James Patterson

Mr E

Last night I finished London Bridges, the latest tome from James Patterson. To say I'm disappointed is an understatement.

I loved his earlier books - quick, enjoyable reads, good stories etc. Kiss The Girls and the 3 Gary Soneji books. Pop Goes The Weasel was above average. Roses Are Red / Violets Are Blue were below average. The Big Bad Wolf was just a little bit better, and now this....

For Patterson fans, the story for London Bridges is this - The Wolf is back, and so is The Weasel. They've joined forces in a conspiracy to extort money from several countries by threatening to blowup cities with suitcase nukes.

I'll go into spoiler for the rest - don't read if you plan to read the book.

It started well.... a small town in Nevada was reduced to rubble (in a test run). The extortion was relayed to the FBI, and its up to good old Alex Cross to save the day. As the story went on, it just got more and more ludicrous. The Wolf is this mysterious character who sends stand-ins to do his dirty work. The stand-ins all end up dead after they have done the Wolf's bidding.

The back of the book exclaims that "the identity of the wolf is finally revealed, and it results in a confrontation that even Alex Cross may not survive". Bullcrap... the end is a ridiculous anticlimax of stupid twists and turns - each one on its own might have been a satisfactory ending to the book, but Patterson keeps screwing it up by piling on the 'twists'. Its like "The Wolf is .... (this person)". Then 2 chapters later - twist! - that wasn't the Wolf! Then 2 chapters later - "The Wolf is.... (THIS person!)". Then 2 chapters later - nope - fooled you again.

Cross's family are kidnapped and returned within one chapter (and you know how short Patterson's chapters are). This happens about 6 pages from the end of the book. Why even put it in there?

Then the first couple of twists weren't explained at all.... who was the guy getting plastic surgery? The second twist (after Alex gets the email) is where it should have ended, but no - Patterson adds in another one at the end, and doesn't explain the email.

Then when the actual identity of the Wolf is revealed at the very end, its such a bloody anticlimax... And then, in the last couple of lines of the book - "Was it really the Wolf?". Aaaaaaaarrrggggghhhh !!!! I had to reread the last 20 pages just to see if I'd missed something which might have explained it.

God it was frustrating.....

Any Patterson fans out there? Has anyone else read it?

WHUFC

Haven't read it,

Only just found out about it being released today, saw an advertisment at a bus stop on my way to work.

I read one of his books whilst travelling South East Asia last year. I cannot remember the name of it but it was about children who could fly.

I thought it was pretty good and this morning after having seen the advertisement I was all ready to go out and buy it. After reading this I am not so sure.

gimmick

I agree completely with the original poster. London Bridges was ridiculous.

One of Cross' all time greatest enemy (Schafer) dies in a street fight/mugging. No fall out from that whatsoever.

The fact that the Martin Lodge character was so obvious. I dont think anyone who reads this will be surprised in the slightest when they see he is a double agent.

Why were people doing the dirty work for the Wolf, knowing he would kill them, and obviously not pay them.

The 'twist' at the very end, where the Wolf is actually a complete nobody?

Why did Klara sign off the email as Wolf?

Is it possible that Patterson has another part in it, where the Wolf is still at large?

Anti climactic, and very frustrating. There are so many loose ends left in the book. How many agents were killed in France? Who was the female FBI double agent? Some major explaining needs be done.

TmB: You reckon Roses are Red is below average? Its without doubt the very best book in the entire Cross series. The worst being 4 Blind Mice.

edit: use [ spoiler ] and [ /spoiler ] tag (no psaces inside the brackets) to hide sensitive information.