Kill Alex Cross

I am addicted to Patterson’s Alex Cross series, and I think, so far, Kill Alex Cross is one of my favorites of the series, and I do have a bunch more to go just to keep up. I enjoy Cross’s relationships, both personal, and professional. I liked that this had a focus where the late Kyle Craig isn’t lurking around. And, the new addition of Ava to the family. Cross and his collegues are dealing with terrorism as well as the kidnapping of two very prominent children. It’s a remarkable story and kept me on the edge of my seat. Look forward to more.

I used to read these books as soon as they came out but eventually started getting bored with them as I found them all to be the same. I continued to read other Patterson books as I do very much enjoy his books. After 5 years, I decided to start reading the Cross series again. I read this book within a couple of days which is no easy task with two kids. I could not wait to see what happened next and will definitely continue to read the next t book in the series. Hopefully, I will find them as engaging as I did this one.

Fast read. Some surprises but mostly just enjoyed it because I like all the main characters in the Cross series.

Not feeling enthusiastic about Ava a character brought into this story and left in for the duration. Disappointed that she would become part of the Cross family after she knocked Alexs grandmother to the ground and mugged and robbed her. This is the biggest flaw in the book. Other than that, its fun, interesting, slightly captivating, but I love Alex Cross so I cut the author a lot of slack.

I like James Patterson for a number of reasons. He is a very well educated writer with a masters in English with honors and, yes, you can take that to the bank. His stories are well crafted and he involves the reader by developing a relationship with the character. He talks about that in his Masters writing series as well. I have a MFA and a retired doctor and I am beginning to craft novels like his, so I think I understand the work that goes into his stories. OK, that being said, I suspect that the short dynamic chapters are embellished outlines. But you know, God Bless James, he makes it work and I enjoy his style. I keep buying his books because they are interesting, he has action in his short chapters, he keeps the reader on track with his characters progressing the story along.His stories are well crafted and I think James has a great brand going on here.

Too Short. Kidnapping story too thin. Easily half the book was taken up by the beginning of two other stories designed to get you to buy two additional books. Don’t fall for it.

There were three stories; two were interwoven and I had expected them to converge. One turned out to be a red herring for the other and they diverged becoming two separate, unrelated stories:

One of the stories, the kidnapping story, was resolved. That took about 40-50% of the book. The story was not good enough to carry the book. I was very disappointed.

The second story, the terrorist story, took about 30-40% of the book and was dropped. There was no resolution. It was just the set-up part of a story–Cross was never even became interested in pursuing the terrorists. I am guessing it was just an inducement to buy a second book continuing that story line. This is offensive.

The third story began at the 90% point. I was expecting the remaining 10% of the book would be dedicated to the resolution of the terrorist story. It wasn’t. That story abruptly ended and what we were left with was the beginning of a third book called ‘I, Michael Bennett’. It was there only hoping you will begin to read it and go out to buy that book to finish that story. The same thing is available to download for free on the Kindle site. The full novel costs $14. Of course it too may include dead-end stories designed to trick you into buying still other books.

[BTW. No one tried to kill Cross; they just wanted to kill him. I am again guessing that the mostly-irrelevant title was selected only because it sounded good. Or maybe the terrorist in the unfinished will try to kill him in the book that continues that story. Maybe Michael Bennett will try to kill him.]

I am glad I waited for the price to go to $10 but I still feel ripped off. Even if I paid only $5 for the Kidnapping story, I would feel ripped off.

Authors should respect their readers. There is an implicit contract–not about money–that we will be satisfied reading their book. This book is not respectful.

Years ago I stopped reading Cornwell’s Scarpetta books because they were getting shorter and shorter and eventually they wanted me to pay for an additional book to get the ending. It is not that I couldn’t afford the additional book. It is just too annoying wondering if I am going to actually get resolution at the end–and too offensive when I didn’t.

‘Kill Alex Cross’ may have pushed me over the edge. I am not sure in the future I am going to consider “Patterson” as an author indicating disrespectful marketing ploys that I want to avoid. I am certainly going to wait for the price to drop and read the reviews carefully–if I want to go to the extra effort.

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