Along Came A Spider

In the middle of reading beautifully written Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murukami, last week I picked up a copy of Along Came a Spider by American author James Patterson. It was on one of the bookshelves at home... I browsed the blurb on the back cover and then started reading it...and just couldn't put it down until I'd finished. I got hooked there and then.

It's a very fast moving thriller with lots of twists and turns. There are murders involved and so a couple of unpleasant descriptions of crime scenes but they are integral to the plot and not overly gratuitous, the author moves quickly on.

The narrator is also the main protagonist, Alex Cross, a detective and Dr of Psychology. He's engaged in solving a spate of homicides when he's taken off the case to work on the kidnapping of two children from a private school. His concern is not just solving the murder but also to get to the root of the murderer's psyche. 


 I loved Alex Cross for his strength of character, honesty and sense of justice. I also loved the grandmother that brought him up after his mother's death, 'nanna mama' for the insight that comes with age... I imagined a kind of Maya Angelou character, all deep voice and pearls of wisdom.

This no great work of literature but something that I just read...I didn't want to go back and check anything. I just wanted to read and not to put it down until I'd reached the end. It had obviously been researched well. 


An exciting read. It's good to know that Patterson has written a whole series of novels involving Dr Alex Cross. I shall definitely be back for more.