Along Came a Spider

By: James Patterson

Narrated by: Charles Turner

Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's Summary

Along Came a Spider begins with the double kidnapping of the daughter of a famous Hollywood actress and the young son of the Secretary of the Treasury. And that's only the beginning! Gary Soneji is a murderous serial kidnapper who wants to commit the crime of the century. Alex Cross is the brilliant homicide detective pitted against him. Jezzie Flanagan is the female supervisor of the Secret Service who completes one of the most unusual suspense triangles in any thriller you have ever heard.

©1993 by James Patterson (P)2001 by Time Warner AudioBooks

Critic Reviews

"James Patterson does everything but stick our finger in a light socket to give us a buzz." (The New York Times)
"Cross is one of the great creations of thriller fiction." (Dallas Morning News)

Extremely disappointing

I read this, my first James Patterson novel, with great expectations and excitement to discover a new writer of thrillers. I was sorely disappointed. I found that, while the plot had some very interesting turns, they were unraveled either by some character coming forward and dumping some information, some character suddenly doing something that made no real sense, or the author suddenly divulging some information that he hadwithheld earlier in the book, rather than by clever sleuthing on the part of the good guys or artful storytelling. Being accustomed to the work of Ken Follet, Richard North Patterson, and Michael Connelly among others, I was used to well woven and craftily uncovered plots and ingenious detective work and appropriately and realistically hidden clues that enabled the reader to ponder and theorize possible outcomes that were later either proven or disproven by the clever police/detective work and subsequtne clues. I found this book cludgy and lacking in credibility and artistry by comparison. The dialogue was strained and artificial at times. There was the basis of a very good story, but I felt that any of the authors I mentioned above could have woven a much tighter, more credible and more suspenseful story from the plot line. I ended the book very disappointed in this author, and disinclined to read any more of his books.

35 of 40 people found this review helpful

Interesting plot. Terrible narration

I think I'd have overlooked some of the technical problems with the plot line (public safety details that were simply wrong) if the reader had been better.

Charles Turner should not be allowed to narrate books until he's improved his vocabulary and work ethic. His mispronunciation of words and places was appalling and distracting. I could have dealt with his nasal voice, but combining it with a complete lack of accuracy when it came to applying dramatic tone to the text and you ended up with a poor listen.

24 of 28 people found this review helpful

By Far my Favorite Patterson Book

This was my first Patterson Book that I read. I loved it and have read it again. This book set a high standard and I have been disappointed time and again that the rest of the Alex Cross series isn't as good. I keep reading and listening to them in hopes of finding another Patterson book that can keep me total engrossed like this one did. I was so mad when the movie came out and wasn't even the same story - they took a great story and butchered it up for the big screen.

28 of 33 people found this review helpful

1%

This one goes into the one percent(audiobooks I buy and can't finish)category.Storyline had some possibilities ,although Mr Patterson's strong suit is not describing physical intimacy.Those bits,and there are a few,induced cringing as well as desparate, frequent, mashing of the fast forward button.Still,occasionally a mediocre book can be salvaged by the narrator.Unfortunately, this narration can best be described as monumentally lousy-Ralph Kramden with a cold, on valium.

A good book well read can lift your day or at least your commute. This isn't one of those.

27 of 32 people found this review helpful

Beware the narrator

Story is good; narration is awful. This narrator couldn't provide any distinctions between characters, even though he tried. Voice is denasal throughout and not simply because of a cold or transient infection, would be my guess. My best suggestion is to buy the abridged version.

15 of 18 people found this review helpful

An unlikely story

A somewhat entertaining tale, but not worth the effort to suspend my disbelief.

5 of 6 people found this review helpful

Terrible Narration

The Narration is so bad that it is difficult to follow the plot. It is like listening to a tone deaf person sing.

12 of 16 people found this review helpful

Racial

Great story and book. James Patterson just spends too much time focusing on race and everything bad about racial relationships. It distracts from the story.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Quality of Recording is Bad

If you can get past the horrible quality of the recording and if you like Alex Cross...this is where we first meet him.

9 of 13 people found this review helpful

Decent read, narration could be better

The book itself was decent, not stellar. I might have liked it a bit more with a better narrator - he sounded like he was constantly congested.

I may look into listening to other books by this author, but we'll see. I wasn't terribly impressed.

7 of 10 people found this review helpful