You've Been Warned - Dark Publications

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Similar Items:

•	The Quickie
•	Double Cross (Alex Cross Novels)
•	The 6th Target
•	7th Heaven (The Women's Murder Club)
•	Step on a Crack

Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Kristin Burns is making her way in New York City. Her photos are being considered at a major Manhattan gallery, she works by day with two wonderful children, and the man of her dreams is almost hers for keeps. But just as everything she's ever wanted is finally within reach, her life changes forever--with one murderous nightmare. Kristin wakes up every morning from the same chilling, unforgettable dream. And suddenly, it's visiting her during the day too. As her life turns stranger by the minute, Kristin is haunted and terrified. Is it all in her head? Or is the nightmare becoming her life? Kristin searches desperately for what's real through the lens of her camera, only knowing two things for sure: that no place is safe and the fate of everyone she loves lies in her hands.

Customer Reviews: Read 409 more reviews...

1 out of 5 stars

This is a horrible book, HORRIBLE! September 24, 2007
149 out of 159 found this review helpful

Kristen is an avid photographer living in New York City in YOU'VE BEEN WARNED, the latest book to be churned out of the James Patterson factory. She's a good photographer and is close to making it big. Until the money starts rolling in, she works as a nanny for the two adorable kids of Michael and Penley Turnbull. Kristin seems like a normal 26-year old girl, except that weird things keep happening to her. She keeps having a reoccuring dream about four murders at a hotel. She keeps hearing a song in her head that she can't quite place. Some images in her photos are unexplainable, and she thinks she sees her dead father on the streets of Manhattan. Also, Kristen is having an affair with Michael Turnbull and expects him to leave Penley for her any day now. One night in a club, a stranger approaches her and tells her to be careful, and that now, she's "been warned."

Not counting the flying kids novels, this is the forth Patterson novel this year. He writes so many now that you can compare his novels to others quite easily to get a good idea of where they stand. STEP ON A CRACK had a poor sublot with the cop with ten kids. CROSS was great. The latest Women's Murder Club books have turned into 2 or 3 novellas combined to make a novel. THE QUICKIE grabbed me early and was full of twists. Definitely a great book. HONEYMOON faded at the end, BEACH ROAD featured a point of view gimmick, JUDGE AND JURY seemed like an afterthought, while LIFEGUARD was quite intriguing. You get my point, some Patterson books, are good, a few great, and many average. I believe there should be a new category shoud be created for YOU'VE BEEN WARNED. It sets a new standard for horrible awfulness regardless of what other book you judge it against.

The blurb on the inside jacket of the hardcover is SO misleading and tells you nothing about the type of book you are about to read. Sure, Kristen is a nanny and a photographer, But that in no way scratches the surface in what Patterson is trying to pull off here. In my opinion, the entire 374 pages of the novel is a beginning. This is a one note novel, with no turns, no transitions. I mentioned above the strange things that happen to Kristen, the dream, the music, the photos. None of it is ever explained. Strange things keep happening and piling on and Kristen keeps thinking she understands or is getting close to solving the mystery, before more strange things happen, and the reader is back at square one.

This is a gimmick novel, and it fails so miserably, it is hard to put into words. It is easy to read so you might want to check it out in the library just so you can get an idea for how bad it is. This is disappointing considering how much I enjoyed THE QUICKIE, but it is not unexpected because Patterson can be counted on to produce a clunker every third or forth effort. The last line of the inside cover blurb says "This novel of psychological suspense is a stunning new achievement for thriller master Patterson." There is no suspense, there are no thrills, only and endless cycle of unexplained occurrences that take the novel in a direction you don't expect by reading the blurb. And unfortunately, that direction is a place that no reader should ever be forced to go again.

1 out of 5 stars

Not a thrilling thing! September 13, 2007
62 out of 75 found this review helpful

I have read all of James Patterson's books but after the last few I have about decided to let him prove himself to me again! The flying children were awful, as well as the baby killing fiasco.

