Rating: 
Summary: Just awful
Review: Poorly written, badly edited, terrible plot, weak characterization. Need I say more? My first exposure to James Patterson's work was Kiss The Girls and Along Came a Spider. This was the first non-Alex Cross book that I have read and it was a severe dissappointment. The plot involves genetically altered children, a custody battle, and a nasty bad guy who wants to use the children to further his diabolic goals. Around this insipid and unoriginal plot, the author makes a few ineffective attemps at character development. None of these characters make it off the page. They are just sketches--line drawings never fleshed out. The reader develops no emotional connection with any of the charactes, not even the narrorator. The bad guy never inspires any fear or dread. He is as scary as Mojo-whatever from the Powerpuff girls. I could go on but why bother. I kept waiting for this book to find its stride, to engage me, to delve into the real plot. It never did. This book lacks both heart and skill. It's not even worth checking out from the library.
Rating:
Summary: James Patterson: Go Back to your Day Job
Review: This was one of the most horribly written books I have ever read. I read some of the paragraphs out loud to my family to show them what poor writing sounds like! I was completely suckered by the television ads hyping this "chilling" "must read" by this best selling novelist. Shame on me. Shame on you James for succumbing to formula novel writing.
Rating:
Summary: Throw this in the lake
Review: Mr. Patterson, you are one of my favorite authors. This book reads like you didn't write it. It is poorly written, has no plot, the "kids" slang is laughable. If I didn't know better I would think you might have just written this to cash in on "summer beach reading."
I was going to sell my copy on amazon but thought better of it. I wouldnt inflict this trash on any reader!
"If you read it you will die...of being bored to death."
Rating:
Summary: B-O-R-I-N-G!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I can usually read almost anything, but I can't even finish this one. I bought this on impulse thinking it was an Alex Cross mystery (which are definitely going downhill also)and was very disappointed to find that it was a sequel to the equally stupid When The Wind Blows. This thing is just boring - don't waste your money or your time! The only Patterson left on my reading list after this will be Richard North, not James...
Rating:
Summary: The Lake House
Review: I Have read almost all of James Pattersons' work and I have to say this one really should have been left in the lab! It's so far fetched that the story line can't even begin to seem logical much less real! Let's hope the next one is better.
Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't put down!!!
Review: When the Wind Blows was the first Patterson book that I had read and I was sitting by my mailbox waiting for the sequel to come out! I was not let down by this book. Patterson's story-telling ease made me look astonishing at the clock when I noticed that I had been reading well past time to be asleep. I would recommend this series to anyone!
Rating:
Summary: fascinating thriller
Review: FBI agent Thomas "Kit" Brennan and veterinarian Frannie O'Neill rescued the six Winged children from the School where they lived in appalling conditions and were the subjects of dangerous experiments. The octet lived together for four months before they were returned to their biological parents but in that time the children, who had bird DNA mixed into their genetic make up, imprinted Kit and Frannie as their parents. Kit and Fran sued for custody and lost but when danger threatened, the children turned to their real "parents" for help. Dr. Ethan Kane works on illegal experiments using unsuspecting donors for his Resurrection project. He wants the children who he envisions as the next step up in the evolutionary ladder and he'll use any means at his disposal to get them. Kit, Frannie and the children are on the run but the doctor has sources within the government that leads him and his minions to their hideout. He brings them all back to his lab where the leader of the children, Maximus has a final showdown with destiny. THE LAKE HOUSE, the sequel to the best-selling WHEN THE WIND BLOWS is a fascinating thriller starring six unusual children whom capture the hearts of the audience as they try to make a place for themselves in this BRAVE NEW WORLD. James Patterson revisits some very important moral and social issues that should be addressed before scientists go much farther in genetic engineering. The plot is well developed with plenty of action scenes but the heart of this novel remains Kit and Frannie who will do everything in their power to make sure their children are safe. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: A real flight of fancy...
