REVIEW for Cross Country

I cannot thank Miriam at Hachette Books enough for sending this book out to me!!! When I opened this package I even squealed!!!! Miriam you are wonderful.

TITLE: CROSS COUNTRY

AUTHOR: James Patterson

GENRE: Thriller

DATE: November 2008

RATING: 4 Stars

I have been a James Patterson - and more specifically Alex Cross fan from day one. As soon as I finish one Alex Cross and close the book, I am already looking forward (and sighing) to the next one.

Cross Country is a little different from any of the other Alex Cross novels. For one thing, most of the action takes place - you guessed it! Across the country, more specifically in Africa. I was a little surprised at this storyline - for me - what works so well with the Cross books is the interaction Cross has with the people in his life and, obviously, this would (and is) limited in this book.

Most of the story does take place in Africa and I have to say that if Patterson's idea was to inform the public about the dangers and horrible goings on in Africa, he has succeeded with me. I had no idea that things were that horrid out there. Parts of this book are actually difficult to read because the description of the brutal murders are so graphic and senseless. It makes me so grateful to life in North America where we have our rights as human beings.

I loved this novel, but I have to say that there is so much going on, that I felt as though Alex was kind of lost in the middle of it all. He spends an inordinate amount of time in jails and when not jailed he is being beaten up. It is also a little hard to follow all the players as they travel from one hot spot to another. It just felt to me as though Cross was more of a bit player behind the bigger story - that of the horrible violence in Africa.

Nonetheless, it is impossible NOT to get involved in the book and the story is as thrilling as any I have read involving Alex.

Eventually Alex will get back to the US and will be faced with a very difficult situation upon his return. This is a bit of a twist that I did not expect - and I had hoped that Patterson would take the "hard" way out of this twist, but in the end - he did not - and this was a bit of a disappointment to me as this would have made for some very interesting future books.

I am still not feeling the love between Cross and Bree and I am not sure why Patterson feels the need to ALWAYS make sure Cross has a girlfriend?????

This book is chock full of action and goes a thousand miles a minute - it is also very graphic and difficult to read - but all of this simply added to the mystery that is Alex Cross and made for a thought provoking, roller coaster of a book.

Now (sigh!) I have to wait another year for the next one (again!).

Run to the bookstore and get this one.