Mary, Mary by James Patterson

I am not the biggest fan of James Patterson, so when I picked this book off my pile, it was mostly because I thought it would be the quickest read in my TBR pile. I'd only read one Patterson book previously; that was Against Medical Advice with Hal Friedman, a nonfiction about Friedman's son's struggle with sever Tourette's and OCD. Patterson has a strange structure to his books that annoys me. His chapters are so short - some starting half-way down one page and ending half-way down the next. It creates a really staccato feel and is very nonsensical, especially when the next chapter is merely an extension of the one before it. Maybe it's the old ad-man in him.

So it was with trepidation that I cracked open the book, knowing that annoyance was lying in wait for me. And I was annoyed...for maybe the first 10 or so chapter-ettes. Then I just stopped caring about the chapters and got lost in the story.

This is the 11th Alex Cross novel. If you've never read any of them, don't worry, you won't be lost. This one has Alex in Los Angeles tracking down a serial killer who is not just killing actresses who appear to be perfect moms, but slashing their faces beyond recognition. After some mis-steps, they catch the killer, of course. Patterson leaves no clues for you to kind of say, "oh, yeah, I saw that coming." I kind of like that, but I also kind of like feeling smarter than the characters. So the killer's identity is completely out of left field.

In the end, my only complaint is that Patterson throws Cross out of relationships like hookers at a church camp. He's in one for a few chapters, then forget that one, oh hey what about her? Men. I guess I shouldn't expect much, but it's disappointing to have to read the cliche over and over.

I might give another James Patterson novel a try and see if maybe it's just this one, as I'm led to understand from this novel that Cross was in serious relationships. If he's just a "playa" I think I'll give him a pass, but this one has definitely changed my perception of James Patterson

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