4/5 stars
This will be a brief entry, because I don't want to give too much away for those who haven't yet started the Alex Cross series (though what they're waiting for I have no idea!!). However, since this is a fairly new novel (Nov. '12), I wanted to review it for those who are Patterson fans but have not yet read this novel.
Merry Christmas, Alex Cross is different from the past books of the series mostly because it takes place in less than a two day period, over the Christmas holiday. While some Cross novels move quickly, I don't remember any of them having this much action packed into such a short amount of time. It made for an interesting, fast-paced read. It was, partly, a continuation of the story in the previous novel, Kill Alex Cross, as it contained one of the "bad guys" from the previous book who made it out alive, and refused to give up her terrorist ways. I was not a fan of this character, so I wasn't thrilled to see her back, which is why the novel didn't get the usual 5/5 star rating that I give Alex Cross novels.
However, this novel deals with not one, but two major crisis situations over Christmas. Cross also has to report to a major hostage situation, in which a scorned, ruined ex-husband is holding his ex-wife, her new husband, his kids, and a neighbor hostage on Christmas Eve. He is becoming more insane by the minute, completely drugged out and crazy with rage.
I read this book in about two or three days as I do most of Patterson's novels. The short chapters and crazy, action-packed situations make for a page turner for sure. This was not my favorite of the series, but I am still a huge Cross fan. I enjoy hearing about his family, and I found that by the end of the novel, Cross is really starting to face the effect that his work has on them. I expect that in the next Cross novel (recently released) that something will have to be done before his family falls apart.
What I'm reading now...
1. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Leguin (sci fi)
2. Shakespeare: The World as Stage by Bill Bryson (nonfiction)
3. Monster by Walter Dean Meyers (classic YA)
No comments:
Post a Comment