James Patterson - I, Alex Cross

You can't run
Detective Alex Cross is pulled out of a family celebration and given the awful news that a beloved relative has been found brutally murdered. Alex vows to hunt down her killer, and soon learns that she was mixed up in one of Washington's wildest scenes. And she was not this killer's only victim.

You can't hide
The hunt for the murderer leads Alex and his girlfriend, Detective Brianna Stone, to a place where every fantasy is possible, if you have the credentials to get in. Alex and Bree are soon facing down some very important, very protected, very dangerous people in levels of society where only one thing is certain - they will do anything to keep their secrets safe.

Alex Cross is the only hope to stay alive
As Alex closes in on the killer, he discovers evidence that points to the unimaginable - a revelation that could rock the entire world.

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The latest installment in Patterson's Alex Cross series is one that really took me by surprise. I remember with the last Cross book I vowed I would go back to listen to the audiobook but as it happened I got the book first and I really liked it. A high profile mystery that brings back all the characters the reader has come to love a while back and that truly vanished into the background lately.

The story builds up great but the revelation of who the killer is, is a bit of a letdown, not exciting enough and it seems everything Alex learns in his case was handed to him. Also there are a few points hardly to believe, especially when it comes to the cover ups.

In the end the novel is better than the past ones. It left me wanting more Cross novels.

Rating:
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Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (November 16, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316018783
ISBN-13: 978-0316018784

James Patterson and Maxine Paetro - Swimsuit

A breathtakingly beautiful supermodel disappears from a swimsuit photo shoot at the most glamorous hotel in Hawaii. Only hours after Kim McDaniels goes missing, her parents receive a terrifying phone call. Fearing the worst they board the first flight to Maui and begin the hunt for their daughter.
Ex-cop Ben Hawkins, now a reporter for the L. A. Tomes, gets the McDaniels assignment. The ineptitude of the local police force defies belief. - Ben has to start his own investigation for Kim McDaniels to have a prayer. And for Ben to have the story of a lifetime.
All the while, a killer sets the stage for his next production. His audience expects the best - and they won't be disappointed.

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Young model Kim McDaniels vanishes on Maui. Their worried parents Barbara & Levon arrive frantically searching for their girl because someone, the killer, called them.
Meanwhile a secret Alliance enjoyed the suffering and death of Kim on their desktop screens. But the Alliance has money and they want more, they want the ultimate surprise from their contract killer and master in disguise Henri Benoit.
While Henri plans his next stage with Kim's parents as the main attraction, Benjamin Hawkins, novelist, ex-cop gone crime write for the L. A. Times offers his help to this friendly pair just to see their lives slipping away under his fingers.
Sadly he returns to to L. A. but has the strong feeling, the case for him, at least, is not closed yet.

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The book sort of has two halves with an exceptional first half and an unfortunately not so exciting half which ending was just boring and didn't keep the standard one was expecting.
Sensible readers should be warned that certain killing scenes are violent and shockingly detailed to Patterson readers.
Overall I liked it for the first half but didn't really care for the second part and it's conclusion which missed any excitement and was a huge bore to me. It was readers guilt that made me finish the book.

(One might guess that the first part was mainly written by Paetro, who's been largely involved co-writing the last five novels in the Women's Murder Club series).

Rating:
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Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (June 29, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316018775
ISBN-13: 978-0316018777

James Patterson / Michael Ledwidge - Run For Your Life

A spree killer passes brutal judgment.
A calculating murderer who calls himself the Teacher is taking on New York City, slaughtering the powerful and the arrogant. Everyone is his potential student - from the loudmouthed girl on her cell phone to the city's snooty upper crust.
His message to them is clear: remember your manners or suffer the consequences ! For some, it seems that the rich are finally getting what they deserve. For New York's elite, it's a call to terror.

