Along Came a Spider (Alex Cross)

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It's a hit!

Along Came a Spider, my frist introduction to James Patterson's storytelling, was quite an experience! James Patterson has a unique way of writting... (show more)

Along Came a Spider, my frist introduction to James Patterson's storytelling, was quite an experience! James Patterson has a unique way of writting, short chapters and unlike most books, everything seems relevent; you never get bored!

Along Came a Spider and Kiss the Girls have been, so far, my favorites in the Alex Cross series. Gary Soneji is a brilliant criminal and my favorite character. However, Casanova was quite an interesting character himself. Demented and sick, he was. Patterson conjures up some characters that will definitely give you the spooks!

Roses Are Red is my next novel to read in the Alex Cross series. I'm excited to read where James Patterson takes us next and what criminal he dreams up to compete against Alex Cross.

I have a feeling that Nana Mama is going to die soon. She is old, and it seems like Patterson tries to get the reader attached to her. She may be old, but she is awesome! LoL. She cracks me up. Good luck Nana Mama. Hopefully, no one will kill you. Haha. (show less)

 

 

by Steven Mitchell

No, it's a flop!

Man oh man was this painful! I have been meaning to read the Alex Cross novels for years but was waiting until I got this, the first one in the se... (show more)

Man oh man was this painful! I have been meaning to read the Alex Cross novels for years but was waiting until I got this, the first one in the series so I could read them in order. To be perfectly honest, I doubt if I'll read the others after this. The style of writing is amateur - yes, I know it was his first book (at least I think it was) - but comparing this to Raymond Chandler's or Michael Connelly's first books highlights how superior they are as writers of crime fiction.
The plot is ridiculous - 2 children of "important people" are kidnapped by a supposedly highly intelligent psychopath. The local police (the book is set in Washington, D.C.) work happily alongside the FBI and the Secret Service without any of the usual tensions between state and local forces. The protagonist is Detective Alex Cross who also happens to have a doctorate in Psychology and is far too "good" to be a good lead character. He doesn't seem to have any significant vulnerabilities, he isn't fighting an internal fight and he's such a good guy it's annoying. Plus, things seem to just happen around him rather than to him so it lacks the tension necessary in a psychological/crime thriller.
The psychopath is so clichéd it's not funny. There are major plot holes when it comes to his story which are so big you could drive a bus through them.
The "twist" is ridiculous; the 'oh-so-smart' Cross is duped but look here, just in time he figures it all out and it's all hunky dory. Eurgh, I'm getting annoyed just thinking about it again. (show less)

 

 

by Emma Donnelly

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  I only read the book after seeing the movie - it was the first date movie with my wife, so I made it a point to read the book, too. The character of Alex Cross in the two movies they made from this book and Kiss The Girls is remarkably different from the character James Patterson created and fleshed out in the books. In the novels, Alex Cross is a relatively young single father, widowed, and bears little resemblance to the older scholarly criminologist Alex Cross portrayed by Morgan Freeman... (show more)

  I only read the book after seeing the movie - it was the first date movie with my wife, so I made it a point to read the book, too. The character of Alex Cross in the two movies they made from this book and Kiss The Girls is remarkably different from the character James Patterson created and fleshed out in the books. In the novels, Alex Cross is a relatively young single father, widowed, and bears little resemblance to the older scholarly criminologist Alex Cross portrayed by Morgan Freeman in the movies. The book and the movie are different enough that it is hard to compare the two as wholes and declare one version better than the other. Each has elements that compare favorably to the other, and each has aesthetic and dramatic failures that the other does not share. All in all, I was not so enamoured of this character that I felt a great desire to continue with the series. (show less)

   

   

  by Kevin Rice on Sep 07, 2009 at 01:01PM

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  I really don't get what all the buzz is about Alex Cross. Perhaps it's because this was a really early effort by Patterson, or the character wasn't fully realized, but he's pretty flat. First, he's set up as this uber-character: an accomplished police detective AND a doctor of psychology. Smart AND tough, a big burly strongman crack investigator brilliant psychologist "Hazzitall" character. In short, just the type of protagonist I dislike. Did I mention that he volunteers at a ... (show more)

  I really don't get what all the buzz is about Alex Cross. Perhaps it's because this was a really early effort by Patterson, or the character wasn't fully realized, but he's pretty flat. First, he's set up as this uber-character: an accomplished police detective AND a doctor of psychology. Smart AND tough, a big burly strongman crack investigator brilliant psychologist "Hazzitall" character. In short, just the type of protagonist I dislike. Did I mention that he volunteers at a soup kitchen, and that despite his success he Chooses to remain living in the ghetto neighborhood where he grew up? Or that he's a loving father? It's just too much. He's set up as essentially being without flaws. Then he totally fails to have any impact on the story, except to be the character that the antagonist (seemingly randomly) chooses as the target of his attention. The book literally just happens around Alex Cross. He totally fails to figure things out at virtually any point. Aside from doggedly rehashing ground he's already gone over until someone says something they never said before, he doesn't really accomplish anything. He's just a PoV. I'll continue to read a couple more books in the series, but I was expecting much more from such a famous character, and was left very much wanting. (show less)

   

   

  by Chad Huffman on Sep 01, 2009 at 03:57PM

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