“Remember my name if you hear it again,” Mark Chapman says to his cab driver as he pulls up to the steps of the Dakota in the prologue to James Patterson’s The Last Days of John Lennon. Patterson’s new book puts a true crime spin on Lennon’s murder on the steps of his Upper West Side apartment building on December 8th, 1980, one of the most shocking and infamous events in rock music history.

Despite its title, Patterson’s book dedicates most of its pages to a superficial retelling of John Lennon’s life, focussing on the formation and disbanding of the Beatles, as well as Lennon’s marriage to Yoko Ono. Interspersed throughout are brief interludes from Chapman’s perspective, showing him plot and carry out his attack. These moments spent with Chapman are without a doubt the best moments of the book; unfortunately, they are brief and infrequent. Instead, we get what feels like a timeline of Beatles recording sessions, including several chapters dedicated to former bandmate Paul McCartney and his own post-Beatles discography. 

Patterson’s trademark suspense is missing throughout much of this book because of this biographical perspective, and unfortunately, biographical writing does not appear to be Patterson’s strong suit. The book begins with an author’s note regarding the writing and recording of Lennon’s iconic song “Give Peace a Chance.” Patterson wrongfully credits Toronto as the place where the song was recorded, when it was in fact recorded in Montreal. With almost a hundred pages of bibliographical notes and a helping hand from award-winning journalists Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge, Patterson clearly did considerable research for this book, and no narrative can be expected to be completely accurate. Nevertheless, starting the book off with an easily correctable error challenges Patterson’s biographical veracity.

With countless accounts of Lennon and the Beatles already in circulation by acclaimed biographers, Patterson had the unique opportunity to provide something completely different: a retelling of Lennon’s death that uses his decades of mystery writing experience to shine a new light on the tragic event. I would much rather read a short novella composed of the chapters where Patterson takes us into the mind of Chapman. The suspense of Chapman standing outside the Dakota moments before the assasination asking, “How is John Lennon spending his final hours?” give a glimpse to how exciting this book could have been had Patterson leaned into his strengths. Instead, I found myself often questioning the accuracy of new information about Lennon thanks to Patterson’s inaccurate beginning. The last forty-or-so pages of the book follow the chaotic events and trial following Lennon’s murder and are so thrilling that they almost make up for the rest of the book. If only it didn’t take nearly 300 pages to get there. 

Patterson’s book does a great job of creating scenes out of biographical data, using interviews with friends and colleagues to construct dialogue and drama surrounding Lennon and the breakup of one of the most iconic bands in the world. Fans of the Beatles and John Lennon who are interested in reading Patterson’s take on the star’s life story will likely find some joy in this book. However, if you were anticipating a Patterson-esque thriller reimagining of Lennon’s final days as I was (and is suggested by the book’s title), prepare to be disappointed.