No chance for redemption.
There is only one man in the NYPD who can tackle such a high-profile case: Detective Michael Bennett. For anyone else, the pressure would be overwhelming, but Mike is ready to step up - taking care of his ten children has prepared him for the job. As the media frenzy escalates, all of Mike's children fall victim to a virulent flu bug - almost as challenging an assignment for Bennett as tracking down the killer.


One man struggles to save a city.
A secret pattern emerges in the Teacher's lessons, leaving detective Bennett just a few precious hours to save New York from the greatest disaster in its history.

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New York City homicide detective Michael Bennett is assigned to a new case at the worst time. With his wife's death the responsibility to take her care of their 10 adopted children is huge enough and now they all fall ill with a terrible flu, vomiting all over their place. Now he is supposed to catch a killer who's pattern doesn't make sense and always strikes at high profile places.

He calls himself the Teacher and his pupils are those who flaunt things, wealth and beauty. The penalty for obnoxiousness is death and you'd better listen to him and don't forget your manners.

With the killer getting bolder and shooting a beautiful stewardess in broad daylight, leaving a hotel lounge full of witnesses the Teacher is identified and his wife and two daughters found dead in their home. Peeling layer after layer Bennett is finally able to uncover the killers pattern and does everything to protect the only next possible victim.

But Bennett hasn't done his investigations without forgetting his own manners which might just turn out to be a terrible mistake.

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I actually really liked this book. For me it seems that co-writing with another writer makes Patterson's book more approachable for me than his other novels. Patterson readers know of Patterson own pattern of crazy psycho killers running through a town - therefore this book doesn't hold any surprises at all. But still the Ledwidge influence gave this book just a tad more than the old story usually offers.
Michael Bennett seems to be the average man struggling with his family issues and missing his wife. He's got personality as far as being a family father goes by mopping vomit off the floor and having some jelly on his sleeves. The cop side of him got a bit short. He actually isn't as striking as the books description does make him seem. The investigation part is just too short or better, it lacks the investigation at all. It seems more like the normal police procedure unravels the killer's identity and Michael's share is the big finale.

In the end I liked it and read through it fast. I wouldn't say I was vowed but actually enjoyed the family parts.

Rating:

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Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (February 2, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316018740
ISBN-13: 978-0316018746

James Patterson - Double Cross

A psychotic killer who craves an audience

Just when Alex Cross's life is calming down, he is drawn back into the game to confront a criminal mastermind like no other. The elaborate murders that have stunned Washington, DC, are the wildest that Alex Cross and his new girlfriend, Detective Brianna Stone, have ever seen. This maniac adores an audience, and stages his killings as spectacles in public settings. Alex is pursuing a genius of terror who has the whole city on edge as it waits for his next move. And the killer loves the attention, no doubt--he even sets up his own Web site and live video feed to trumpet his madness.

And a mastermind who works alone

And in Colorado, another criminal mastermind is planning a triumphant return. From his super-maximum-security prison cell, Kyle Craig has plotted for years to have one chance at an impossible escape. If he has to join forces with DC's Audience Killer to get back at the man who put him in that cell--Alex Cross-- all the better.

Both are after the same detective--Alex Cross

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I guess my big advantage with this book is that I have listened to all the audio books and never really picked up a book from the Alex Cross series. So while reading I always had the narrators gorgeous, character giving voice in my head while reading. I always thought it is this voice that gave Alex Cross the live in the audio books and and now that I read my first Hardback in this series I know I've always been right.
For me personally James Patterson's writing style isn't the best one, dull and repetitive at times. The characters aren't growing at all so I'll most certainly will stick to listening to the audio books instead of buying a real book.

However, the story itself is quite nice at the last third which I finished in one day while the first two thirds bored me big time.

For me it was an experiment that failed. :-)

Rating:
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Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (November 13, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316015059
ISBN-13: 978-0316015059

James Patterson & Howard Roughan - Sail

Set sail
Only an hour out of port, the Dunne family's summer getaway to paradise is already turning into the trip from hell. Carrie, the eldest, has thrown herself off the side of the boat in a bid for attention. Sixteen-year-old Mark is getting high belowdecks. And Ernie, their ten-year-old brother, is nearly catatonic. It's shaping up to be the worst vacation ever.

