Rating: 
Summary: Creeping and crawling.
Review: The characters are colorful and interesting, the plot line is full of twists and intrigue, and I really enjoyed the book. James Patterson has a wonderful protagonist in Dr. Cross, and his villains are exceptional.
The book, as is usually the case, is far better than the movie version, although the movie is good as well. You must read the book, but see the movie only if you want. If you've read the book first, you might be disappointed with the film.
Rating: 
Summary: Two and a half actually - not what I expected
Review: I'm one of those people who first saw the movie and then read the novel. I must say I absolutely loved the movie and wished the book would be just as good. The problem is that the events in this book span for so LONG (events take place in a period of almost two years). There actually are pretty good suspense scenes, but they are buried among pages and pages of Cross's reflections. I'm not saying this is bad -actually Alex Cross is one of the better constructed fiction characters I have ever come across- but it really slows down the action.I do agree entirely with one of the reviewers who wrote that the love scenes were tedious and one too many. Maybe it's because the book is so different from the movie (actually the movie just takes the beginning of the novel and then goes on it's own way until the end) or because I rather enjoy Jeffery Deaver's extremely fast paced Lincoln Rhyme novels, but this book didn't do it for me. This is my second Patterson/Cross novel. The first one was Pop Goes the Weasel which I didn't found that good either. I'd like to give the author another shot by reading Roses are Red or Cat and Mouse which seem to be the best books in the series but I just hope they are more of the "roller coaster ride" other reviewer's talk about.
Rating: 
Summary: So Bad even your Whey will Curdle
Review: A U.S. Senator's daughter is kidnapped from a tony upper-class private school in Washington D.C. Dr. Alex Cross (Morgan Freeman) becomes involved in the case when the perpetrator plants some evidence in his mailbox. Dr. Cross teams up with a beautiful Secret Service agent (Monica Potter) who was working on a security detail at the private school (to look over the welfare of another student -- the son of the Russian President). Together these two crime fighters piece together clues that apparently point to a highly intellectual and challenging criminal oppenent: Gary Soneji (played by Michael Wincott). This movie is being marketed as a kind of prequel to the movie Kiss The Girls, starring Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman -- who played Dr. Cross, a retired forensic detective who is called on a difficult case to track the whereabout of a Congessman's daughter who was kidnapped by a sexual predator. Morgan Freeman also starred as a criminal detective in David Fincher's film Seven (also starring Brad Pitt), and it seems that he has found an acting role that many find appealing -- playing a quiet, extremely thoughtful, criminal profiler, a kind of modern day Sherlock Holmes. That being said, Along Came a Spider looked like a promising thriller, but it turns into an ugly mess in a very short time. Almost every hunch that Dr. Cross ponders turns out to be correct. Almost everytime the kidnapper is cornered, red herrings (something used to confuse the viewer and turn the attention away from the basic issue) are thrown out. As the movie chugs to its "dramatic" conclusion, any tension that the director worked to produce in the audience evaporates when it becomes obvious that trust was invested in the wrong person. That's about all that I can say about the surprise ending. Current advertisements for this movie caution those who have seen it to "not give the ending away." Yes, this movie has a "surprise" ending (although I question that claim) and ostensibly the producers of this film want to lure new viewers into the theater by building extra intrigue into the movie -- ala the famous and long-running London stage play "Mousetrap" (Agatha Christie's whodunnit play).
Rating: 
Summary: Patterson ALWAYS leaves us on the edge of our seat
Review: Patterson does it once again with another #1 bestseller... Along came a Spider is most certianly a keeper and if you haven't read it, I strongly recommend you do. Patterson takes you into a kidnappers mind. The thoughts and character of the kidnapper comes out as if he/she decribes every action and thought they have to you in person. Patterson once again uses the prestigious detective Alex Cross to solve a horrifying kidnapping/homicied case. A little girl and boy both with wealthy and well known parents are kidnapped. At the time Cross is dealing with murders in D.C. He works on the case with FBI agent Kyle Craig and Secert Service agent Jezzi Flanagan. Cross deals with family problems while trying to slove the case. He begins to grow feelings toward Jezzi which later cause doubt and frustration toward the case and his life. Patterson gets into Cross's family life and how his work causes conflicts. There are many twist and turns that he takes you on through out the novel. From family life to procedures on a crime scene and tention with the victims familes. In the end its as real as you believe it to be and Patterson makes it as if you were there. Its hard to stop reading. Patterson uses suspense and death to keep us turing page after page until there is nothing left to turn. The Alex Cross Series never fail and always amaze. With several #1 bestsellers Patterson does it again with Along Came A Spider. He can grab your thirst for thirll and suspense and turn it into and addiction toward his novels. I looking forward to the next adventurous suspense flight of his creative mind, that he puts on paper for us.
Rating:
Summary: Patterson ALWAYS leaves us on the edge of our seat
Review: Patterson does it once again with another #1 bestseller. As a High school student reading is not a number one priority on my daily list. I never found a book that could grab my intrest and keep it. Then my mother was explaining a Patterson book to me and i was amazed that a book could really be that intersting. Now all I read is James Patterson Books. Along came a Spider is most certianly a keeper and if you haven't read it, I strongly recommend you do. Patterson takes you into a kidnappers mind. The thoughts and character of the kidnapper comes out as if he/she decribes every action and thought they have to you in person. Patterson once again uses the prestigious detective Alex Cross to solve a horrifying kidnapping/homicied case. A little girl and boy both with wealthy and well known parents are kidnapped. At the time Cross is dealing with murders in D.C. He works on the case with FBI agent Kyle Craig and Secert Service agent Jezzi Flanagan. Cross deals with family problems while trying to slove the case. He begins to grow feelings toward Jezzi which later cause doubt and frustration toward the case and his life. Patterson gets into Cross's family life and how his work causes conflicts. There are many twist and turns that he takes you on through out the novel. From family life to procedures on a crime scene and tention with the victims familes. In the end its as real as you believe it to be and Patterson makes it as if you were there. Its hard to stop reading. Patterson uses suspense and death to keep us turing page after page until there is nothing left to turn. The Alex Cross Series never fail and always amaze. With several #1 bestsellers Patterson does it again with Along Came A Spider. He can grab your thirst for thirll and suspense and turn it into and addiction toward his novels. I looking forward to the next adventurous suspense flight of his creative mind, that he puts on paper for us.
