More than a few times, I had to look at the cover of this book to be sure the author was James Patterson instead of Bill O’Reilly.

“The Last Days of John Lennon” reads like one of O’Reilly’s “Killing” books – “Killing Lincoln,” “Killing Kennedy,” etc.

But it also reads like one of Patterson’s Alex Cross novels. “Lennon” is written in a similar style of direct sentences and short chapters. 

While the title mentions “Last Days,” the book follows Lennon’s life as a lad from a dysfunctional family, raised by his aunt, in post-World War II Liverpool to being artistic to discovering music and meeting the younger Paul McCartney, then the even younger George Harrison, to touring clubs as the Beatles, to inviting Ringo Starr into the group, to becoming pop sensations, to Beatlemania, to phenomenon and musical genius, to meeting Yoko Ono, to the break up of the world’s most famous rock band, to a solo career, to the “Lost Weekend” phase, to sequestering himself away as a stay-at-home dad to his and Yoko’s young son, to “Starting Over” with a new album, to the shattering death to an assassin’s bullet.

However, interspersed throughout the book, Patterson and co-authors Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge follow Lennon’s killer in the days leading up to the December 1980 death. These passages also read like a Patterson novel providing insight into the villain’s thoughts and motives. That delving into the killer’s days leading up to murder and his inner thoughts will trouble some readers and anger others.

For 40 years, readers know any book about John Lennon or the Beatles ends in violent tragedy. But some may find too many pages lingering on his killer unacceptable.