Merry Christmas, Alex Cross by James Patterson (2011)
Laura’s Rating: 3/5 Stars
Of course my first review in December had to be Christmas themed! To ease into the festive season, I chose an action packed thriller centered around the holiday.
The Analysis:
Alex Cross is looking forward to a peaceful Christmas celebration with his family, when he is called out to help with a high-stakes hostage situation. Despite his family’s pleas, Alex heads out into the snow to attempt to negotiate a safe end to the situation. Can Alex diffuse the situation and make it back safely to his family?
The novel is really divided into two parts and I enjoyed the first storyline a lot. It felt tense and exciting, with well fleshed out characters. The tense nature of a hostage situation built up the suspense of the story almost immediately. I found the characters to be pretty realistic, with interesting traits and motivations. This initial part of the book was closer to 4 stars for me but unfortunately only takes up only about 40% of the book.
I didn’t enjoy the second half of the novel quite as much. It includes another intense plotline, but it didn’t pull me in like the first half. The characters were not as well fleshed out and I didn’t care about them as much. My main complaint is that the two stories felt separate, which left the book lacking cohesion. I think making each storyline into its own novel may have worked better instead of abbreviating them both into one book. With as many books as James Patterson has written, I think each one can only be so nuanced and original. As expected from Patterson, this book was enjoyable and fast paced, but not anything special for me.
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