Review: Like other current light novels, Patterson taps into the summer beach market with Lake House, revisiting the theme from his 1998 success, When the Wind Blows. The sibling bird/children from the prior novel are now embroiled are in a court battle that has become a media circus. The man and woman who have championed the children's rescue from "the School", FBI agent Kit Brennan and veterinarian Frannie O'Neill, have petitioned family court for guardianship. Unfortunately, the biological parents have intervened, challenging the guardianship, which would mean separating the siblings. Under the discretion of the court, the judge rules in favor of the biological parents. The heartbroken Kit and Frannie are deeply concerned about the safety of these young creatures, as a number of nefarious individuals seek to exploit and/or experiment with the children. The world is ill prepared for any aberrant life forms, even if they are only a curiosity. The children are particularly vulnerable to the evil intentioned, M & M loving, Dr. Ethan Kane, a genetic scientist who is preparing for "the Resurrection", his own personal experiment in life extension. Kane's primary target is Max, the oldest female, aged twelve, but with the maturity of an adult. Suddenly all the children are in danger as hired assassins move closer. Helping each other, they fly to safety once, but are later recaptured. Then ensues a battle for the preservation of "the flock", when Frannie, Kit and the kids are taken to Dr. Kane's "Hospital". His plans are well underway, happily harvesting innocent donor's organs. With mass audience appeal and international recognition, Patterson has established a niche market. By dipping into fantasy, instead of his formulaic mystery/suspense, Patterson may garner new fans of the Sci-Fi genre. Lake House is written in the abbreviated style that works for Patterson's fast paced mysteries, the text peppered with question marks, italicized words and exclamation points, a technique that doesn't allow for subtle definitions of characters. On the other hand, for those easily bored, Lake House is easy reading . Rest assured, we have not seen the last of this series. It is difficult to give an author's work less than three stars, but it is also necessary for each reviewer to establish his own criteria for the books reviewed. I look back on Patterson's earlier work, novels that I would look forward to reading in his particularly engaging style. Like many popular authors, constantly pressured by the market for more material, Patterson has turned out a huge number of books to meet the needs of his audience. I am willing to wait a little longer to read something of the same quality as his earliest novels. Luan Gaines/2003.
Rating: 
Summary: 3 1/2 unabridged audio
Review: See book summary above. I actually listened to the whole book on audio and it wasn't easy. I kept expecting something more.
It honestly sounded like a romance novel with just a little action. I read the first book of this series many, many books ago and didn't remember much of it...and this book certainly didn't refresh my memory much. If you like romance novels you'll somewhat enjoy this one (even though it's a ridiculous premise--Bird kids?. Yes I know it was all explained in the first novel, but still.) Hopefully Patterson will team up with a better author, such as he did with the novel "Jester", and I can start enjoying a Patterson book again.
Rating: 
Summary: A Little Gem of a Sequel
Review: James Patterson won my undying loyalty and admiration about ten years ago. The book that did it was KISS THE GIRLS, and the reason was in a way personal, and in another way not --- personal because having that book to read got me through one of the most difficult weekends of my life; not so personal because I suspect the very qualities of Patterson's prose that engaged and, in a sense, protected me on that weekend, are the same qualities that have brought about his huge success. He writes short chapters, which means that it is never particularly hard to find a place to put the book down, if you must. Conversely, he writes with a driving narrative force so that you are eager to return to the book as often as you can; you avidly desire to stay with it, to keep turning the pages quickly. Still, most of his books are lengthy enough so that you can take a nice long while to read them; thus, when you're done, you feel as if you have had a substantive, rewarding experience. You don't go away from a Patterson novel feeling cheated or hungry --- unless it's hungry for the next one. Serious James Patterson fans will likely find it as fascinating as I did (immediately after my experience with KISS THE GIRLS) to read his earliest books, which are readily available in paperback. These books, written before Patterson created his thriller series character Alex Cross, show