Nice changes from Patterson (Step On A Crack - James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge)

Member Name: pmcds

Product:	Step On A Crack - James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge
Date:	15/12/08 (58 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good plot and characterisation

Disadvantages: A bit unbelievable at times

Step On A Crack is a James Patterson novel that introduces us as his readers to a new character: NYPD homicide detective Michael Bennett. This is one of Patterson's collaborative novels, where he co-writes the story with another author. This time it's Michael Ledwidge writing with him, and the result is actually quite good.

Michael Bennett is a busy man. He has 10 kids and his wife is lying in hospital with her survival in the balance and up in the air. So, the last thing he needs is for the funeral servie of a former first lady going wrong and over 30 extremely important, influential and publicly known people being held as hostages by a gang of unknown kidnappers inside a cathedral.

Michael must act quickly and carefully as the senior hostage negotiator, and as things start heating up inside the cathedral, the deadliness of the situation becomes more and more evident as the time goes by.

Patterson and Ledwidge conbine well here to give us a Patterson-style book with a bit of a difference. Ledwidge's involvement means that the story is a bit different to the normal Patterson tension and non-stop action. The characters are developed a lot better than we normally experience with his work, and the whole experience provides nice variety in comparison to his other work.

Criticisms of the best selling author have usually been the lack of depth in his work and how the same mould seems to be followed each time, and while this definitely has Patterson stamped all over it, it does have elements that give the story a certain freshness. It is very hard to put one of his books down at normal times, and this was a very well written book.

As is usual with Patterson books, the style tends to do away with any long and descriptive passages, opting instead for short, sharp chapters and a fast pace that makes it very hard to put the book down. It has always worked for Patterson, and there is no reason for this to change. I quite like the fact that this makes it very easy to read the books and doesn't require much thought.

The plot is very well worked out, although I found a few elements to stretch it a bit. The story flowed along quite nicely, and there is a twist in the tale that it quite clever, too. Overall, I highly recommend reading this one. The lead character is a bit more raw than his other, more established characters such as Alex Cross or Maximum Ride, but is potentially the start of a good series of books. Step On A Crack is available from amazon.co.uk for £5.99.

Summary: Good new character from Patterson