When he sticks to Alex Cross or the Women's Murder Club, one might expect to have a good read.......but, when he veers from that ...watch out! Maybe he should write solo again. I don't think the helper is working.

I have noticed that he gets in great detail on many subjects lately and the most recent is photography. I have been a member of the Professional Photographers of America for a number of years and even teach photography in a local college. I consider myself knowledgeable on the subject enough to criticize a bit. Patterson has come up with some real doozies. He is so far out ie: you don't use a safe light when film is in a developing canister, depth of field doesn't have a thing to do with sharpness of the subject.....I could go on. I guess I was expecting so much more...

Please go back to the good stuff Mr Patterson....you could still be one of my favorites if you would.

2 out of 5 stars

SHOCKINGLY BAD...........................!!!! September 10, 2007
27 out of 34 found this review helpful

The star of this one is aspiring-photographer-but-current-nanny Kristin Burns; she adores the children that she cares for but loves their father, Michael, even more. The two carry on a torrid affair that is made that much more exciting by Michael's seemingly lack of concern of being caught. Haunted at night by recurring nightmares featuring body bags and the deaths of the people that she loves, Kristin is also seeing dead people by day. Not sure if she is losing her mind, and having difficulty separating fact from fiction, Kristin seeks the help of her therapist, who is so uncharacteristically uncaring that the entire scene seems surreal...but then, so does the entire book. One is somewhat breathless, wondering, where will it all lead? How will it all tie together? The answer: Nowhere, and it doesn't. A shockingly bad book from the same literary duet that created the highly enjoyable novel Honeymoon. What happened here? Anyway, readers....the title says it all. You've Been Warned........

DYB

1 out of 5 stars

Save your money--Another stinker of a bore from Patterson team. September 11, 2007
27 out of 35 found this review helpful

Skip this book and save your money. I read this one and The Quickie from the library.
As other reviewers stated, how much more drivel will Mr. Patterson put his name on just to sell books?
They all seem to make the Bestseller lists so I guess the answer to my above question is -many more.

2 out of 5 stars

"Don't think, just run!" February 2, 2008
20 out of 21 found this review helpful

When your book budget is low and your local library (though delightful) has a limited stock of new books, what to do? Lately I've been falling back on formula thrillers to lull me to sleep at night, and that's why I checked out this James Patterson offering -- a regrettable choice, I'm sorry to say.

I know James Patterson can put out a highly readable book, which makes it all the more unfortunate that he's squandering his reputation with something as unfocused as "You've Been Warned." He and co-author Howard Roughan have given us a superficial story that starts with a bad dream and never really gets off the ground.

The story is told in the first person by an aspiring Manhattan photographer, Kristin Burns (her catch phrase: "Don't think, just shoot!") Kristin is tormented by bad dreams that seem to come true, warned darkly by dead people, and freaked out by creepy effects on her photographs. She thinks she may be going mad.

The authors' choice of the first person, present tense for this tale is not effective. Kristin has no idea what's going on and there isn't enough information for the reader to guess -- or care. There are very few clues given; is it a horror tale? or did Kristin capture something on film that she shouldn't have? or is it a psychological thriller with madness or evil at its core? The book doesn't quite settle on a theme.

Several major events from Kristin's past are thrown into the mix near the end, a frenzied deus ex machina. There was the feeling that the book was approaching its target word count before the author thought to check the outline -- OOPS! Here, have this ... and this ... and this.

With all the poor pacing and stream-of-consciousness narration, you may wonder where the two stars are coming from. There are two delightful children in the story and they deserve one each even though their roles are small. Also, the New York setting is vivid and the photography theme, though not well enough developed, is somewhat interesting.

It's heartbreaking, really. If the elements of "You've Been Warned" were to be Mixmastered and served up fresh with some loving care, we COULD have a book we deserve.

Linda Bulger, 2008

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