Wednesday 19 September 2007

London Bridges by James Patterson

I picked up the book at the airport shop on my way to London. While it does feature Patterson’s detective Alex Cross, it does not take long to realize that this is not Patterson’s typical police story. Alex Cross is promoted to FBI plays an important role in the anti-terrorist squad, do not ask me what role. This is a typical after 9/11 story. A former Russian Agent from the cold war era, who has moved over to NATO’s side, threatens to cause major devastation in various Capital Cities throughout the world. So how does Alex Cross stop it? That is the story. I don’t think he does much to stop it. And after the initial attack in US why doesn’t the FBI and whoever is in charge increase their vigilance on various important —- in other countries. You want to know what the dash is. It is the name of the book. Much of a surprise is it? And there is Weasel the serial killer who in one of the earlier books takes Cross’s girlfriend as victim, when Cross is not smart enough and keeps looking for him elsewhere. There are a few twist and turns in the ending. While not really bore, you can guess what is happening, it is more of a chase story than the typical Patterson. It reminds you of all the other writers in the genre than Patterson himself. While writing a totally different book why stick to the same characters, why Cross? Why not a new hero fit enough for the anti-terrorist, war over terror stuff?

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