Step On A Crack

Book: Step On A Crack
Author: James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge
Pages: 383
Time to Read: 1.5 weeks

Out of all of James Patterson's books, this is not the one to read if you want to start reading his works. I'm a dedicated reader of his works, so I've noticed the nice, neat formula he's started to use in his books, not menton bringing on an underling to do all the dirty work and then slapping his name at the top of the cover art.

Anyway, the main character is Mike. He's a police officer who seems to be doing everyone else's job except his own. He's dabbled in dealing with the press during high-stress situations; he's been a negotiator; and he's worked with the hostage rescue team. So instead of giving him one role to play, Patterson/Ledwidge make him do all three jobs. Why not, right?

The crisis situation has a former president's wife getting killed and then at the funeral, a team of men take over the church with several celebs, politicians and the like trapped inside. A ranson is demanded and the police/FBI do as much as they can to get it together while stringing the bad guys along. Along with this crisis, Mike's family is trying to handle their mother's impending death from cancer. And all of this happens days away from Christmas. Uplifting story, huh?

In true Patterson fashion, we know Mike will be a saint of a guy, he'll use his pyschiatric/sociologist background to somehow figure out who the criminals are...even with little to no clues to go on, and someone on the criminal team will have been working on the good guy's side during the whole dilemma.

Even though I've just totally trashed this book, I still love Patterson. Every now and then he'll give you a great mystery. It just hasn't happened for a while now. If you would like to read some of his better works, try "Kiss the Girls," the Women's Murder Club series of books (there are 5 of them now), or "When the Wind Blows." These books include some of his more inventive and better laid out plots.