Addictive and easy to read (James Patterson in general)

Member Name: sikim

Product:	James Patterson in general
Date:	17/05/02 (102 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good formula, Strong characters, Twisting storylines

Disadvantages: Always a love interest

I've been reading James Patterson novels on and off for about 5 years. My friend introduced me to them, and after spending quite a bit of time ploughing through a Clancy novel it was enjoyable and I could hardly put the thing down.

All of JP's books are based around detective's of one sort or another. There are the famous Alex Cross novels (including the 2 that were made into movies Kiss The Girls and Along Came a Spider). At this point you may be noticing a little theme...all the Alex Cross novels use nursery rhyme titles: Pop Goes The Weasel, Jack and Jill, Roses are Red, See How they Run, Cat and Mouse, Cradle and All and his most recent novel Violets are Blue.
But the master of the detective story also has a few other books based on other characters: Black Market and When the Wind Blows are good examples.
When the wind blows is quite a departure from his normal formula - although the detective element is still there - the story itself is more of a fantasy with the discovery of some very unique children.

He has aslo recently started a new series based on a female detective in San Francisco. The first book was called "1st to Die" and involved a series of grisly murders of newly-wed couples. The most recent release is titled "2nd Chance" (another title theme developing here maybe??), and picks up shortly after the previous one (I'm only half way through this so I can't say much but it is another page-turner).

One of the things that I enjoy about his books are the dual commentaries where you also get the story from the killer's point of view, and you wonder how Cross is actually going to get the killer. He always includes a few twists and turns throughout the way and I can't remember reading one of his books without the main character having some sort of love interest. (Alex Cross has had about 6/7 women that he always seems to fall in love with - most of them die!!).

If yo
u are looking for a book which is not too heavy going, you like detective stories with a few twists and turns, and you like reading a series of books then Patterson's your man.
Start with something like Along Came a Spider it is the first one (I think) and is a good introduction to the formula, although not his best.

You will also (if you've watched Kiss the Girls movie) picture Alex Cross as the actor Morgan Freeman, which is good - although I think Patterson means for Cross to be a few years younger than Morgan Freeman, maybe more like Denzel Washington's age.

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