I have so far relatively enjoyed the first three Alex Cross books I’ve read, so when I released Cat & Mouse from my holds list at the public library, I was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, to my great disappointment, it sucked. The worst installment in a series ever. And I will tell you why.First, Patterson uses a recycled villain. Gary Soneji, the psycho killer from the first book, Along Came a Spider is back to torment Alex Cross and his family. Okay, I get the fact that Soneji was the one that got away and would eventually have to be dealt with, but not as the focus of another book. Couldn’t he have been a subplot? Or at least haunted Cross for more than three books? I was disappointed in Patterson’s reuse of plot and villain so soon in the series. Makes me worry about the other books still to read.
Second, the secondary villain’s name is Mr. Smith. We only learn about halfway into the book that this name actually has literary significance, but it was so obscure a reference that I didn’t get it until I was told it and so for the first half of the book I was thinking: “Mr. Smith? Really? That’s the most creative name you could come up with?” Oh but wait, this isn’t really a creative book is it? Recycled villain, recycled plot, now cheesy villain name. Sigh.
Third, what the eff happened to Cross????? He meets a skirt and is suddenly all lovesick and smarmy and downright horrible to listen to. Where’s the clear thinking, level headed, logical detective? I get that Cross has had some hard knocks in his personal life, and that he’s really been struggling with the balance between work and family life, but in this book Patterson jumps that up about 1000 notches and it gets annoying very, very quickly. Oh, and metaphors like the “dance floor of life” just make me want to retch. There’s this one part, where Cross takes his date dancing, and they’ve both suffered tragic loss in the love department, so Patterson writes, in Cross’s inner monologue, that he and Christine are getting out on the floor to dance just like they are rejoining the “dance floor of life.” What does that mean?!?!?! Who could read this stuff without poking their eyes out? Seriously!
Finally, the one redeeming factor, if you can stomach the first half of the book is that Cross gets injured and is shunted aside by FBI behavoural specialist Thomas Pierce who breathes new life into the book. Once we’re in Pierce’s head this book takes off like a rocket. Pierce’s inner monologue is everything we’d want of Cross’s and more. Unfortunately Pierce is all tied up in nasty ways with cheesy villain Mr. Smith and we’re back to Cross before we can say “I like that Thomas Pierce, why can’t there be a series about him?” Thankfully, Patterson gets his writing chops back once he dispenses with Soneji and focuses in on Mr. Smith and truly the book becomes enjoyable again. A small thrill ride, much like the baby roller coasters you can ride at small town fairs, and very nearly makes up for having to wade through the first half of the book. Although, had this book not been part of a series, I would have been sorely tempted to abandon it by the 50-page mark. Just my 2 cents.
Till next time, happy reading.
L
