Along Came Alex Cross (Along Came a Spider - James Patterson)

Name: DavyMichelle

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Product:	Along Came a Spider - James Patterson
Date:	06/05/08 (25 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Sets up the Series

Disadvantages: Doesn't Stand Alone Overly Well

Along Came a Spider is another James Patterson book that has been turned into a film starring Morgan Freeman (like 'Kiss the Girls' has been). I'm not sure which film came first but I do know that in the books series, this is actually the first one James Patterson wrote starring his famous detective Alex Cross. I have to confess to reading 'Kiss the Girls' before I read 'Along Came a Spider' but as that's the wrong way round, I'd suggest others read 'Along Came a Spider' first!


The story in this book is one which involves introducing us to this brand new detective first and foremost. The world had yet to know of Alex Cross when this book was written so James Patterson devoted a lot of time to introducing us to his star detective properly. This includes loads of information about his home life and family, things we don't get to read a lot about in subsequent books. If you're interested in reading these books as a series, I think that's an important thing to be aware of.


The story unravels that detective Alex Cross is on the trail of a mental serial killer called Gary. Now don't laugh, I'm sure there have been serial killers called Bob at some point. I'm sorry but I have to say I don't think it was the best name to choose for a mentalist knife wielding maniac! That aside, Gary has a believable character and played an interesting role.


There's a bit of a downside to this suspense thriller though and that's that it's a bit, well, suspenseful. When I'm reading in bed at night, I either get involved or I want to go to sleep and some nights this just made me ready for an early night. I found it was a lot of work for very little reward if that makes sense. There are a lot of little twists in here I guess it's just that you have to work through a few chapters to get to each one. I suppose this is one of James Patterson's earlier works though.


My recommendation is to buy this book if you plan on reading the whole series. Otherwise, it's not worth it on its own.


Product Details:

Available online or in stores for around £4.99
448 pages
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

Summary: Worth it to start the series off