-authored with Richard Dilallo, The Store.

The Black Book is a stand-alone thriller, co-authored by James Patterson and David Ellis.

In April 2018, he co-authored Texas Ranger with Andrew Bourelle.

In May 2018, he co-authored Private Princess with Rees Jones.

In August 2018 he co-authored Fifty Fifty with Candice Fox.

(Bowker Author Biography)