cobra526's Full Review: James Patterson - London Bridges
James Patterson has done it again. London Bridges hit shelves on November 8, 2004, and I was in line to get it. I have read almost all of Patterson's books, including all of his Alex Cross series.
We were started with Alex Cross in Along Came A Spider, when he was a Homicide Detective for the Washington D.C. Police Dept. Along the way we have grown with Alex and his family, Nana Mama, his grandmother who raised him as if she were his mother, his two kids, Jannie and Damon, and later a new addition, Alex Junior. Alex Junior now lives with his mother Christine, Alex’s old flame. They broke up after the Weasel kidnapped Christine in Pop Goes the Weasel. We have also seen all the other women on Alex's life. We are drawn into his can't-escape-the-thought-of-evil villain in each case he comes across.
London Bridges is a continuation of Alex Cross' life and of two past Alex Cross books, The Big Bad Wolf and Pop Goes the Weasel. Alex Cross is now an agent with the FBI, like in the last book, The Big Bad Wolf. Patterson brings back two villains that the "Dragonslayer" was unable to capture, the Weasel and the Wolf.
The idea Patterson brings forth of how the Wolf and his employee, the Weasel, can be very chilling. They are trying to destroy the world which can be disturbing considering the past attacks here in the U.S. The Wolf, with help from Shafer, the Weasel, is planning on bombing major cities in four countries, one of the cities being Cross' home town in Washington, D.C. Patterson brings up a touchy subject when talking about terror attacks, Al Qaeda, and other terror affiliated subjects. It really makes you think of what other attacks could be in plan in the real world. Again a touchy subject for some. But Patterson is able to handle things tastefully as far as families go and is able to not mention actual past attacks but a few times.
Patterson’s writing style of short and to the point chapters continues in this book. These two to three page chapters help make the book fly by. Of course, with London Bridges the book flies by anyway with the huge grasp of your mind that James Patterson takes. You become sucked into the story and the case as Alex Cross often does with each and every book.
One thing you can always count on with Patterson is a love scene. However, here it is very out of place. Alex Cross has been seeing Inspector Jamilla Hughes from San Francisco. He sees her a few times in this book as well. Once at the beginning, but their meeting is cut short when the terror attacks begin. The second time she meets him in Seattle after he visits Alex Junior, and they have their random love making scene that is often found in Patterson’s books, especially with Alex Cross. He could have easily left this out of the book and it would not have changed in my mind one bit. It was very random and out of nowhere.
London Bridges really draws you into the race to capture the Weasel and the Wolf. The two characters are able to confuse and stimulate you to read on faster and faster as the story moves rapidly toward the end. Being a true Patterson fan, and a true Alex Cross fan, you feel your heart beating faster until the very last line, literally. Usually with Patterson’s books they seem to pick up gradually and then it becomes hard to put the book down at the end, but London Bridges is very compelling at the beginning because of the two villains coming back into play. We don’t have to waste a lot of time learning about a new villain, we can just jump right into the chase. However, in London Bridges the beginning is as exciting as most of his books at the end and then later becomes an obsession to the reader until the last word.
I can’t wait for the next Alex Cross book from James Patterson. I wonder what he will think up next.
In the tenth book in the Alex Cross series, the popular detective squares off against two of his most lethal enemies: the Wolf (from The Big Bad Wolf ...More at HotBookSale
In the tenth book in the Alex Cross series, the popular detective squares off against two of his most lethal enemies: the Wolf (from THE BIG BAD WOLF)...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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