Hide and Seek, James Patterson: Summary

This is a psychological thriller. The 355- page is mostly delivered in conversation. This edition is published in 2005 by HarperCollinsPublishers, London while the first edition is published in 1996. This is the story of an abused woman turns to be a star. Unstable Maggie Bradford becomes a famous songwriter and a singer married to famous psychopathic footballer.

Hide and Seek, James Patterson: Summary

Her drunkard husband was going to kill her and their young daughter Jennie. Two deafening shots came from his gun. Mother and daughter hid and the father seek. He fired right to them. The mother fired back. Almost a year after Philip’s death, she moved to New York. She passed the audition the songs for Barry Khan, the Barry Kahn, the singer-composer who had electrified America a decade ago and now was one of the most important record producers in the world.

The sixth-year-old boy found his father had purposefully walked outside his house and drowned himself in the family pool. A few days after their father’s suicide, Will and Palmer filled their suitcase each and moved to London. Their mother refused to take them to live with her. They were to begin new life with their aunts, Eleanor and Vannie, whom they had never met, but who made the two-suitcase rule.

Will refused to leave his home and screamed in his mind he didn’t mean to kill his own daddy. Vannie, his mother’s younger sister reminded him achingly of the woman who once, long ago, it seemed, held him, cuddled him, told him she loved him, then she went away. Will was extremely intelligent and very clever boy but he seemed to be incorrigible master of charming, audacious, very big lie. He was already touted as the best young football player in London. He was very popular – with the girls anyway. In his fourteenth birthday, Will teased his aunt. He knew Vannie wanted him too and they was entangle in forbidden relationship.

One of Maggie’s songs was sent to California and Barbra Streisand liked Loss of Grace and wanted to record it. This luck brought her to some concerts in the U.S and London tour. Albert Hall and dinner with queen of England, there she met Will, famous footballer of England. Will obsessed with her and he liked Maggie’s song, the tears came down heard that soul song. The lyrics and song of Loss of Grace was inspired of Maggie’s bitterness to Philip, her first husband. Maggie was now a star, a famous singer, and she wrote he own song. From a backup singer in clubs around West Point to be a star, Newburgh but her husband, Philip didn’t like it.

Malfunction luxury car made Maggie met Patrick O’Malley. Cornelia and Patrick O’Malley were one of the New York’s most courted and undeniably popular couples. No scandal was ever attached to them. Until forever was cut short by a gliobastoma that took her life in eighteen months and then Patrick was left, at age fifty-four, with nothing except wealth, their rebellious son, Peter, and the tremendous sympathy of friends.

Will was in Rio, Brazil for football and he killed brutally killed a local prostitute in his hotel room. He had asked his own brother Palmer to be his manager. Palmer took care of the mess he had made. Blond Arrow, Will called his wild life and sex. There would be trial- the famous footballer would be found guilty. He was going to prison for life. He changed. He was unstable since Rio.

Patrick mourned his failure with Peter, what he called, his loss of his only son. Maggie announced him that she was with his baby. Patrick wanted marry her. He loved his work, the grand hotels he built; Maggie was sure that he loved Maggie, Jennie, his baby Allen, and the sea. The only trouble in his life was continuing fights with his son, Peter, over control of his company. In the process, Peter also made it a clear that he despised Maggie. Patrick and Maggie decided they had to live with Peter’s attack. They were on holiday on the yacht probably toward Caribbean, the storm hit. He tried to reach the sail and drafted his leg. Then he collapsed and he died – a heart attack. It was just the two of them on boat.

Will Shepherd, the soccer player who tried to pick up Maggie showed him up one day in her door carried her daughter, Jennie. She was hurt herself. Will looked for Maggie address. He felt comfortable with her song. She was the one who could save him. He began to be obsessed by her and wanted to be in her upcoming song. They married. Will did not play football but he casted for a movie, Hollywood. A TV camera chased Maggie and asked her about her husband Will and star female actor Suzanne Purcell. Movie director Caputo found Purcell naked and badly cut, unconscious but still alive. It would be half a year before she could act in another movie.

