Christopher

The reviews are mixed. Most loved the book and some are finding Patterson/Cross to be a bit tedious. They are both right. This book stays pretty close to the basic format of the previous Cross books and there are no great surprises. If you like the Alex Cross series you will like this book. If you never have or are getting tired of him then you probably won't. If you are unfamiliar with this series and want a good story that does not pretend to be high prose then this is worth a shot.

I thought the narrators were very good. I do find Patterson's frequent mentioning of prior books to be at times a bit forced and usually self serving.

The third installment of the tale is another good book along the same lines as the previous two. I liked it and am glad to have listened to it but I don't think I would be up for a 4th book as it is getting a "been there/ done that" feel to it. As usual, the narration was excellent.

I think pretty much every at this point realises that msitakes wer emade and that interests were not always aligned. I think very few people know just how screwed up the system is (now was) and inevitable the crash was. Banker knowingly made rediculous loans without care as the risk as repackaged and passed on. The fraufulent natur e of it is jarring but not completely unexpected. What is unexpected is just how incompetant "the market" (read: the people running it) turned out to be at valuing this trash. The most shocking part of all is how little has changed.

The book gets somewhat repetitive as the author follows several people all comming to similar conclusions in similar ways and so taking similar actions to profit. It would have been better as a shorter read but it is still well worth it.

I'll give another vote to the narrator.

The characters are cliche and one dimensional. If Bell were a student he would be accused of plaguarising Ian Fleming's bond. The story was unbelievable and predictable and at times just made no sense. He gave entirely too much back story to the villain. As an 8 hour book it would have been simply unoriginal. The extra several hours only serves to bring it down from there.

The voice of the narrator was a bit annoying but I am prepared to forgive that. The character is 5 years old and so it makes sense that he would speak in a high pitched voice that only his mother could love hearing. What I had a hard time forgiving is the meandering plot. The author starts by failing to give the audience credit for having any intelligence by continuing to slowly reveal the secret that the mother and child are being held hostage in a small room long after it is obvious. I'll go ahead and give a little bit of a spoiler, if it is possible to call revealing the middle of the book a spoiler, so stop reading here if you care. If the book stopped with the escape I would have described it as as second rate thriller that never developed much tension. From there it just devolves into a wandering "day in the life" description of their acclimation to free living. Throughout it all the author can't seem to make up her mind whether Jack is stunted or gifted as he constantly vacillates between the mentalities of a 3 year old and an 18 year old honors student. He never quite seems quite right for a 5 year old. The mother's character is similarly uneven in her temperment and no other character is every really developed. I am a glutton for punishment who always keeps reading clunker books hoping that they will be one of those rare ones that redeem themselves in the end. This one was just punishing to read without any redemption.

I have been watching the Showtime series and this book hews fairly close to the plot from the first season. The ending is a good bit different, not so much in the conclusion bu tin how he gets there. What I like about the book is that it is just a bit darker, Dexter is a bit more insane and he is just a bit less human. He is not quite the nice guy who kills bad people of the TV series. Where I find the series to be an interesting but over-all pleasant diversion I found the book to be just a little bit disturbing - which I think is a good thing.

Too many tangential characters. Too much describing Swedish bureaucracy and politics. Not enough action. No plot twists worth not mentioning. Fire left things in the air and so people like me who can't put a book down half way through, just in case it gets good at the end, will not be able to not plow through this book. It is a predictable book that offers no further character development and would have benefited from a good editor (who would have surely ripped out most of the middle).

I kept waiting for a plot to develop. There was a bit of one - sort of. It mostly was a series of chapters where the hit man has to find a new and clever way to do his job. However,each time you do get a little deeper into his character. In the end a satisfying plot never really developed but somehow, in some way that is hard to explain, I did enjoy the book and looked forward to learning more about Keller. I think the writing was just so good that it made you want to listen despite the lack of action in the usual sense. The characters were well developed and the narration was perfect for the book. The moral dilemmas within the immoral actions were also interesting.

I know this will come off as a mixed review, and I guess it is, bit I did rate it 4 stars, am glad I listened to it, and probably will buy at least one more sequel.

Different religious group - different city - different girl - otherwise more of the same as Angels and Demons and Davinci Code. Personally, I liked the other two so found this a pleasing and interesting read. For me, however, I think this book brought it right up to the line of "been there done that" and I do not think I would go for a fourth Robert Langdon installment if it comes out.

The last several chapters of the book are a rambling re-hash of concepts introduced during the rest of the book and clearly would have been "red lined" if the book publishers still had any editorial control. When the true location and identity of the the word are revealed (which I found completely predictable by the way) just stop and save yourself an hour or so. You'll miss nothing and have a higher regard for the book.

The book is, as promised, a well referenced scientific discussion of ways that you can be more persuasive. The narrator is adequate but does not sound like a polished "pro", which in some ways gives it a more authentic feel. The authors try their best to introduce humor and keep it interesting but it is, after all, a review of scientific literature so it is understandable that some parts are a bit dry.

However, the chapters and the book as a whole, are straight to the point and packed with useful information making it much less of an investment in time than most of us have probably wasted elsewhere. The format lends itself well to skipping around and picking out just the points you wish to try to apply. Anyone who is interested in self improvement either personally or in business, as I am sure anyone bothering to read this review is, would do well to not miss out on these tips.

If you are wondering how easily they are applied I have used at least 7 of the techniques in this review. Seriously though, I am so glad that I listened to it that I plan to buy the hard copy in order to have it as a reference. Much of it qualifies as "pearls" that can easily be dolled out at staff meetings and similar venues.

The prose was just not good. It was never good and then often peppered with melodramatic comments and obvious statements. The story line got started and then kind of wandered around with no place to go for a few hours then wrapped up in an unsatisfactory manner. This is the kind of work I would expect from a high school student.