10th Anniversary

I'm not sure why I read this.  And when I started, I thought my post would go something along the lines of 'I'm not sure why I bothered even trying to read this, it was rubbish'.  But actually, this brings the Women's Murder Club back to being a great series.  So if you read 1-4, skip a lot (don't worry about missing stuff, there's nothing majorly interesting, just a long drawn out side plot involving complicated romances) and carry on with 10, you'll probably think this is great.

I decided, since I ordered it before Varsity messed me around (I was going to write book reviews for them, after agreeing, they then abruptly decided they didn't actually want me to do that after all), and since I wasn't entirely sure how to cancel ordering the book from the library, that I'd better read it.  And, um, it was pretty good.  Not fantastic, but pretty good.  My main criticism is that the story started breaking up towards the end.  There were too many plot threads, and some of them felt like they'd been thrown in and then James Patterson decided he didn't actually like those threads but couldn't be bothered to remove them and so finished it off abruptly.  Lindsay's boss going out with Yuki, for example.  Lindsay goes 'wait, he's married', which could have caused some really interesting stuff.  But then the boss, when confronted, says 'oh, we've been separated for about a year, I'm just waiting for the divorce to come through' and it's all fine.  Might as well not have been there, in my opinion.

Lindsay and Joe finally get married (how long did that take?!) and Cindy is going out with Lindsay's partner (as in cop partner).  Relationships look a little messy to be honest, but I guess it keeps the characters smaller in number.  Also, not to sound a complete pessimist (and I don't think I'm really spoiling anything), but the story ends with Lindsay pregnant.  I highly doubt the baby is going to survive, but that's just me.  Also, I wonder why we never meet Claire's husband...

So yeh, that was 10th Anniversary.  It's probably worth a read if you see it around.  Don't get too excited, it's not brilliant, but the characters are good--Lindsay's a favourite character of mine since I've followed the series pretty much from the start--and there's several interesting crimes/murders woven together.

9th Judgement

Meh.  I saw it in the library and thought, hey, new Women's Murder Club, I might as well see if it's any good (this is now, I realise, the second most recent to come out).  In about half an hour I'd read the first hundred or so pages, thanks to James Patterson's short chapters, which make the book look far fatter than it actually is, and to be honest I wasn't gripped, and decided to take it back to the next library we went to.  So it didn't even make it home with me (okay, here I pause for an explanation: I went out to visit a handful of libraries in East Lancs with my mum, as we're trying to visit all the libraries in Lancashire, and some of them are closed at lunch time, so while we were waiting for the next library to open we started reading the books we'd already got out, hence the book not making it home from the library).

Is it just me, or are James Patterson's books getting worse and worse?  Or did I just have a fit of enthusiasm for a new author and am only now realising...  But I'm sure the earlier ones are actually pretty good, pretty thrilling.  It's just the more recent ones (okay, scratch that, from Women's Murder Club I wouldn't rate any from about book 5 onwards, though I've read all of them up til half the 9th) that have descended into not that greatness.  I suppose my taste in books may have changed.  But one of the more recent Alex Cross books (not Cross Country cringes) was really good.  Double Cross maybe?  And I nearly didn't read it.

At any rate, if you're not totally fed up of this series by now, it might be worth having a look.  It did, after all, hold my attention for half an hour and I'm more likley to give up a book within a few pages than within a hundred (though given the chapter length, I probably read as much as if it had been a few pages...)

On a related note, the most recent Maximum Ride appears to be terrible.  I'm afraid I didn't get past the first chapter ie, the first three pages, before I wanted to slap Max!  And she was one of my absolute favourite characters at one point, and in terms of inspiring my own writing probably a close second to Holly Short from Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl (you should know that!!!).  I would also include in the list of inspiring characters Sean Dillon from the series by Jack Higgins, and Jack Howard from the series by Alan Gibbins.  Oh, and also Jack West Jr from the Seven Ancient Wonders etc series by Matthew Reilly.  Interestingly, apart from Artemis Fowl which is as good/better than ever with each new book, and Jack West which is probably as good, the other series have all had dodgy books.  I didn't finish the most recent Sean Dillon either, got fed up half way through because I swear I'd read either that plot, or practically that plot, before.

Digression over.  I probably wouldn't bother with 9th Judgement.  Well, I kinda didn't, and I doubt I'll bother trying the 10th whatever unless it ends up on a library shelf in front of my nose.  Which is a shame, because I really enjoyed the earlier ones in the series, but such is life.

I, Alex Cross

Well, I'm perhaps not in the best position to judge this book as I didn't actually read all of it. In fact, I got to about chapter 12 (which if you've ever read a James Patterson book, means I really didn't get that far) before I gave up on it and decided that I could find better things to read. I used to be a huge James Patterson fan, but his writing's getting worse. Or maybe that's just me.

