Worst Case
| Industry | Publishing |
|---|---|
| Products | Books |
Worst Case represents the third installment in the Michael Bennett series, co-authored by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge, and released on February 1, 2010, through Little, Brown and Company.
Plot
The narrative follows NYPD Detective Mike Bennett alongside FBI Special Agent Emily Parker as they track Francis Mooney, a Manhattan trust attorney suffering from terminal lung cancer. Frustrated by his role in helping affluent clients transfer wealth to irresponsible heirs, Mooney resorts to abducting privileged teenagers to assess their social consciousness. Those who fail his evaluations face death, while those who succeed are freed.
Investigators identify Mooney after discovering a fingerprint on a freed captive. Subsequently, he seizes several male students at his alma mater, then escapes with two of them plus a teenage hotel doorman, all rigged with explosives.
Mooney directs the hostages to the New York Stock Exchange, a venue emblematic of the greed he condemns. The Exchange's Chief of Security, whose son is among the captives, permits Mooney entry to avoid endangering his child.
Demanding that the affluent fathers of the hostages exchange places with their sons, Mooney sets strict conditions. Bennett and Parker formulate a strategy: Parker diverts Mooney's attention while Bennett convinces him that the fathers have arrived. As Mooney moves to verify this, an FBI marksman shoots him in both wrists; unable to manually trigger the bombs, Mooney is ultimately killed when attempting to detonate them using his chin.
Reception
Publishers Weekly commended the character Emily for her "appealing gentleness," though it criticized other female roles as stereotypical. Meanwhile, The Journal Gazette described the novel as a "fast read" featuring a more compelling storyline compared to many of Patterson's previous works.