James Patterson- Mary Mary (Warner Books 2006) 3.5 Stars
Mary Smith is killing Hollywood’s best movie stars and leaving emails for a columnist at the Los Angeles Times. Torn from his family vacation, Alex Cross is sent to assist local authorities in their investigation. As the killings pile up Cross is dragged further into case, butting heads with LAPD’s finest. The police are in a hurry to close the case, but Cross wants to make sure that they capture the right killer. At the same time he has the same fight on the home front. Christine wants little Alex and she will do anything see that Cross does not get him, even if it means slandering her ex-fiancé. Dealing with both of these things adds stress to an already stressful life. Can Alex Cross crack the case before it cracks him?
As per usual I really enjoyed the introduction. Patterson knows how to start a book off right. I wish that the enthusiasm of those first sentences carried on throughout the rest of the book, but alas I must say what I normally say. Patterson loves the Cross family and does not know how to minimize their involvement in his books. Mary Mary is an especially bad example of this as Cross’ family took up a great portion of the book. Every time that I was getting to enjoy the case and the intensity that ensued, Patterson would insert a family section that slowed things down to a crawl and distracted the reader form the main reason they are reading the book (the case portion). I only keep reading this series because I enjoy most of the cases, otherwise I would have dropped the Alex Cross series a long time ago. Once again Patterson succeeded in some great character development, which again I say he is very good at. I am not sure if I have ever written this before, but I know that I have thought it before. At the risk of being crass, Alex Cross thinks with his wrong head, this is the reason why his family life is so terrible, the main reason why he cannot keep a relationship with one woman. He sleeps with one woman then abandons them for his case (I think he has a fear of commitment) until the woman dumps him, then weeks, if not days, later he is infatuated by another woman.
I recommend Mary Mary to Patterson fans only.
For more of my reviews check out my website, www.tonypeters.webs.com
Tony Peters
Kids on a Case: The Case of the Ten Grand Kidnapping
www.eloquentbooks.com/kidsonacase.html
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