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A review by dorothy_gale
Along Came a Spider by James Patterson
4.0
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! Solving the mystery doesn't end the story, but starts a new puzzle to solve. After I got a bit into this, I realized I had watched the movie version -- which of course is quite a bit different than the book. And while I'm a fan of Morgan Freeman, I think Hollywood should have tried harder on the casting. Alex Cross should be younger! And while James Patterson didn't do that great of a job on the romantic side, Hollywood could have. I also realized that Hollywood could never compete with books on the detailed descriptions of crime scenes. How Cross felt when looking at a murdered child in his pajamas is something that dialogue or camera angles can't capture. Not that I want to see dead children, but it's what makes a book hang with you in a way that a movie can't. I'm comparing apples to oranges, yes, but I feel like a lot of people are missing out when they opt just for the movie version. This book reminds me to appreciate people like J.K. Rowling and Oprah Winfrey for making reading cool again.
Another thing I realized with this book is that it might be the VERY FIRST commercially successful contemporary novel I've read where there is a young, educated, black male protagonist. Taye Diggs was a great narrator. More research required but I would read more of them if I knew they existed. Good on James Patterson, but better on the black authors who make it big.
I will likely read Alex Cross #2 (Kiss the Girls) although that title sounds familiar too... yep, another Morgan Freeman movie (with Ashley Judd). Dang.
Random Wishlist Item: Rate books the way movies are. i.e. "Violence, sexual content, drug use, foul language." Where is the book website that shows me all of that? I'm glad I listened to Along Came a Spider while my kids were gone.
Another thing I realized with this book is that it might be the VERY FIRST commercially successful contemporary novel I've read where there is a young, educated, black male protagonist. Taye Diggs was a great narrator. More research required but I would read more of them if I knew they existed. Good on James Patterson, but better on the black authors who make it big.
I will likely read Alex Cross #2 (Kiss the Girls) although that title sounds familiar too... yep, another Morgan Freeman movie (with Ashley Judd). Dang.
Random Wishlist Item: Rate books the way movies are. i.e. "Violence, sexual content, drug use, foul language." Where is the book website that shows me all of that? I'm glad I listened to Along Came a Spider while my kids were gone.