Suzanne swore to Caputo, then to the police, that it had not been Will. She would not press charges. He had scared her badly. She believed that Will was capable of murder, of anything. His movie was soaring at the box office. Even more absurd, he was being touted as the next Eastwood or Harrison Ford.  Hollywood made him ill with its amateurish reading of public tastes. He could not stand with reviews and the critics. He could not bear being Will Shepherd: the barely living legend, the ex-football great, Mr. Maggie Bradford. He had always been a night creature. The werewolf of Bredford. He was a member of The Exclusive Lake Club of Bedford Hills. Jennie was an A student but suddenly she got bad marks. She had skipped seventeen days of school with forgery signature of her mother. Maggie found Will in her daughter room. He ran down and yanked to Jennie’s room with a riffle.

She was absolutely out of her mind to see Will was there. She did not know what happened that late night and Will was shot. A police arrested her for the murder of her husband, Will Shepherd. The murder trial of Maggie Bradford was being watched around the world. Months passed for trial and she was no guilty. Will was alive. His dyed-black hair was cut short and meticulously comb. The Black Arrow. That he was now. He was invisible to the world. He killed his own brother, Palmer Shepherd. He had a gun, he had Jennie and Allen, the gun was loosely pointed at them. Maggie played hide and seek again but none got killed though she fired him. It was a mental hospital, supposedly one of the best one. She wanted him to explain why he wanted to kill her but Will only made a strange sound. Will did not recognize her.

Sekapur Sirih

Ini kali kedua membaca karya James Patterson. Karya fiksi ini diterbitkan HarpercollinsPublisher berbendera Britania Raya pada tahun 2005 sementara terbitan pertamanya pada tahun 1996. Novel setebal 355 halaman ini disampaikan dengan bahasa yang mudah dan di dominasi oleh percakapan dan ungkapan cerita tokoh Maggie Bradford. Dari backup singer menjadi bintang ternama, penyanyi dan pencipta lagu. Seperti karya sebelumnya, penulis Patterson sangatlah ringkas dalam pembagian bab tulisannya namun plot cerita tetap kuat dan membuat penasaran. Bila Anda mencari buku fiksi yang didominasi percakapan dan bertemakan psikologi thriller maka buku ini layak dipertimbangkan.

Terjemahan dalam Bahasa Indonesia: Novel Hide and Seek, James Patterson

Suasana tegang tengah terjadi dalam sebuah keluarga muda. Sang ayah mengejar sang istri dan putri kecilnya. Dalam keadaan mabuk sang kapten militer itu hendak membunuh keduanya. Maggie Bradford dan Jennie berusaha bersembunyi namun tidak terhindarkan malah Philip yang tertembak mati. Pengadilan pun membebaskannya atas alasan pertahanan diri.

Maggie membawa putri kecilnya pindah ke kota New York dan berhasil lolos audisi pada sebuah perusahaan rekaman besar dan berpengaruh di dunia. Rupanya Barry Khan, sang pemilik menyukai lagu Maggie. Dan waktu pun berlalu dan salah satu lagu yang di kirimkan ke California disukai dan akan dibawakan Barbra Streisand. Keberuntungan dan keberhasilan pun mengikutinya. Sejumlah konser lokal dan bahkan hingga London, membuatnya menjadi bintang.

Will Shepherd, anak berusia enam tahun, adalah anak rupawan dan pintar. Namun kematian ayahnya membuatnya meninggalkan rumah mewahnya dan harus berpindah ke London. Will dan saudaranya Palmer Shepherd akan dirawat oleh dua bibinya, yakni saudari ibunya yakni Eleanor dan Vannie. Ibu mereka sendiri menolak untuk membesarkannya. Kepahitan pun mulai tumbuh dalam diri Will. Dia sering dihantui oleh kasus bunuh diri ayahnya.

Dalam usianya yang ketiga belas, Will telah tenar di sekolahnya dan menjadi pemain bola muda terkenal di Inggris. Karir dalam bola pun berkembang dan membuatnya menjadi salah satu pemain bola Inggris ternama. Termasuk disukai para gadis. Pada usianya yang ke empat belas tahun dia pura-pura masih sakit dan menggoda bibi Vannie, adik ibunya yang sangat mirip dengan ibunya. Dia tahu wanita itu juga menginginkannya dan mereka pun terlibat dalam hubungan terlarang.

Will menyukai lagu-lagu Maggie dan merasa sangat nyaman dan tenang dengan lirik-liriknya. Hingga suatu pesta mempertemukannya dengan Maggie di Albert Hall Inggris dan jamuan dari Ratu. Lelaki pirang nan atletis itu suatu ketika menghadiri pertandingan bola di Rio, Brazil dan membunuh pelacur lokal dengan sadis, dia sangat menikmati melihat gadis itu mati sama seperti melihat ayahnya. Saudaranya Palmer pun membereskannya dan sejak kejadian itu Will semakin tidak stabil.

