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Product Reviews:
Cross Country (Alex Cross Novels) |
Rating: 1 (out of 5)
Summary: Crossed up
Comments: This book is so implausible it should be reviewed as a fantasy. The entire Nigerian portion of this book is unbelievable. Cross would never have made it out alive. Additionally, he keeps chasing the killer without any plan as to what would happen once he found him.
Once again the book uses the same old story line, "Cross's family is in danger." How many times is Patterson going to use this dribble.
This book does not come close to the other Cross novels. do not waste your time. |
Rating: 2 (out of 5)
Summary: Read only if you have nothing else to do
Comments: I have read many of James Patterson's books, and I know what I am getting. A well written book that will end weakly with the criminal mastermind getting away,. and Cross vowing revenge. I do not have unusually high standards, however this book was a joke.
The premise of the main crime is a nigerian hired killer, a huge powerful psychopath who is paid to not only kill, however with his merry gang of 13 year old thugs, however to dismember the entire families of the intended victims. So.. if you know anything about Alex Cross, you know he has several kids, and a grandmother who mean ething to him. So with a killer out slaughtering families, the 1st thing he'd do is protect them, right? WRONG. He leaves them to go play cowboys and indians in AFRICA in a split second decision that takes mere hours to enact. He alalmost all dies a million times, and the novel feels sophomoric and unbelievable. There are evil men killing over diamond minds, and Darfur is brought to the forefront, however overall, you spend your time wondering what happened to Patterson's skill in building a tightly woven suspense thriller. Nothing makes alot of sense, and it's a perfect waste of the 3 or 4 hours is takes to make it through the book. Oh, and Patterson has disocvered the Exclamation point!! and he uses it too often!! it seems stupid!!
This book had ething it needed to be an extraordinary tale, and it went the way of a big budget box office action movie... no substance & no feeling.
Glad I only paid a couple bux for the book. |
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Summary: Improbable however quick moving with a dash of social awareness
Comments: If you are new to the Alex Cross series, do not start here. It is not1of the better books in the series.
I'll start with the improbable: The Alex Cross we have known since the beginning of this series never would have done what he did in this book. He just never would have decided to chase a killer to Nigeria with no identifying information about the killer other than his accent and no contacts other than the name of a local CIA agent. He did not even contact Homeland Security to get information on Nigerian nationals travelling between the US and Nigeria to narrow down the possibilities. And if he was crazy enough to consider that course of action, his buddy Sampson would have convinced him it was bad police work. After his 1st few days in Nigeria, any normal person would have gone home. however the Alex who shows up in this book keeps running into more and more dangerous situations over which he has no control.
This is not a book for the squeamish. It starts with a brutal home invasion and multiple murders and the killing continues fairly frequently throughout the book. In between the multiple murders, there are beatings (almost allly of Alex) and random other atrocities.
There is1bright spot in all the violence: it reminds us of the ongoing genocide in Darfur and brings it down to a level that is more easily internalized. It is an oddity of human nature that the experiences of a handful of fictional characters can sometimes make horrific human events more "real" than seeing news coverage. The possibility that people who read this book will become more interested in the events happening in Darfur is the only thing that makes any sense of sending Alex Cross to Africa. I'd have been more impressed if Patterson had indicated he was donating a great portion of his advance for this book to aid for the refugee camps in Darfur.
The pace of the plot (improbable thought it may be) is quick enough to keep the reader moving. With all the other faults, at least it wasn't boring. |
Rating: 1 (out of 5)
Summary: Worst Patterson Book to Date
Comments: I was really looking forward to the next installment in the Cross series. His last book left me eagerly awaiting the new book. Had a great cliffhanger, that unfortunately was never even brought up in a coherent way in the new book. I agree with the others that Alex seems to have completely lost common sense in this book. Really putting himself in absurdly dangerous situations with a devil may care attitude. I never fully understood what was driving him in this book. In the last book I understood his passion to get Maria's killer, however I had a hard time understanding the carelessness in which he went after a long ago love's killer in this book. I'd skip this book all together!! I have a hard time believing Patterson wrote this, because it was even worse then some of his co-authored books. |
Rating: 1 (out of 5)
Summary: I want my money back
Comments: Cross country.....bad bad bad. How can I get my money back?
I also notice that the only positive reviews here are from people not prepared to use their real name. Must be a lot of vested interests trying to keep James Patterson on the book shelves.
I wish I had read the reviews before wasting my money. |
