December 9, 2008, Hong Kong.
Paperback 2007, 466 pages.
This is the first book I read written by Iles. It is about a doctor, Warren Shields, who went ballistic after he found out he had cancer and that his wife was cheating on him. His professional life was also unraveling as the medical fraud he and his partner committed was catching up with them. He killed his partner and held his pregnant wife and two children hostage. His wife's lover, a married man himself, ended up being instrumental in saving her and her children.
The way the book was written really made the reader wonder why the doctor was going crazy; it was thus a let down when I found out he had terminal cancer and thus felt particularly betrayed as he was trying to work to provide for his family upon his death. It was a simple plot that, despite the author's embellishments, remained a simple plot. By throwing in rogue deputies, cuss words, sex scenes, and a helicopter crash, he made the story a bit shocking but ultimately was more of a let down as the reader's expectations are raised.
Nonetheless, the book is an easy read and serves the purpose when whiling away the time trapped inside a Newark to Hong Kong non-stop flight, or sitting at Starbucks while Tim was taping a talk show.
I rate the book “average.”
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Double Cross by James Patterson
December 4, 2008, Hong Kong.
Paperback 2007, 402 pages.
I finished this book while I was enroute to Hong Kong. While waiting in line to get on the plane, a fellow passenger mentioned he loved Patterson, especially his Alex Cross Series. I told him I didn't share his enthusiasm for Patterson. That begs the question: are good book that scarce that I have to read those by authors I don't particularly enjoy? Perhaps next time I should buy a classic, like “War and Peace.”
The book talks of Alex Cross coming back to detective work to work with his girlfriend Bree and former colleague Sampson. A serial killer who takes on different personalities (don't they all) is on the loose staging spectacular murders. Dubbed the DC Audience Killer, he actually takes the identity of the brother of someone caught by Cross. He also has his sister as his accomplice. After Sampson is kidnapped by the DCAK, Alex and Bree are tricked into confronting the killers inside an abandoned building. That experienced detectives would willingly walk into a trap like this, and that they somehow miraculously escape and kill the murderers strain the boundaries of both stupidity and credulity.
But wait, there is more. Meanwhile, another serial killer put away by Cross (hence the “Double Cross”) escapes from a supermax prison (I guess it is quite easy to escape since it involves the simplest of disguises), kills his mother, gets a lot of money, goes to Paris, and returns to DC to catch up with Cross, naturally murdering a few people along the way. And at the end Kyle is in the same abandoned building, has Cross in his cross-hairs (I would have called this novel “Triple Cross”) but lets him go. There may be some history here that I don't know about, since Kyle used to be an FBI guy, but what is written in the novel about him also strains credulity. I guess Patterson needs a plot for a subsequent novel.
This is slightly better than the 5th Horseman, but still a pretty lame book.
Paperback 2007, 402 pages.
I finished this book while I was enroute to Hong Kong. While waiting in line to get on the plane, a fellow passenger mentioned he loved Patterson, especially his Alex Cross Series. I told him I didn't share his enthusiasm for Patterson. That begs the question: are good book that scarce that I have to read those by authors I don't particularly enjoy? Perhaps next time I should buy a classic, like “War and Peace.”
The book talks of Alex Cross coming back to detective work to work with his girlfriend Bree and former colleague Sampson. A serial killer who takes on different personalities (don't they all) is on the loose staging spectacular murders. Dubbed the DC Audience Killer, he actually takes the identity of the brother of someone caught by Cross. He also has his sister as his accomplice. After Sampson is kidnapped by the DCAK, Alex and Bree are tricked into confronting the killers inside an abandoned building. That experienced detectives would willingly walk into a trap like this, and that they somehow miraculously escape and kill the murderers strain the boundaries of both stupidity and credulity.
But wait, there is more. Meanwhile, another serial killer put away by Cross (hence the “Double Cross”) escapes from a supermax prison (I guess it is quite easy to escape since it involves the simplest of disguises), kills his mother, gets a lot of money, goes to Paris, and returns to DC to catch up with Cross, naturally murdering a few people along the way. And at the end Kyle is in the same abandoned building, has Cross in his cross-hairs (I would have called this novel “Triple Cross”) but lets him go. There may be some history here that I don't know about, since Kyle used to be an FBI guy, but what is written in the novel about him also strains credulity. I guess Patterson needs a plot for a subsequent novel.
This is slightly better than the 5th Horseman, but still a pretty lame book.
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