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A review by harasnicole
Cross Fire by James Patterson
3.0
These Alex Cross novels are probably the only books that I'll never read in their exact order, but that's okay. As a long time reader of James Patterson, I do like that you can read his books out of order and still not be lost, because at some point the book(s) recaps what happened previously.
Cross Fire isn't a great book; if anything, it gets the job done when you're looking for a book that's a quick, easy read. The chapters are ridiculously short, so you almost always find yourself reading more than half of one in a day, even if you didn't plan on it.
The story follows the same formula as all of his crime/thriller/suspense novels in that you get a look at the killers and that first crime, and the police procedural to solve it, add in some family dynamics, and then Alex Cross saves the day until next time. Honestly, if you read even just one Alex Cross novel, with how many there are, you've kind of read them all. The only thing that really changes is the nature of the murders, but the killers almost always have a grudge against Alex Cross.
This isn't to say I hated it, though. I did enjoy the fast pace of it, and I always love that each book starts with the planning and execution of the first murder, but eventually you read enough that it starts to sound redundant. I mostly just read these books to help me get out of reading slumps because they're so easy and don't require too much thought. It's not so much of a suspense when you know who Kyle Craig is and know that he's had plastic surgery to change his face. I guess it's more of a "When will Alex Cross figure it out?" kind of story. Only he never does, and ends up needing it spelled out for him.
He's not much of a detective, is he?
Cross Fire isn't a great book; if anything, it gets the job done when you're looking for a book that's a quick, easy read. The chapters are ridiculously short, so you almost always find yourself reading more than half of one in a day, even if you didn't plan on it.
The story follows the same formula as all of his crime/thriller/suspense novels in that you get a look at the killers and that first crime, and the police procedural to solve it, add in some family dynamics, and then Alex Cross saves the day until next time. Honestly, if you read even just one Alex Cross novel, with how many there are, you've kind of read them all. The only thing that really changes is the nature of the murders, but the killers almost always have a grudge against Alex Cross.
This isn't to say I hated it, though. I did enjoy the fast pace of it, and I always love that each book starts with the planning and execution of the first murder, but eventually you read enough that it starts to sound redundant. I mostly just read these books to help me get out of reading slumps because they're so easy and don't require too much thought. It's not so much of a suspense when you know who Kyle Craig is and know that he's had plastic surgery to change his face. I guess it's more of a "When will Alex Cross figure it out?" kind of story. Only he never does, and ends up needing it spelled out for him.
He's not much of a detective, is he?