Review of James Patterson's Along Came a Spider

The book draws you in from the beginning, with a kidnapping. Patterson does a good job of describing scenes, and his details are wonderful. He has a way of making the reader feel as though they are in the story, themselves. Patterson's main character, Detective Alex Cross is a mostly believable character with regular human flaws. That being said, there were a few times when he felt a little too over the top as a character.

I haven't had much experience reading psychological thrillers, but this book was definitely suspenseful. It was wracked with twists and turns that the reader doesn't see coming. The main villain, Gary Soneji/Murphy is a frightening human being who does some terrible things. Patterson does a wonderful job of putting the reader into the mind of this maniac, and letting them see the inner workings of a psychopath. All in all, the story was a believable and well-written peice of fiction.