BLACK FRIDAY (James Patterson) - May 20/11

This serviceable thriller offers up several exciting interludes and a smattering of memorable characters, yet Patterson diminishes the book's impact by padding out the story to an almost absurd degree. The book is probably 200 pages longer than it needs to be, and by the end, I was starting to glaze over paragraphs describing who was doing what and why they were doing it. **1/2 out of ****