First in the Alex Cross thriller series and revolving around Alex, a Washington D.C. detective with a background in psychology.My TakeThis is one of the few stories in which the movie adaptation is better. It wasn't until almost the end that Along Came a Spider started to more closely resemble the movie. Yeah, I usually hate it when a movie leaves out so much of the book, but in this case, Patterson (or his editors) should have tightened this up. I do wish they'd left the main characters alone, as much as I adore Morgan Freeman. Aaand, yes, the movie adaptation was much more dramatic for the changes. Just don't read it and think it will be the same.I like Alex. He's a realist and a caring single father who loves his kids, and they all live with his wise mother. She's tolerant of Alex's choices, but doesn't let him get away with a thing. It helps make Alex more of a real person and pulls me in. And, yes, I suspect all this background is what helps make Along Came a Spider so much longer.It's an interesting start, one of revulsion as we look into the mind of the man who truly masterminded the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby back in 1932. A mind that highly resembles Gary Soneji's, and it's scary how well Patterson gets inside it. I'll never understand how people like Soneji think, how incredibly selfish he is. I know, selfish is such an inadequate word for what a horror Soneji is.It's almost halfway through the book before we finally get to the good parts. A horrible beginning exploration of Soneji/Murphy's personalities that makes you question everything. I didn't care if Soneji would get the death sentence; he deserved it. Yet, you feel for Murphy and hope he can get help. Then Patterson introduces a new angle to it. A terrifying question with which Patterson teases us.I find it interesting that while Patterson pokes at the prejudice angle against blacks, that the true emphasis seems to be on the politics. Making everyone look good without caring about true justice. It's not to say that Patterson doesn't portray life in the projects, but it's more about selfishness, jealousy, and I don't know, paranoia? A fear of exposing one's dirty linen?Why is it that keeping critical information to your own agency is so "important"? If they would share what they knew, so many more crimes could be stopped. What is it with human nature that the agent/officer/detective who arrests the perpetrator is the one recognized? Why don't they recognize everyone who had crucial input?? Arghhh.The StoryIt was that article. Alex thinks it was the title that drove the upper echelon nuts … "The Last Southern Gentleman" …While Alex sympathizes with the kidnapped children's parents, he's angry that the police, the FBI, the Secret Service, and everyone else are ignoring little Mustaf's murder.Meanwhile, it's a hunt for the kidnapped children and Gary Soneji, a brilliant sociopath.The CharactersDr. Alex Cross is the Deputy Chief of Detectives, a homicide and major crimes detective in charge of S.I.T. with a doctorate in psychology and a skilled hostage negotiator. Nana Mama is Alex's seventy-nine-year-old grandmother, Regina Hope, who still does volunteer work after she retired from being an English teacher. Maria is the wife whose death he still mourns. His children are the four-year-old Janelle and six-year-old Damon. WASHINGTON D.C.Washington D.C. Police DepartmentOfficer Butchie Dykes and his partner discovered the Sanders' crime scene. George Pittman is the chief of detectives, a real jerk who has it in for Cross, a.k.a., "The Jefe, the Boss of Bosses, Il Duce, Three Pits, George Porgie…" Lieutenant Don Manning is one of Pittman's. Fred Cook is a failed Vice detective now working as Pittman's administrative assistant. He really suits Pittman's personality. Ack. Christopher Clauser is Alex and Sampson's captain.Special Investigator Team (S.I.T.) is……"supposed to be an opportunity" for its eight black officers to go on to better things. Alex is in charge. Senior Detective John-John Sampson has been Alex's best friend since they were nine. Detective Rakeem Powell is another man on the team.Secret ServiceA workaholic, Jezzie Flanagan has a law degree and uses her motorcycle to relax. She's also the immediate supervisor of the Secret Service agents who guard anyone not the President. She lives with her retired mother, Irene Flanagan, a killer bridge player. Dennis "the Menace" Kelleher is her bully of an ex. Victor Schmidt and Jeb Klepner are more agents. Charles "Jolly Chollie" Chakley and Mike Devine are the Secret Service agents assigned by Jezzie to protect Michael.FBIAgents Roger Graham, Reilly, Gerry "Digger" Scorse (Alex's friend), Marcus Connor, Kyle Craig, and McGoey are all involved in the case. Pete Schweitzer and Todd Toohey are some of the crime scene techs. Harold Friedman is a technical officer. Special Agent Bill Thompson is from the Miami office. Kurt Weithas is a deputy, the number-two man at the Bureau.Carl Monroe is the "jolly, hail-fellow-well-met" mayor. Don't trust him.Martin Bayer is a reporter with the New York Times. Joseph Denyeau was the pilot in Florida. Richard Galletta is a lawyer with the Justice department.Maggie Rose Dunne is nine and the daughter of Katherine Rose, the movie star. Maggie's father is Thomas Dunne, a prominent entertainment lawyer who had been heavily involved in environmental causes, is now the director of the Red Cross.The Washington Day School in Georgetown is……a prestigious and very expensive school. Michael "Shrimpie" Goldberg is Maggie's best friend, a brainiac, and the son of Secretary of the Treasury Jerrold Goldberg. Fellow students include Luisa, Jonathan, Stuart, Mary-Berry, and Brigid.Ms. Kaminsky is the music and visual arts teacher. Mr. Guestier, a.k.a., Le Pric, teaches languages. Vivian Kim. Emmett Everett is the school porter.Gary Soneji, a.k.a., Mr. Chips, teaches math and computer science