Cradle and All - James Patterson

Another superb read by the master at crime, James Patterson. Cradle and All is the mega bestselling author Patterson at his peak of his creativeness. This book contains the correct combination of suspense, love and shear nightmare, millions of readers will be kept on the very edge of their seat. The story centers on Kathleen, a privileged girl from Rhode Island, and Colleen, a poor girl from a remote Irish village. On opposing sides of the Atlantic both girls lives are in immense danger, with both girls being pregnant. A private detective named Anne Fitzgerald has the case of a lifetime, caught between a rock and a hard place, caught between ...  Read the complete review

There are some thrillers that grip the reader from the very first page, turning and twisting through endless sub - plots, creating and defusing tension and making the hackles on the back of the neck stand up. In other words, there are some thrillers which actually THRILL - sadly, 'Cradle and All' by James Patterson is not one of them. The book is set in a world beset with death and disasters, ranging from droughts in India to rampant outbreaks of polio in the United States. Into this dark and dismal world comes hope, in the form of two very different - yet strikingly similar - teenage girls. Kathleen, aged 16, is from a rich and privileged ...  Read the complete review

James Patterson is better known for his books featuring Detective Alex Cross, but every now and then, one of his books will explore a more supernatural and strange phenomenon, such as this offering from the best selling author, thus transitioning the genres and being categorised as a horror story as opposed to a thriller. The story gives us something supernatural immediately, telling us that two women, one in the States, one in Ireland, both virgins, suddenly find themselves pregnant. A missive gives us the statement that one holds the child to save the world, the other the one to bring it down, the AntiChrist if you will. The Vatican sends its most trusted ...  Read the complete review

When James Patterson is a described as a 'megabestselling' author on the back cover of this book, you have to be suspicious as to his credentials. You also have to wonder when a cursory glance at the inside front cover reveals that all his books are named after lines from nursery rhymes. Gimmickry perhaps? It certainly seems that way when you read 'Cradle and All' and realise that the title has, at best, a tenuous connection to the story. Oh, and what a story! Anne Fitzgerald, a private investigator who used to be a nun and holds a Masters in psychology (it's not every day you meet one of them!) is sent to investigate two supposed virgin ...  Read the complete review

Cradle and all is a book I had heard minor things about, but never really taken much notice of it. Why, I can’t say, but I never paid it much attention, and certainly never contemplated buying. That was until I read a bit more into the book and its subject, and I then knew I had to read the book for myself. Not usually the type of book I tend to read, but I could tell this book was going to be something a little out of the ordinary, so I checked it out. Telling the story of two Virgins who claim to be mysteriously pregnant, a former nun Anne Fitzgerald, and ex-cop, now practicing as a private detective is hired by the Catholic Church to help investigate ...  Read the complete review