The Big Bad Wolf (2003)

Excellent, best one yet. This is the first book featuring Alex as an FBI agent. It is more credible than him being a local D.C. cop and flying all over the country fighting special cases. The plot is well written, well driven and I can see no flaws. I am more interested in the cases than Alex's personal life, but I am enjoying the storyline with Alex, Christine Johnson and little Alex.
I can not wait to see how the next book unfolds! ( )

What a waste of time. Don't ask me why I persevered and didn't chuck it in the corner earlier...I thought there will be something that would redeem this book, but alas, it was disappointingly bad.
And don't get me started on the "american model, Claudia Schiffer".
I think this is my first and last Patterson. Nevermind, plenty more authors worth reading out there. ( )

I previously read this 6 years ago and wasn't too taken with it, and after re-reading it now I'm basically in the same boat with extra criticisms.

For example, Alex Cross's 14 year old porsche in Four Blind Mice was classified as 'his hold black porsche' now in The Big Bad Wolf which is a direct continuation from the same, which would make the car still 14 years old, or perhaps 15, its now suddenly an 'ancient black porsche'. Seems a little exaggerated there, does Patterson not realise not everyone buys a new car every 5 years? (In Along Came A Spider, Kiss The Girls when it was 8 years old it was still being called his 'old black porsche' as opposed to just a porsche).

That aside, towards the latter half of the novel, they finally have who they believe is the criminal overlord of the Russian Mafiya within their grasp at gunpoint, surrounded by agents. A man who has evaded the CIA, the FBI, local police coast to coast, in other words, very much at the top of the wanted list, but guess what? There's a small fire in a cupboard so everyone runs away leaving the guy to run off an successfully escape. What? Then, after making a successful escape, the guy gets himself cornered and just gives up revealing a plot point which rendered all of the above utterly pointless.

The twists and turns in this novel also very much gave deja vu of Roses Are Red where is more or less follows the path of the Mastermind investigation's plot only with different characters and scenes, the net result being the same - the evidence keeps pointing to people who aren't the one they're after.

I previously said that it was a reasonable entertainer with enough mystery & tension to keep you interested, a decent enough plot however I just found it wasn't particularly enthralling and that it past the time, but I didn't really feel drawn into the story at all. That's still how I feel.

I'll probably check out the following novel simply as The Weasel returns, but if that's above the same level of formulaic writing I'll likely abandon the series and move on. ( )

Not his best. Slow beginning of Alex Cross joining the FBI simultaneous with the multiple abductions. Interspersed are his family problems/situations as the mother of his baby re-enters the scene and wants custody. I only enjoyed the last 20% of the story which finally moved along. ( )

I haven't read or listened to a book by James Patterson for a long time. So, the experience was almost like finding a new author.

I liked the way that the author introduced Alex Cross and his family. He seems like a very loving father. In the story, Alex had worked for the Baltimore Police Department when he was recommended for the FBI. He was in training a Quantico, Virginia when he was called out of class for skills of hostage negotiations. Again, when he was in an Abnormal Psychology class, he was needed for a high-profile case.

People were being kidnapped in broad daylight, not for ransom, but to be sold into sexual slaves. The FBI thought the activity was being run by a top guy in the Russian Mob, the Wolf. At the same time, he was brought to court by an ex-girlfriend. She suddenly wanted custody of his son, "Little Alex"

The best part of this book was the suspense and the drama of the unknown, but the writing sometimes was so trite that I had to laugh out loud. Also, there were several times that story was just not believable.

I do recommend it but please understand that it is flawed.
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