The appeal of James Patterson's work cuts wide and deep. He is not a stylist; one could harp on his occasionally choppy transitions, his sketchy descriptions, or his sometimes-irritating jump from first person to third. But what cannot be denied is that the man is a storyteller, which is what a writer is supposed to be, first and foremost. Patterson writes for an audience; if Guttenberg had never invented the printing press, Patterson would be filling amphitheaters, night after night, with audiences from far and wide ready and willing to listen to his stories.While Patterson has broadened his creative horizons over the past couple of years, Alex Cross remains his primary bread and butter. One of Patterson's biggest strengths is his willingness to bring major changes into his storylines. The reader accordingly never knows quite what to expect. Patterson recently moved Alex Cross from the Washington, D.C. police force to the FBI. This was a brilliant strategy, as it gives Patterson the ability to sketch on a broader canvas without sacrificing the familiarity of people and places created over the course of several novels. Cross is still based in Washington, D.C. but is no longer as confined there as he once was. And as his horizons have gotten broader, his bad guys have gotten "badder." Two of them are in LONDON BRIDGES, Patterson's latest Alex Cross novel.LONDON BRIDGES unites two of Cross's most interesting and deadly adversaries, the Wolf and the Weasel. Actually, "unites" may be too strong a term, as they are only together for a very brief period at the beginning of the book. They work together, however improbably, against Cross, and against the world.The novel begins with the forced evacuation of Sunrise Valley, a small Nevada town, under the steely eye of a mysterious battalion of soldiers. No sooner is the town evacuated than it is dramatically and instantaneously destroyed. Cross is chilled when photographs of the scene indicate that Geoffrey Shafer, aka the Weasel, is involved.The Wolf, however, makes his presence and intent known soon enough. The governments of the United States, England, France, and Israel are put on notice: what happened in Sunrise Valley will occur in their respective capitals, unless the Wolf is paid a king's ransom and several hundred "political prisoners" are released. The countries are given a deadline of four days. Working with the police forces of the affected nations, Cross is in a deadly race against time as he battles two foes who have targeted not only the capitals of the world's greatest nations but also Cross personally.As with the best of Patterson's work, it is impossible to stop reading LONDON BRIDGES once started. Patterson makes it easy for the reader. The focus here is on the action, and he delivers with an urgency so intense that the story threatens to break loose from the printed page. LONDON BRIDGES, from beginning to end, never falls down.
London Bridges was full of the action and drama I expect from an Alex Cross book. The past couple had taken a little of that away; they were more about Alex and Sampson’s personal lives with a side of action and crime fighting. In London Bridges, two of Alex’s worst customers team up to cause mass destruction for seemingly no other reason than being terrorists. The Weasel and The Wolf are back and they are stronger than ever. Alex has a few days and a strict deadline to meet The Wolf’s monetary demands, or major cities around the world will be blown to pieces. With the weight of that and trying to keep his family happy on his shoulders, Alex has to fight through the stress and keep his mind focused on catch The Weasel and The Wolf.The Wolf is one of the most dangerous villains Cross has ever come up against. Even with him being crazy and mysterious, I just really couldn’t like him as a villain. I liked the story line of Alex trying to figure out the case, but The Wolf himself was kind of uninteresting to me. But, on the other hand, he was also super mysterious and it made me want to know who he was and why he was so set on causing to harm to so many people. I have to say I was pretty disappointed by the end of the book. Alex finally encounters The Wolf, but we as readers learn absolutely nothing aside from a name. If the next book doesn’t at least give some follow up story then I am pretty confused as to why The Wolf was around for two whole novels. Spoiler for my reason under the read more further down the page4/5 I really liked this book, but I still don’t really understand The Wolf, and depending on how the next one starts, the ending seemed like a bit of a cop-out(spoilers at baumanbookreviews.com)
What do You think about London Bridges (2005)?
I reckon you have summed up James Patterson, very amateur prose, and no character development to speak of. Can't believe so many people rate him so highly.
—Adam Heine
As much as I enjoy reading James Patterson, and as much as I am in love with Alex Cross (yes, I admit it), this installment failed to satisfy me. And failed miserably. Perhaps my disappointment was in the novel's grand scale international crime? These baddies seemed to kill for the sake of killing. Not to give spoilers, but even the deaths of some antagonists seemed anticlimactic given the way Cross had pursued them and vice versa, and the extent of the trouble they had caused him and the public in general. Or perhaps it was the lack of truly interesting characters that put me off? The Weasel and the Wolf? Come on now. Antagonists with zero personality and zero redeeming qualities. I couldn’t even hate them. Even Cross' love life seemed stilted in London Bridges. The passion between Alex and his Jamilla doesn’t ring true, at least for me. And, there are too many characters to keep up with in this one - on both the good and the dark sides - sometimes it was hard to differentiate. True, London Bridges is written with Patterson's usual flair and has a detail-oriented plot. Still I had trouble staying with the book to its conclusion and found myself skipping passages. Not a good sign. Maybe there was too much “government” in it? And the idea of all these entities working in unison? Yeah, like that would happen in the real world. London Bridges had me thinking throughout, "enough already with the bombing and killing - and for goodness sake, who is the real Wolf?" My feelings about London Bridges (this one goes into the donation box), however, will not keep me from reading future Patterson/Cross installments.
—Sharon
Of all things, I think what annoyed me most in this book is the name Patterson chose for the French president : Aramis. Who the f*ck is called Aramis in France? There might be 10 ppl called like this and Patterson gives the idea this ridiculous firstname is normal in France. Make some research, goddamit. Naming him Paul or Jean would have been much more credible.Also, I' strating to get so fed up of his perfect kids who are impossibly mature, and the fact that every woman he meets is hot and they all fall for him.Also this whole book was useless, they keep on chasing the olf, missing him, chasing hime, missing him. So boring.
—Clarice
