James Patterson, part 2

Just finished listening to James Patterson's The Quickie on CD (co-authored by Michael Ledwidge). James Patterson falls into 3 categories: Alex Cross books (love them), Women's Murder Club books (like them a lot), and those other books (can take them or leave them). Oh, just realized there's a 4th category: Maximum Ride (not bad, if you can get past the flying kids angle).

Anyway, The Quickie falls into the "those other books" category. Many of them are co-authored (as this is). They often have these head scratching plot twists that seem to come out of left field. They tend to be quick reads, lots of action, good for the beach type of books. And unfortunately, since the books are so plot/action driven, there's very little investment in the characters - to the point of who cares what happens to them. This one pretty much fits this bill.

Lauren has caught her husband cheating on her and decides to have a revenge one night stand with a co-worker to even the score. And from there things fall apart quickly and completely. I can't say much more because I don't like to give away the details.

I listened to the book, very quickly (Harry Potter is coming tomorrow, you know), and it kept me interested. But I can't say that I really cared about Lauren or her plight. Is she good or bad? What about everyone else? Who knows, who cares. The final twists were not anticipated. Kind of in a what else can happen sort of way. But the fact that they were there was not a surprise (especially after last year's Beach Road).

I'd give the book to Patterson fans, most of whom know about the categories and will read it as such. It's not the best book, but it's not the worst one either.

James Patterson, part 1

I just finished listening to 6th Target by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. This is the sixth in the Women's Murger Club series. If you like Patterson, especially the Alex Cross series, and/or the previous 5 in this series, you should enjoy this as well. It is typically of Patterson's books, with its short, fast reading chapters. I listened to the story and Carolyn McCormick does a nice job with the narration, as she has with the previous 3 titles.

This book contained involved solving 3 separate crimes, which I don't remember the other books doing. It lent a realism to the work, since I'm sure police officers are involved in multiple cases at a time.

There didn't seem to be as much interaction between the members of the club in this book and I missed the banter of the group as they tried to solve the crimes. Each woman seemed to be indepently occupied, although in a related way, in this book.

Otherwise, it was an enjoyable thriller.

Young Adult Staff Summer Reading

I read 4 YA books for this summer project and wrote up little summaries of each title (okay, sometimes I am an overachiever). Here they are:

1. James Patterson – Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports – This is the third of the Maximum Ride series. Max continues to try to protect her flock of recombinant DNA bird kids from evil scientists and a variety of wolf people, find out information about their backgrounds, and oh yeah, in her spare time, literally save the world. The book is a very fast read, or listen, as many Patterson books are. It does answer many questions posed in the previous two books as it was supposedly the final book in the trilogy. However, it also leaves enough open for more books to follow.
   
2. Gene Luen Yang – American Born Chinese – This book, winner of the 2007 Michael L. Printz award, is a graphic novel depicting three seemingly unrelated stories. They are then woven into one ending which powerfully conveys the theme of cultural identity and ultimately personal acceptance.
   
3. John Green – An Abundance of Katherines – Aging child prodigy, Colin Singleton is good at languages and being dumped by all of the girls he has dated. All of which are named Katherine. After being by Katherine XIX immediately following graduation, he sets off with his best friend on a road trip. There he begins to develop his theorem of the predictability of relationships, which he hopes will define him as a genius and cause him to matter in the world. There is a lot of math in this book, even more fully explained in an appendix (which I will admit I skipped). It is an interesting twist on what could have just been another guy gets dumped story.
   
4. Rachel Cohen and David Levithan – Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist – Set amidst the chaotic backdrop of the NYC punk music scene, this book details one long evening in which two high school seniors, who meet by accident, find that they may be what each other has been looking for all along. The story is told in alternating voices, which makes for some interesting viewpoints as we see the action through each person’s eyes. A very well done story, however potential readers should be cautioned in that there is a lot of strong language and sexual content (hetero and homosexual) throughout.