What do You think about See How They Run (1997)?
"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." GhandiThis is a definite departure for Patterson and his Cross detective fare; his characters feel the same, but the situation is much harder-hitting, in some ways. Having not been born by the time of any of the events in this book, I think that they were less horrifying or enveloping to me than they perhaps could have been to someone who can recall what actually happened, but they were nevertheless powerful. The best part of the book, I think, in terms of the most impact and attention-grabbing insanity, is chapter 24. I won't tell you what it is, as the shock of it is half the point, but I stopped reading at that point to feel the suckerpunch of it; that was Patterson's pinnacle in this book.
—Jen
See How They Run is a suspenseful book that will get you hooked. It depicts a fictional second Holocaust, or "Dachau Two", as stated in the book. After David Strauss's parents are killed by the Jews, he teams with Nazi Hunters to try to counter the epidemic. One of the members states "Someone in the Strauss family has seriously frightened the Nazis"(Patterson, 93). David now sets out to find out what that is to see if he can use it against the Nazis. However, one of his teammates is killed in a shooting. When he finds his childhood friend, Alix Rothschild, they go to Europe to find more information. Alix was also a victim of the holocaust, and will do anything to stop it from happening again. When the olympics begin, David finally confronts the Nazi leader, the Fuhrer. After that, Alix explains to David what she had known but had never told him. What Alix didn't know was that members of David's family were killed. He says "I am a concerned jew, alix. No one ever tried to exterminate me until your people came along and decided to play god. Until Benjamin Rabinowitz ordered my grandmother and my brother killed. And my wife, who was innocent of all this, was killed, too." Alix didn't know members of his family had been killed, and when she hears this she feels very guilty. David then explains all of the connections he has made. About how his brother Nick communicated with Jews and had the support of the FBI. How his grandmother, Elena, had helped him and participated in convincing Jews to even kill Germans just as revenge for the holocaust. At 11:45 PM, terrorists are getting ready to kill over 600 athletes. Rabinowitz, the Fuhrer, is their leader. David Strauss finds him, and kills him. They find the switch to the ovens that are about to kill the athletes and shut them down, and that ends Dachau Two.
—Ryan
This was a poorly written book. The sentences were choppy, and the way the narrator compared certain actions to scenes viewed on television and movies was annoying and distracting. I normally appreciate how Patterson writes short chapters, but because of the overuse of Jewish, German and Russian titles and names that were not interpreted; the quick description of characters and the scenes; and the inappropriate choices of verbs and adjectives(author desperately trying to sound "literature"); it was difficult for me to follow the story. I don't even recall what the story was actually about. All I can clearly remember is an A class Jewish doctor's family being murdered by Neo Nazis, culminating in a battle between Jewish extremists and Neo Nazis. I could be totally wrong. I lost interest at the beginning of part three because the writing was so bad. I didn't care about the main characters in the least. In fact, I couldn't clearly make out what happened to them at the end, or how the major situation was resolved. I ended up throwing this book in the trash. Overall I had a good weekend.
—Damian Cloud