Soak up the sun
Katherine Dunne had hoped this trip would bring back the togetherness they'd lost when her husband died four years earlier. Maybe if her new husband, a high-powered Manhattan attorney, had been able to postpone his trial and join them it would all have been okay....

Prepare to die
Suddenly, a disaster hits–and it's perfect. Faced with real danger, the Dunnes' rediscover the meaning of family and pull together in a way they haven't in a long time. But this catastrophe is just a tiny taste of the danger that lurks ahead: someone wants to make sure that the Dunne family never makes it out of paradise alive.

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Katherine Dunne and her three children Carrie, Mark and Ernie each carry their own package and it didn't get easier with the family when the husband and father died four years ago. The children out of control, Katherine find a new man after three years: renowned celebrity attorney Peter Carlyle.

As a last attempt Katherine decided to take the two teenagers and little Ernie on a boat cruise together with her ex brother-in-law Jake. From the beginning things go bad. From water in the boat to a rupture in an important hose and a storm nearing that wasn't supposed to be there. Hardly surviving the storm the boat suddenly explodes leaving the family swimming in the ocean without any help to come.

Meanwhile back in New York Peter Carlyle plays the distressed husband, secretly dreaming about of his wife's inherited millions which soon will be his.
When suddenly a fisherman shows of his huge catch and a Coke bottle, containing a desperate message written by the family Dunne that they are alive on an island, falls out of the animals mouth.

The pressure is on. Who will find the family first ?
Peter, who didn't take into account a suspicious coast guard and an alarmed DEA agent. Or those two trying to unravel the mystery behind the families disappearance and find the evidence to nail Peter Carlyle ?

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During the families experience, losing their uncle Jack to his third-degree burns, survival on an island and it's dangers, it felt good to read how the family found back together out of their need. They find to each other and discover themselves anew.
I was in shock when in a moment of shear happiness the boat exploded. It really got to me. Unfortunately it was the only moment where I wasn't able to put down the book. I understand that James Patterson is a mass market brand name but I honestly didn't understand that this book got published written as it is. The plot is easy but could be much more refined with details and most of all with action. In the end the family is sitting on an island trying to survive.

Rating:
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Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (June 9, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316018708
ISBN-13: 978-0316018708

James Patterson - Hide and Seek (Audiobook - Unabridged)

It was the trial that electrified the world. Not only because of the defendant, Maggie Bradford, the woman whose songs captivated the world's heart. Not only because of the victim, Will Shepard, the world's most glamorous athlete. But also because everyone said Maggie had murdered not just one husband, but two.
And because in Maggie's world--the world she feared and despised but could not escape, the world of the powerful, the rich, and the ruthless--both death and life could never be what they seemed.

I´ve always been reluctant to buy anything by James Patterson or any author that publishes more then once a year. I´m even reluctant when an author publishes once a year and I think know why.
During the last days I´ve listened to the audiobook "Hide and Seek" in the unabridged version. I can´t say I didn´t like it but I can´t say it is good either. It is predictable to the core. Rarely surprised I listened to the voice of Kimberly Schraf reading a story good enough to listen to during chores. I actually began liking her voice but it is a bit monotone, lacking the passion needed to express for example anger or fear.

The story begins with Maggie Bradford, sitting in a prison cell. She sort of begins reading her own story from the begining of how she got there. She killed her first husband in self-defense. Her boyfriend died of an heart attack and her second husband´s a psychopath and murderer. Now she awaits her trial.
During her reading a lifetime of fear, insecurity and mistrust unfolds around her personality which makes her likeable because it is fully understandable.

The (audio)book clearly missed deepness and gives the impression it would have been ok to publish it as series in a newspaper but doesn´t deserve any hype at all.

Rating:
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Mass Market Paperback: 464 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (December 1, 1996)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0446603716
ISBN-13: 978-0446603713