his style developing along with his ability to portray characters and unfold plot. ALONG CAME A SPIDER, if you read in sequence with those earlier titles (which may be easily found through Bookreporter's link to James Patterson's Bibliography), shows an almost exponential leap forward ... and Patterson's success has been non-stop ever since. THE LAKE HOUSE is a sequel to WHEN THE WIND BLOWS; if you haven't read the first one it would be a good idea to purchase it and read them together, since WHEN THE WIND BLOWS is available in paperback at little expense. Both books are markedly different in substance, but not in style, from Patterson's earlier works; these are thrillers, yes, but they are of a different flavor and scope. I would call these stories cautionary futuristic fables. It might be good to remember that fables have a point to make more than an elaborate tale to tell. In other words, in a fable, the plot is simple by design. THE LAKE HOUSE picks up shortly after WHEN THE WIND BLOWS ended. The main character, Max (her full "name" is Maximum), is a hybrid, a bird-girl. She is the oldest of six, all genetically engineered bird-human hybrids who, in the first book, escaped from The School where they had been kept in extremely cruel conditions. Next to Max in age are Ozymandias and Icarus, called respectively Oz and Ick (Ick is blind) --- these three are teenagers, precocious in their adolescence. Matthew is Max's younger brother. Peter and Wendy, the youngest, are twins aged four. Of course they all have wings and can fly, but they are so stunningly beautiful that only the most heartless or ignorant person would call them freaks. Unfortunately, American culture has never been lacking for heartlessness and ignorance, and of such tensions books are made. The tale begins with the suspense of a custody trial. Though genetically engineered by the scientists of The School, the children nevertheless have biological mothers, with whom they were sent to live shortly after WHEN THE WIND BLOWS drew to a close. But remember, these kids are half-bird, so together they are a flock; further, like little birds, they have imprinted not on their biological parents but on Frannie and Kit, who were the first humans to love and befriend them. Frannie is a veterinarian and Kit is an FBI agent. We learn in the early pages of THE LAKE HOUSE that the only place the kids have ever felt safe was during their time with Frannie and Kit at a cabin by a lake --- yes, the house of the book title --- before the unimaginative, short-sighted courts dispersed them to their various biological parents. Led by Max, the kids want to reunite with Frannie and Kit, who have petitioned the courts for custody of all six. Frannie, a compassionate doctor of animal medicine, understands the bird children as no one else does. The fact that she and Kit are not married seems, to her, only a minor obstacle in this day and age --- but fictionally speaking, there are interesting romantic possibilities here. The judge who hears the custody case doesn't understand the stresses that the kids are under in a "normal" family, their deep-seated need to be together, or the danger they are all in. Only Max really understands the danger ... and she's not telling. But she is planning, and when the bad guy goes on the move, Max gathers the others and they fly away together. The chase is on. The bad guy is Dr. Ethan Kane, who survived the supposed destruction of The School at the end of WHEN THE WIND BLOWS. Now he has a project underway at The Hospital, a place so diabolical it makes The School look tame. Kane is a classic bad guy in Pattersonian mode, a truly chilling, teeth-grinding tension-producer. His project, Resurrection, is both evil and ingenious. The reason Max doesn't tell, until it's almost too late, is that she knows the likelihood of Resurrection is that none of the bird-children will make it out alive. "Resurrection" is thus the cruelest of ironies. The plot is mostly all chase --- please recall what was said earlier about fables being simple by design. During the chase there are pauses, and bits of beauty and tenderness, that frequent thriller readers will recognize as somewhat rare in the genre. In spite of potential grimness, the story is not a downer. The children's wings seem to be a symbol of hope so that I found myself wondering if Mr. Patterson knows the Emily Dickinson poem: "Hope is a thing with feathers/that sits inside the soul...." THE LAKE HOUSE is a little gem. Taken together with WHEN THE WIND BLOWS, which is already Patterson's bestselling book outside the United States, this is a tale for the child in all adults --- the child who delights in being scared by a story, all the more so when that same story also makes the child feel loved. --- Reviewed by Ava Dianne Day
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