The Big Bad Wolf

I personally enjoyed this book. It was good to reunite with Alex Cross and his family, but also, to read about his new experience with the FBI... As always, Alex has continued to excel in the detective arena which adds to the suspense of the story. Good book, can't wait for the next book, hopefully, we won't have to wait to long...

THIS BOOK IS GREAT. IT'S FAST PACED, AND YOU WON'T WANT TO PUT IT DOWN. THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST ALEX CROSS BOOKS. I HEAVILY RECOMEND THIS BOOK TO EVERYONE.

Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?

Well...probably no one, because Patterson doesn't develop him or invest him with much genuine, convincing menace at all.
Colourful, yes, but not really scary.

The Wolf in question is a powerful and vicious Russian gangster, the latest dragon which Alex Cross must slay. All across America, people are being bought and kidnapped. It's a sort of white-slave ring open to the highest bidder. And, who is operating this? The Wolf, of course, a "terrifying" mystery-man and huge undiscovered stain on the name of justice. Throw in twists, murders, Cross's new experiences in the FBI where he now works, and you have a typically riveting James Patterson book. Oh yes, and Alex Cross's family is, shockingly, in danger again too. But, this time, not from death... (It's quite a decent sub-plot, actually, but it's as severely underdeveloped as only Patterson can accomplish.)

One of these days I will see sense and stop buying Patterson's books. I mean it. They're bad. (After all, if you ever tried to think of them "seriously" you'd laugh so hard your sides would require sewing back up.) But, I expect it's about as likely to happen as your average person saying "I really must put in more time at the gym" and actually doing it. And why? Because his books - the Cross series in particular, which remains my strong favourite - are so jolly entertaining. Indeed, The Big Bad Wolf is excellent. Prime Patterson. Very fast, very snappy, very very enjoyable. I loved it. The series is firmly back on track, I feel. Or, at least, as much back on track as it is ever going to be considering Patterson's style and that this is now just easy pop-fiction for the undemanding time-starved masses and always will be. It's all cheerfully - and also ineffectually - dramatic (when he uses exclamation marks after a statement, you find it hard to stifle the chuckles) and very implausible, and also at times woefully underdeveloped. Sometimes I get the feeling that if Patterson developed everything more, his books could be just as entertaining but also much more worthy and far better than merely "very entertaining". Instead, the plots fly along and his characters (who could actually be quite interesting) are reduced merely to proper-nouns and pronouns. But, this isn't going to change so I must stop complaining and just enjoy it. This style is here to stay, and as it is it works adequately enough.

Patterson fans should really enjoy this one - eve if it's end is a little too quick and open-ended. After all, it has everything. A killer, Cross, his family, heartless killings, twists, and even issues with Cross trying to fit in with his new job at the FBI (Once again, if only these issues were explored more fully...*sigh*) Even the quality of the writing has improved a little again. Normally, you'll find yourself jolted along by a proliferation of simple sentences, but not so here. I spotted several (yes, several!) compound and complex ones as well this time! It's formula is almost exactly the same as any other Cross book, but don't let that stop you. As I've said, James Patterson is not for you if you are looking for anything more than a simple, entertaining story, but if that is what you're looking for, he's your man. His books are my very guilty but very pleasurable pleasure.

Another good fast-paced Alex Cross novel that I read in one sitting. Although not the best I've read in the series, it's enjoyable just the same. Can't wait to read what comes next with Alex and family. Hopefully he'll bring down The Wolf, get his son back and bring Sampson on board.

Now this is what I'm talking about!!! This book remind me of the old Patterson & how he use to SHOCK and WOW the heck out of you. Now Alex is in the FBI he's called the "FNG", in other words "The F****ng New Guy." Even though he's a very experienced and a famous cop, he still has to start from the bottom and work his way up. He get's no special treatment. He's on a case which involves slavery of beautiful well to do women. This mysterious Wolf is behind it all. I was mostly shocked because I didn't expect certain outcomes especially when his baby's mother come back into the picture. That was some pretty heavy drama happen there. But there was one thing I didn't like in the book. If you shot someone point blank with a rocket laucher wouldn't you die or get affect by the blast. Well, other than that, I was truely entertained and I felt Patterson should stay to his roots of writing a great suspenseful novel.