Pasangan ternama New York, Patrick dan Cornelia O’Malley tidak pernah tertimpa skandal dalam pernikahan mereka dan usaha mereka dalam perhotelan pun semakin maju. Mereka adalah salah satu pengusaha ternama di kota itu. Kekurangan dalam hidup mereka hanyalah Peter anak satu-satunya yang bermasalah. Cornelia pun harus meninggalkan Patrick karena kanker otak dalam usia lima puluhannya. Kegagalan telepon dalam mobil mewahnya membuatnya meminta pertolongan dari Maggie, salah satu rumah yang terdekat dimintai tolong pada malam itu. Maggie pun tidak terlalu sulit mengenali pria kaya itu karena memang terkenal dan rumahnya juga tak jauh dari daerah itu.

Kisah asmara pun terjalin di antara ke duanya dan mereka pun memiliki bayi lelaki bernama Allen. Selain mencintai Maggie, Jennie, dan bayi Allie, dia gemar berlibur di laut dengan kapal mewah. Saat itu tidak diduga kalau tiba-tiba badai menerpa yacht mereka. Ketika Patrick berusaha membetulkan layar mereka dia tergelincir dan mati tiba-tiba. Serangan jantung, hanya mereka berdua dalam kapal itu tapi kapal pelintas pun menolong Maggie. Will sangat nyaman dengan lagu-lagu Maggie dan merasakan bahwa bintang penyanyi itu adalah penyelamatnya, apalagi sejak pembunuhan di Rio. Lelaki muda rupawan itu pun mencari alamat Maggie dan tiba-tiba muncul di depan pintu penulis lagu itu.

Kebaikan dan kehangatan yang ditunjukkan Will pun berhasil memikat hati Maggie dan mereka pun menikah. Pemain bola terkenal itu meninggalkan lapangan hijau dan menjadi aktor sebuah film yang tergolong aneh namun masuk dalam box office selama berminggu-minggu. Gosip dalam media dan televisi pun sering menayangkan perselingkuhan Will dan pemeran wanita, Suzanne Purcell. Maggie sudah mulai jenuh dengan sikap Will yang semakin lama makin liar. Sementara Will sering bersama Suzanne dan kejadian tragis pun mengejutkan sutradara mereka menemukan Suzanne tergeletak terikat tali dan penuh darah dalam sebuah kamar hotel. Namun wanita cantik itu menolak berkata kalau pelakunya adalah Will demikian juga pada polisi. Dia sangat takut kalau Will akan nekat menghabisinya. Akibat lukanya yang sangat parah, dia butuh satu setengah tahun untuk bisa bermain film lagi.

Walau box office namun kiritikan dan cercaan pada Will membuat pria itu ingin bunuh diri apalagi kerap dijuluki mantan pemain sepakbola yang menyampah bermain film dan Bapak Maggie Braford. Kebiasaanya keluar malam hingga pagi dengan anggota klub elite di wilayah rumah Maggie. Puncaknya Will membeli sebuah senapan sepertinya dia ingin membunuh dirinya atau malah tidak jelas alasan untuk apa belajar menembak padahal Maggie sangat trauma dengan benda itu. Suatu malam yang sangat larut dia sangat kaget menemukan Will memasuki kamar putrinya Jennie dan bertingkah aneh. Maggie pun segera membawa senapan dan kurang jelas pertengkaran pun terjadi putrinya atau dia yang menembak Will hingga tak bernyawa. Polisi menahannya atas pembunuhan suaminya.

Persidangan yang lama akhirnya membebaskannya dari tuduhan pembunuhan itu. Sangat mengejutkan Will masih hidup. Dia mewarnai rambutnya hitam dengan penampilan baru. Palmer saudaranya pun dia bunuh. Dia pun muncul di dalam rumah Maggie dengan menodongkan senjata pada ke dua anak Maggie. Perkelahian pun tak terhindarkan dan Maggie berhasil menembak Will. Setelah pulih dari goncangan, Maggie pun mengunjungi Will yang kini sudah menjadi penghuni rumah sakit jiwa. Dia ingin menanyakan kenapa Will ingin membunuhnya. Namun Will sama sekali tidak mengenalinya, wajah tampan itu benar-benar gila dan hanya mengeluarkan gumanan dan teriakan tidak jelas.