52 in 1: A Year in Books

Along Came A Spider; Kiss the Girls
by James Patterson

Until these two, I hadn't read a James Patterson book (though I frequently had the half-hour required to down one...). These are his first Alex Cross mysteries, introducing the Washington, D.C.-based detective and his supporting cast. You might've seen the big screen adaptations featuring Morgan Freeman as Cross.

Please read these books if you even remotely enjoyed this movies. They are so much better, and a fine example of the mystery-detective genre. Cross also is more Denzel Washington (in both age, personality and build) than the ageing gentleman Freeman.

5. Along Came A Spider - long/short, two kids are kidnapped from their elite DC elementary school by a teacher obsessed with the Lindberg baby, and Cross gets backed into the case against his wishes. Of course, there are twists and turns as befits the genre, a love interest in the form a female Secret Service agent and an ending that is both satisfying and bleak.


7. Kiss the Girls - oooo, a serial killer. All the craze since Hannibal Lecter warmed our hearts (in the oven), serial killer stories give us a glimpse at a black patch of humanity that we can't not stare at. Cross here investigates the disappearance of his (early 20s) niece and discovers she's not the only one who hasn't shown up for class. To top it off, there appears to be a killer operating with a similar MO on the West Coast. What's the connection, and can Cross solve it before it's his niece they're finding mutilated in the woods?





Technically speaking, Patterson shows improvement as a writer in this book. He brings in another woman to work with Cross (the only woman to escape the East Coast Casanova killer), but she's not the same as the Secret Service agent or a slightly different Clarice Starling. A satisfying addition.

These books are both in their second decade, and it's easy to pick them up and call them cliched. After all, Patterson has many imitators and these two were some of his best. But when you head to the beach this summer, or have a rainy weekend, crack them open and put aside your preconceived notions about the author who'll have ten books published this calendar year with his name on the cover.

He might be a thriller factory now, but he started out as a good writer.


-Erik