I didn't enjoy the previous Alex Cross book at all. I made it all the way through, but had serious reservations about the way the 'natives' had been treated--you rather get the impression the author has never been to Africa. Which made the whole plot fall rather flat, and to be perfectly honest, the plot itself appeared to have been contrived primarily to send Alex Cross to Africa--presumably so the author could explore 'deep issues' (like he did with Maximum Ride four which utterly ruined the book).

This one had a somewhat interesting start. Woman running away, shot in the back. Staggers to a road, gets picked up after being nearly run over. It was the man from the White House. Which man? The President? Why? Well, when it turns out that this woman who was killed is a) Alex Cross' niece (who incidentally, was somewhat estranged and he hasn't seen her for 20 odd years... so let's face it may as well be anyone) and b) a prostitute. And that latter fact was what decided me that I didn't want to keep reading. Don't get me wrong, I don't have an issue with reading books which touch on the darker side of life. I've just thoroughly enjoyed one in Ex-Kop. But James Patterson has a thing for writing... Well, I'll call it dodgy stuff, and leave it at that. As for the scandal, well, I was left thinking, so what? Killer above the law; read it quite a few times now.

So to be quite honest, the new Alex Cross book didn't interest me at all. I picked it up from the library because some of them have been very good, but when it all seemed a bit dull, contrived, and not really all that well-written, I gave up and it's going back to the library tomorrow. I've still not read the most recent Maximum Ride book either. To be fair, Max was reasonable, even if not up to the standards of the first three. I've just lost interest in James Patterson's writing because so much of it has been utter rubbish recently. Especially the Women's Murder Club, which was a series I thoroughly enjoyed.

8th Confession

Well. It's the latest in the Women's Murder Club Series, and to be perfectly honest I don't know why I continue reading them. The first four were good. After that they've gone steadily down hill. While this was not quite as disappointing as 7th Heaven, that may have been more because I wasn't expecting much. I have nothing against a little bit of romance in stories at all--I'd be a bit of a hypocrite since most of mine also involve that element. What I do object to is what is allegedly a thriller degenerating into a romance that, while maybe a little better than Mills and Boon, is not a thriller and certainly not what you are led to expect. What takes up a good deal of the story in this case is a romance between Yuki and a doctor, which adds very little, if anything, to the plot, and is summarily extinguished with a random statement. If you've gone to all that trouble to get Yuki and this guy together, who I might add was rather poorly developed and whose name I cannot now recall, please don't end it with such a pathetic excuse. I was incredibly disappointed--it felt contrived, it didn't fit with the rest of the character such as it were, and while I don't think it worth your time to read it, I won't go into the details just in case. Unexpected it was, a good twist it was not. Added to this, there was almost none of the detective work involved normally in the series, or at least in the first few books. There were two murderers, completely unconnected, and either developed would have made a good plot. Both together again felt clumsy and detracted from the interest both the mysterious killer who left no mark, and the curious case of Bagman Jesus, could have excited. In all, it was a pretty poor work, and I doubt I'll be reading the next ones. The trouble is, Lindsay is a really good character, as are Yuki and Claire and Cindy. Unfortunately, they've recently been let down by poor plots and an emphasis on the romance which, I'm sure you'll agree, is out of place in a book called the Women's Murder Club. Where's the murder and mystery solving? It seems to have taken rather a back seat. Wouldn't recommend it, but the truth of the matter is, I enjoyed the first ones so much, that as with the Maximum Ride series which got very poor after the first couple, I'll probably get the next one from the library too. After all, there might be an improvement as there was with the Alex Cross ones, with which Double Cross was certainly a good book. I would rather, to be honest, James Patterson slowed down with the writing and produced fewer books a year but that they were all of a comparable quality to the earlier ones.

Max

It wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Yes, that sounds terrible—I was expecting it to be bad before I even started. But I was so disappointed in the fourth Maximum Ride book I wasn't sure whether I even wanted to carry on with the series. But I saw it in the library, so because I enjoyed the first three so much I decided I'd better read it.

Now, I do have one question. Why, when you have a group of six flying kids (and a dog who randomly gains wings at the end of the fourth book), do you decide to set the book predominantly underwater??? And randomly add new 'powers' to your bird-kids? Wasn't flying enough? Oops, that was more than one question, but it was all related. Evil megalomaniac captures Max's mother, romance between Max and Fang with a bit of jealousy (get over it and snog each other, please!) thrown into the mix, it follows the standard pattern that James Patterson seems to have established. Which was fine in the first three books, because it was basically the same enemy who they were working on defeating. But again? I mean, how many evil megalomaniacs with lots of money can there be in the world? However, there were the strange sea creatures created by pollution. And to be fair, Angel could already swim underwater without breathing. But the fact that she wasn't kinda squished by the pressure really just shows blatant disregard to practicalities. The earlier ones were at least believable. Now? I'm not convinced.

