12th of Never

Also by James Patterson
    THE WOMEN’S MURDER CLUB SERIES
    1st to Die
    2nd Chance (
with Andrew Gross
)
    3rd Degree (
with Andrew Gross
)
    4th of July (
with Maxine Paetro
)
    The 5th Horseman (
with Maxine Paetro
)
    The 6th Target (
with Maxine Paetro
)
    7th Heaven (
with Maxine Paetro
)
    8th Confession (
with Maxine Paetro
)
    9th Judgement (
with Maxine Paetro
)
    10th Anniversary (
with Maxine Paetro
)
    11th Hour (
with Maxine Paetro
)
    ALEX CROSS NOVELS
    Along Came a Spider
    Kiss the Girls
    Jack and Jill
    Cat and Mouse
    Pop Goes the Weasel
    Roses are Red
    Violets are Blue
    Four Blind Mice
    The Big Bad Wolf
    London Bridges
    Mary, Mary
    Cross
    Double Cross
    Cross Country
    Alex Cross’s Trial (
with Richard DiLallo
)
    I, Alex Cross
    Cross Fire
    Kill Alex Cross
    Merry Christmas, Alex Cross
    Alex Cross, Run
    DETECTIVE MICHAEL BENNETT SERIES
    Step on a Crack (
with Michael Ledwidge
)
    Run for Your Life (
with Michael Ledwidge
)
    Worst Case (
with Michael Ledwidge
)
    Tick Tock (
with Michael Ledwidge
)
    I, Michael Bennett (
with Michael Ledwidge
)
    PRIVATE NOVELS
    Private (
with Maxine Paetro
)
    Private London (
with Mark Pearson
)
    Private Games (
with Mark Sullivan
)
    Private: No. 1 Suspect (
with Maxine Paetro
)
    Private Berlin (
with Mark Sullivan
)
    Private Down Under (
with Michael White
)
    STAND-ALONE THRILLERS
    Sail (
with Howard Roughan
)
    Swimsuit (
with Maxine Paetro
)
    Don’t Blink (
with Howard Roughan
)
    Postcard Killers (
with Liza Marklund
)
    Toys (
with Neil McMahon
)
    Now You See Her (
with Michael Ledwidge
)
    Kill Me If You Can (
with Marshall Karp
)
    Guilty Wives (
with David Ellis
)
    Zoo (
with Michael Ledwidge
)
    NYPD Red (
with Marshall Karp
)
    NON-FICTION
    Torn Apart (
with Hal and Cory Friedman
)
    The Murder of King Tut (
with Martin Dugard
)
    ROMANCE
    Sundays at Tiffany’s (
with Gabrielle Charbonnet
)
    The Christmas Wedding (
with Richard DiLallo
)
    MAXIMUM RIDE SERIES
    The Angel Experiment
    School’s Out Forever
    Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports
    The Final Warning
    Max
    Fang
    Angel
    Nevermore
    DANIEL X SERIES
    The Dangerous Days of Daniel X (
with Michael Ledwidge
)
    Daniel X: Watch the Skies (
with Ned Rust
)
    Daniel X: Demons and Druids (
with Adam Sadler
)
    Daniel X: Game Over (
with Ned Rust
)
    Daniel X: Armageddon (
with Chris Grabenstein
)
    WITCH AND WIZARD SERIES
    Witch & Wizard (
with Gabrielle Charbonnet
)
    Witch & Wizard: The Gift (
with Ned Rust
)
    Witch & Wizard: The Fire (
with Jill Dembowski
)
    Witch & Wizard: The Kiss (
with Jill Dembowski
)
    MIDDLE SCHOOL NOVELS
    Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life (
with Chris Tebbetts
)
    Middle School: Get Me Out of Here! (
with Chris Tebbetts
)
    Middle School: My Brother Is a Big, Fat Liar (
with Lisa Papademetriou
)
    I FUNNY
    I Funny (
with Chris Grabenstein
)
    CONFESSIONS SERIES
    Confessions of a Murder Suspect (
with Maxine Paetro
)
    GRAPHIC NOVELS
    Daniel X: Alien Hunter (
with Leopoldo Gout
)
    Maximum Ride: Manga Vol. 1–6 (
with NaRae Lee
)
     
    For more information about James Patterson’s novels, visit www.jamespatterson.co.uk
     
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Suzie and John, Brendan and Jack

PROLOGUE
a dark and stormy night

One
    I WOKE UP to a sharp report, as if a gun had gone off next to my ear. My eyes flew open and I sat straight up in bed.
    I yelled
“Joe,”
but my husband wasn’t lying next to me. He was in an airplane, thirty-five thousand feet above the heartland, and wouldn’t be home until the morning.
    There was another ferocious crack and my bedroom brightened with lightning that snapped and wrapped around the windows. A boomer shook the window frames and sheets of rain lashed the glass. I was so distracted by the vicious storm that it took me a second or two to register the wave of pain that came from my belly and washed right through me.
    Oh, man, it hurt really bad.
    Yes, it was my own fault for gorging on refried beans for dinner, then chasing down the Mexican leftovers with rigatoni marinara at ten.
    I looked at the clock—2:12 a.m.—then jumped at the next seismic thunderclap. Martha whined from under the bed. I called to her. “Martha. Boo, honey, whatchoo doin’? It’s just a storm. It can’t hurt you. Come to Mama.”
    She flapped her tail against the carpet, but she didn’t come out. I swung my legs over the bed and flipped the switch on the bedside lamp—and nothing happened. I tried a couple more times, but damn it—the light wouldn’t go on.
    The power couldn’t be out.