police procedurals

Reading a Alex Cross book by Patterson means that you will get a pretty good characterization of the villain while every other character in the book , including the protagonist, is glossed over and given very superficial coverage. The plot is OK , but falls apart in the end, and dialogue doesn't seem to be one of Patterson's strong points. What is one of his strong points is, like I said earlier, the in-depth look he gives at his bad guys, explaining the motivations and origins of these characters. If Patterson seemed to be half as interested in exploring Cross and his supporting cast as he is the villain, his books would be a lot better. Also his plots usually hold up better than they do this time around. If you have to read every Alex Cross novel just check this out from the library, otherwise don't bother with it.

Alex Cross, a psychologist and detective with the Washington D.C. police department, is investigating a series of murders in the D.C. area. The suspect is a British diplomat named Shafer, who has become involved in an on-line game that he has carried over into the real world. Shafer gets his kicks by killing people in twisted ways, and Alex is hot on his tail. Proving that Shafer is the murderer implicates Alex in the crimes, and Alex's fiancé is abducted and missing for over a year. Just as Alex gives up hope on ever finding his fiancé alive, the case starts to turn around. This book his high on action and drama, and it was a quick read with very short chapters. But I fail to understand how Alex was able to get so much time off of work to devote to tracking down Shafer, since that crime was not one that he was assigned to. I wish I had a job like that.

Alex Cross is one of the best detectives I have read, I have always enjoyed this series this novel left a little to be desired though the ending seemed a bit rushed and didn't really satisfy me. As I closed this book I saw myself thiking that none of this was plausible or possible. If you enjoy detective novels then this is a good read, If this is your first Patterson novel please pick something else.