Ina

I used to like the Alex Cross series, but this book feels as if Patterson had to come up with another story because of a contract and couldn't care less about the book. While the plot works nicely in the first 5/6 of the book, all of a sudden, the story accelerates and reads like a summary or the cliff notes to the book. Patterson can spend an hour describing how Cross brushes his teeth and what he thinks, but in the last few chapters of this book, major events are described in one sentence, and some story lines (this book is way too full of them) simply just drop away to nothing - or maybe to the next Alex Cross book. I thought I had missed out on something and checked -but no, what should have been a major development was reduced to an aside and the unraveling of the story is so quick that you know that he lost interest in the plot.
Like the last few of Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series (Werewolves??? - please!), this one feels like the author simply was obligated to come up with yet another installment in the series and the stories and characters suffer. Don't waste your money and time on this one - it's fine to listen to it once, but get it from the local library - I wish I hadn't spent my credits on it.

I usually am fairly tolerant as far as the abilities of the reader go, but this was torture. To be fair, I cannot comment on the book itself or its content, because I truly gave up after the first hour and a half. Peggity Price reads without any involvement in the text, and she reads so slowly that I kept checking my MP3 to see whether it had stopped or run out of batteries. The pauses between sentences are as long as the sentences themselves. The characters all sound the same. A character that giggles sounds just like another character who is scared. Price appears to simply - and very, very, very slowly - slog through the text without actually realizing what she is reading. What could have been an enjoyable little chick-lit experience was, at best, painful.

I typically like British mysteries/thrillers because the plot evolves slowly and logically and the action is suspenseful without car chases and blazing guns. But this was a huge disappointment. The author introduces plot lines and then forgets about them. What happened to the Americans? Why were they introduced? What happens to Diana? And Karen? And Gunten? Did he get the job? Plot resolution is non-existent, and the characters are generally unbelievable. While many characters at first glance appear to be complex, the author manages to make them incredibly unlikeable and flat. Don't waste your credits on this one - try "Gentlemen and Players" instead!