21. The Postcard Killers by James Patterson

Young couples are disappearing in cities around Europe, including Paris, Rome, Copenhagen,  Frankfurt, and Stockholm.  When their bodies are found, they are staged in elaborate displays of famous works of art that correspond to museums in that city.  NYPD Detective Jacob Kanon knows this only too well, since his daughter was one of the victims in Rome.  Kanon travels to Europe hunting the only clue he has about the killings, a postcard is send to a city newspaper shortly before a murder.  When Swedish reporter Dessie Larsson receives a postcard, Kanon knows they have little time before a new couple is found.

This new thriller from Patterson has him co-writing with Liza Marklund, a popular Swedish journalist and crime writer who is set to have her first English-translated book appear in the US in February 2011.  The story has a great premise, and short chapters hook readers into reading just one more chapter before stopping for the night, but the writing is stiff and clumsy.  In other hands, this could have been a great mystery.  Here’s hoping Marklund’s new mystery on her own is better.