and is the grand master of Nintendo video games — he's also a sociopath who considers everyone not him as stupid. His alter ego is Gary Murphy, a loser who knows better than anyone for whom he works. Missy is his long-suffering wife. Roni is their daughter. Marty Kasajian is Missy's brother and employed Gary as a favor to his sister.Simon Conklin is a boyhood friend of Soneji's. Anthony Nathan is Soneji's lawyer. Federal Judge Linda Kaplan denies every defense request. Mary Warner is the prosecutor.Jean "Poo" and her two children: fourteen-year-old Suzette and three-year-old Mustaf Sanders are murdered. Willie Mae Randall Scott had been a witness to a possible suspect; Quillie McBride is her friend. Nina Cerisier had been a Suzette's best friend and her family were their neighbors.Jimmy Moore runs the soup kitchen at St. A's where Alex and Sampson volunteer. Bobbi is her new name. She frequently dreams of escape.Salisbury P.D.Lieutenant Edward Mahoney is in charge of the river scene.Crisfield P.D.Officers Artie Marshall and Chester Dils find the original holding place.Wilkinsburg, PennsylvaniaState Troopers Mick Fescoe and Bobby Hatfield were headed into McDonald's for lunch. Lorton Federal Prison, VirginiaDr. Marion Campbell is the warden. Fallston PrisonDr. Wallace Hart is chief of psychiatry. Robert Fishenauer is a floor supervisor whose greed does him in. Laurence Volpi, Phillip Halyard, and Stephen Kessler are guards. BoliviaThe Patinos are farmers. 1932, New JerseyCharles Lindbergh and his wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, adore their son, Charles Jr. Bruno Richard Hauptmann is the man the real kidnapper framed.The Cover and TitleThe cover is beautiful with its sunrise of gradated purple into pink into yellow backdrop for a house that's all lit up. It makes you wonder why the family is up this early at which point you notice the spider dangling from the "D" in "Spider", hovering over the house. The title is huge in an embossed white font with the author's name in an embossed yellow at the bottom. I love the series information at the top.The title is about the execution of the plan and the most unexpected tangled web it becomes when Along Came a Spider.
Having read several other James Patterson books (from other series), I was interested to see how the first Alex Cross book would compare.You can definitely tell the difference between this book and the later Pattersons, where he is writing with a co-author and putting out three books a year. This one seemed to have more depth to it and I couldn't blow through it in a day like his more recent works.I like the character of Alex Cross, but I find him to be volatile and outspoken, sometimes not to his own benefit. There was a line in there somewhere about how he "never passes up a good opportunity to shut up," and I just couldn't believe he said it, as he clearly has no idea when to shut up, and doesn't care.There is a strong racial theme to this book, with Alex constantly musing on how the color of his skin has affected his career, and on the differences in public reaction between the murders of blacks in Southeast Washington, D.C., versus the kidnapping of two rich white kids. Interracial relationships also get a lot of play in this book, and it's interesting to see how big a factor it plays in 1992, when today it has become much more common and probably would get less of a reaction. (Then again, he's farther south and I don't really know how acceptable that is or isn't in that area, even today.)The thriller side of things was a typical Patterson - multi-layered story with lots of twists and turns, and a confrontational ending.I enjoyed it, and I'll definitely be reading the others in the series.
What do You think about Along Came A Spider (2003)?
James Patterson is an excellent author. Read swimsuit. It kept me turning pages for hours. I am hooked on him and think he is totally on t.op of his game!!
—Manugw
"Along Came a Spider" by James Patterson is a great "OMG!" book because that's what you'll say after almost every chapter.This is the first Alex Cross book and sets up our hero nicely. A widower with two children and a grandmother at home, he is one of an elite squad called in to investigate a double kidnapping at a prestigious Washington D. C. school. Apparently the children have been kidnapped by a teacher but it goes way beyond this. Gary Sonejii is probably one of the most socio/psychopathic characters ever written. He plays a game of cat and mouse with Cross and the FBI throughout the entire book.It turns out that he's not the only one playing a game and by the end of the book, you wonder who's playing who. Alex has to sort out who's good, who's bad, and who's lying to him if he wants to salvage his career after a couple of disasterous calls on this case.Patterson is easy to read. His chapters are short and easy to read. He switches back and forth between characters and situations, keeping the pacing brisk but understandable. This book made me want to read the entire Alex Cross series and I probably will.
—Riccarla Roman
the first of the alex cross novels, i was very surprised by the characterization of cross. i guess there is a lot of development over time, but the cross that i was introduced to in mary, mary is only like this cross in a peripheral way - reminded me of bad fanfic. if you think trashy thrillers don't deal with the big issues, like race, this proves you wrong - this whole book is about race and interracial romance and the like. in fact, it beats you over the head with it. which - i didn't even realize cross was black in the other books i have read. you can't miss it in this one. especially taken into context with the rodney king riots happening the year before this was released, it just seems too heavy-handed. then again, it is a trashy thriller. but even the reveals were sort of lame. though it did make me want to watch the movie. hah.
—stephanie