To be fair on the book, it was, as I said, not as bad as I expected. Max is still a great character. Nudge acted relatively believably, and I do like her as well. In fact, I like all the characters. And I suppose Total having wings is okay—after all, he was genetically enhanced too, and he could already jump really high and talk (I always did expect him to end up with wings I have to say). But it's still a disappointment if you look at how great The Angel Experiment was. So, unless you really really like the Maximum Ride series already, I suggest you don't bother. Just stick to the first three, and maybe this one if you happen to see it in a library.

Cross Country

Yeh, this is the newest book in the Alex Cross series by James Patterson (unless he's gone and released another since I last checked. It was okay. An interesting plot, and for once Alex Cross did not jump into bed with anybody. Or at least, when he did, he just lay there next to a woman and did nothing else! Which is quite amazing for a James Patterson book (I have to confess, I do tend to skip completely or at the very least skim those bits...). Alex Cross determined to go after this guy known as the Tiger, who was involved in a couple of messy murders. He stumbles into corruption etc. I thought the portrayal of Africa was a tiny bit moralising and OTT regarding the whole crooked crops, everything's awful and so on. I know it is, but it struck me in a rather similar vein to The Final Warning (Maximum Ride book 4, and you honestly don't want to read it). IE James Patterson had a bee in his bonnet about a 'big issue' and decided to spread the word around using his stories. Fine, but Alex Cross really wasn't the person to get the point across. A different person would've been better, because yes Alex Cross has had to draw his weapon etc but at the end of the day he's a psychiatrist not an action hero. If you want a book that deals with the issues around Africa and is also a great read, go with Bait. The other thing that bugged me is that the threat to Alex's family has been done so many times before in previous novels (and I haven't even read all of the Alex Cross ones). It would be interesting to see how Alex would relax to get home to a scene of slaughter--the kidnapping thing (and I'm not too bothered about giving the plot away because this book is not worth reading) was out of character for the villain. It was, to be quite frank, ridiculous. By the end of the book, I wanted the bad guys to win, if only to get rid of Cross' irritating smugness (and somehow he kept right on bouncing back after being beaten up--something I thought only I was guilty of doing, and then only in my first drafts when I start running out of ideas and just decide to shoot people). I also wanted Nana and the kids to get splatted, which shows how bad this book was, because in the past books I have quite liked the character of Nana. So yeh, don't bother with Cross Country, unless you want to see what has been a pretty good series (I quite enjoyed Double Cross, enough to buy a copy secondhand) brought to a pathetic end. I can't honestly say I'll be reading any more James Patterson books, the quality seems to be declining with every new release.

The Midnight Club

Another James Patterson book. I do like his books, but I'm convinced the older ones are a lot better than the more recent ones, with the possible exception of the Alex Cross books, where the most recent ones really are quite good. This one's definitely one of his earlier books--published in 1989.
I absolutely loved it. The main character is really intriguing, and I absolutely loved him. He's in a wheelchair, and he's a cop working the streets. I love the way he's so determined to keep going, and the book has plenty of twists. I would have liked to see more books about John Stefonovitch, but not now, because he's no longer in a wheelchair (sorry if that spoils it a bit for anyone). I so think he should've done a trilogy or something, it was so cool to read about him, and having taken my mum round places in a wheelchair, I can totally sympathise with how difficult he found some things. Anyway, this one's well worth reading, if you don't mind being completely unable to stop reading, even if your torch is slowly but surely dieing...

Double Cross

Well. I wasn't so impressed with the most recent Maximum Ride book--The Final Warning--by James Patterson, and 6th Target wasn't quite as good as the other Women's Murder Club books either, but Double Cross was absolutely brilliant. I love Dr Cross' girlfriend, Detective Stone, and the story was just awesome. It had a lot of pace. Not that many twists, but plenty of good plain action. So it's definitely worth reading. Don't write James Patterson off yet. I nearly didn't read it because I was quite disappointed by Cross, but Double Cross was fantastic. Finished it in English today after starting last night, forcing myself (somehow or other) to stop and go to bed whilst part way through, reading some more after waking up at 6:20, and then more on the bus. I was really peeved when it ended, can't wait for the next one, Cross Country. Hope it comes out soon.

7th Heaven

Got it from the library on Saturday, made a trip into town especially to get it. Apparently, James Patterson is now the most borrowed author from English libraries, taking over from Jacqueline Wilson, which is hardly surprising because his books are miles better. Anyway, it had the randomest ending ever. I was just like 'What?'. I reckon he was trying to do an Alaistar MacLean and have a twist in the last sentence/paragraph which totally turns the whole story on his head, but personally, I reckon the story was more complete without. Have to admit, I do like the way the good guys don't always win. Makes things more interesting, especially wehn you know he isn't afraid to kill off a main character or two. I miss Jill, she was one of his best characters, but Yuki, her replacement, is pretty great too. I shall go do more writing. Bye.