Rating:
Summary: Along Came a Spider
Review: Catchy title; too bad the psychothriller behind it--despite the publisher's big push--is a mostly routine tale of cop vs. serial-killer. And it's really too bad for Patterson (The Midnight Club, 1988, etc.) that William Diehl's new thriller, Primal Fear (reviewed above), covers some of the same territory with superior energy and skill. A few charms lift this above run-of-the-mill: Patterson's hero, D.C. psychologist/cop Alex Cross, is black, while his lover, Secret Service honcho Jezzie Flanagan, is white; and the narrative moves briskly by cutting between Cross's ambling account and a sharper third-person tracking, mostly of the killer's movements. He is Gary Soneji--a nobody living a deceptively quiet life as Gary ``Murphy''--who has killed 200 people and now wants to commit the Crime of the Century and become Somebody: Soneji/Murphy snatches the daughter of a top actress and the son of the US secretary of the treasury. Enter Cross and Flanagan, whose bad luck at finding kids and kidnapper--who, taunting the cops, kills an FBI agent and gets away with a $10-million payoff, while one of the kids turns up dead--changes only when Soneji/Murphy, cracking up, holds hostage to a McDonald's and is wounded by a cop. Here, Patterson's tale begins to mirror Diehl's: Soneji/Murphy turns out to suffer from the same sensational psychosis as Diehl's villain; and in the ensuing trial, Soneji/Murphy's lawyer pursues a defense similar to that of Diehl's attorney-hero. But where Diehl's villain roars on the page, Soneji/Murphy barely smirks; and while Diehl's courtroom crackles with intelligence, Patterson's is almost transcript-dull. Patterson does wind up, however, with a fine noir twist. Cross is a likable hero, but with a watery plot and weak villain--Hannibal Lecter would eat Soneji for breakfast--he doesn't have much to work with here.
Rating:
Summary: A Well-Written Mystery With Lots of Excitement!
Review: I enjoyed this book, the first of Patterson's Alex Cross stories. The book was very exciting and well written about a psychopath who kidnaps and kills people. The story begins with the character who is the crazy guy, Gary Soneji/Murphy who has multiple severe personality disorders along with being a complete nut-case due to his terrible childhood. Gary Soneji/Murphy plays a school teacher at a day-school for rich kids when his intent is really to kidnap and kill the Dunne/Goldberg children. And finally, one day he lured the children into his van and kidnaps them, drugging one and eventually killing the other child. This kidnapping has the whole DC area up in arms, and Alex Cross works day and night to capture Soneji/Murphy, but he doesn't do that until he kills a few more people in different places. His whole game throughout the book is that he "Wants to be Somebody." He is the master of killing, and he enjoys the game. Alex Cross trys to help all he can, and he gets inside Soneji/Murphy's head and gets him to tell him all of his horrible little secrets after Soneji gets captured the first time and put into prison. Later though, Soneji escapes from prison and causes more problems. More than just Soneji/Murphy though, is an accomplice. Alex fell in love with a female detective on his team, not realizing that she is actually the one behind more of these problems with the kidnappings and knows the answers to what happened with the children. Cross puts the puzzle all together, and the book is very fast moving and keeps you guessing what will happen next!
Rating:
Summary: Thrill to please
Review: A pleasantly written suspense novel, masterfully thought out turn of events, much insight into a deranged mind and its consequences. I like the short chapters, almost everyone filled with a surprise. Great reading, very entertaining. I will read James Patterson again. Gerborg
Rating:
Summary: Fast-paced and Fun!
Review: Great plot, believable characters, and not overly wordy.
I read this novel and watched the movie and hated the movie so if you saw the movie first, just remember the movie is terrible compared to the book. The movie had a large number of unbelievable concepts, which thankfully the book did not include. The only annoyance was the 80+ chapters with 3 or 4 page chapters. All in all, the book was fun but they didn't need to waste so much paper with the big bold words: "Chapter #". heh POSSIBLE SPOILER:
Last comment on the book is that Patterson gives away a little too much information in the part where Jezzie is in North Carolina with another man besides Alex. It spoiled everything so I'll drop it a star just for that.
Rating:
Summary: THE ORIGINAL AND THE BEST!!!
Review: The villains are notorious and the plot twists are legendary in the first Alex Cross novels. This remains Patterson's best work and the closest he ever came to topping this was 'Kiss the Girls'. Nasty serial killer Gary Soneji (even the name sounds scary) kidnaps two kids from a school in Washington DC. But they're not just any kids. They belong to those of a US senator and actor and then the manhunt for Gary Soneji begins. This was Patterson at his peak. His characyers were well developed, unlike his earlier novels, and Alex Cross especially. In this one he's portrayed as a black detective who struggles to raise his kids in the ghettos of Washington. In his later ones, he's just desperate and dateless, not unlike Ally Mcbeal. I was rather dissapointed with the movie adaption, but hey, that's Hollywood.
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