When Kiss The Girls and Along Came A Spider came out in theatres starring Morgan Freeman, a lot of people flocked to pick up the books and found they were part of an ongoing series by James Patterson. Thus, James Patterson became a pop culture icon with people picking up his new books each year. Besides the fact that Morgan Freeman is way too old to play the part (it should have gone to Cuba Gooding Jr. or something), the books were really good. The movies were out of order, though. Along Came A Spider came first and then Kiss The Girls in the order of the books. Along Came A Spider is the book that introduces the reader to Alex Cross, D.C. detective and psychologist, perhaps literature’s most beloved investigator since Sherlock Holmes. Well, Along Came A Spider started the series, but it is definitely not the best. In fact, I have to say that it’s probably my least favorite in the whole series. Why? The slow moving pace, a ton of boring parts, and characters (besides Alex Cross and his family) that are just ridiculously unrealistic.

Alex Cross and his partner and best friend John Sampson are working on a murder case, when another case pops up: he has to solve a case involving the kidnapping of an actress’s daughter and the Secretary Of Treasury’s son. Their teacher Mr. Chips, also known as Gary Soneji (the Son Of Lindbergh as he calls himself), took the two children from their school and it became a high profile investigation. The secret service is involved as well as Cross and Sampson and time is running out and the chances of both children surviving are turning slim. With the help of Jezzie Flanagan of the secret service (who’s Alex Cross’s love interest also), they need to bring down the murderous serial kidnapper before the kids’ times run out.

First of all, can’t you see that the plot has been done a thousand times already? The plot is friggin’ stale and very cliché. Besides the occasional good plot twist that Patterson is known for, the story just flat out sucks. The book is slow. This is saying a lot since all of the books I’ve read by James Patterson have all been fast paced due to the really short chapters (something that Along Came A Spider does have). But the plot was so stupid and slow paced that reading through it was a challenge. The characters were all mostly uninteresting except Alex Cross and his family and the story, because it had been done so many times before, was pretty predictable.

You may be asking what is good about this book. Well, besides the awfully story cliché, the story does keep you interested until the last page. Although it’s a little bit of a struggle to read, you do feel satisfied by the ending and feel that it was worth it to read. All this book is good for is getting you introduced to the characters that you’ll be reading about for the next nine and more books. The good characters of Alex Cross, Nana Mama (Alex’s grandmother that he shares a household with), John Sampson, and Alex’s two kids Jannie and Damon move the story along very nicely and they are all great to read about because they’re so realistic and wonderful. But Jezzie Flanagan just gets tiring after a while to read about because as the book goes on she just grows as flat as a soda left outside with the cap off. But on the contrary, Gary Soneji, the murderous kidnapper, is a very likable villain surprisingly. You aren’t supposed to like the villain, but I do. In fact, it turns out that many other people liked this character as well since he returns in Cat & Mouse, but I won’t tell you under what circumstances.

I don’t know whether I liked or hated this book. I read it about a year ago. I do remember, though, that it was slow and had some bad characters. And I remember telling myself that it was the worst one in the series, since the first book I read by Patterson was Cat & Mouse and then Jack & Jill until I got to Along Came A Spider. I would recommend Along Came A Spider for people who want to begin reading the Alex Cross books, but if you’ve already began the series whether with the book Kiss The Girls or Pop Goes The Weasel then just skip this because you’re missing nothing except a little character development with Alex Cross and his family. It’s a pretty long read, too, being one of the longest ones in the series at 502 pages. So my final advice to you is: don’t dish out $8 for this book. If you have a library get it there, but only if you want to get into the series. ‘Nuff said. Patterson created a web of words, but I only got caught a couple times and I escaped. I guess the spider was lazy.

© Jason Haskins, 2004

“JiggyJay”


Warner Books Edition

Year 1992

502 Pages


Other Patterson Reviews

The Beach House

When The Wind Blows

Cradle And All



Recommended: Yes