Rating: 
Summary: Biblical Family Planning
Review: Hearing the title of James Patterson's latest release, "Cradle and All", I expected the story of a missing infant, distraught parents, family secrets and an eventual tearful reunion. I was unprepared for the deception of the benign title; it belies a literal tale of apocalyptic proportions, mixing biblical prophecy, Virgin births, priests and nuns, the Vatican and holy miracles with enough world-wide plague and pestilence to create the ultimate battle of good against evil.Annie, a former nun turned private investigator, is content with her present limited involvement with the Church, consisting of occasional investigations of sensitive matters. In the midst of an outbreak of "new polio", she is summoned by her old friend, a Cardinal, to handle a secretive and potentially dangerous crisis; she is told little more than it involves a pregnant teenager named Kathleen, who lives in Massachusetts and claims to be a virgin. Meeting and befriending Kathleen is a journey of faith and conscience for Annie, who must venture beyond her own skepticism, particularly when she learns of a second pregnant teen in Ireland, Colleen, who is also believed to be a virgin. Only then does Annie learn the magnitude of her assignment: to investigate whether the prophecy foretold by the Virgin Mother in Fatima in 1917 - that the child of God and the child of Satan would each be born to virgins - is becoming a present-day reality and whether the potential of such an event is behind the crises of sickness, famine and drought suddenly sweeping the earth. The resolution to this mystery shocks Annie (much as it does those of us following her pilgrimage), changes the course of her life and defines its purpose. I understand that "Cradle and All" is a re-working of Patterson's out-of-print novel, "Virgin". I am likely to go in search of that version of this story to see what Patterson felt the need to modify now. I highly recommend this work. Do not be mislead by the title or assume that it is similar to James Patterson's standard fare (which I always eagerly anticipate): this book is not a "light" read nor a "murder and mayhem" mystery. It deserves more thought (even introspection) than that... Many persons believe that we live in the "end times"; James Patterson presents such a scenario without becoming preachy or overtly threatening. However, the implications of his proposal are frightening in the world today, which is plagued too often by cynicism and a weakness of faith: what if the child of God and the child of Satan were each born on earth as human children? Would anyone recognize them now? Would anyone care?
Rating:
Summary: "Virgin" Redux
Review: Long before there was Alex Cross, before there were any spiders coming along, before any girls got kissed, before any nursery-rhyme murders took place, James Patterson wrote a book called "Virgin". It was about two teenage girls, both of whom were pregnant, both of whom were virgins. One carries the Savior in her womb, the other the spawn of Satan. Get the picture? It was one of Patterson's earlier efforts and it read like one. "Cradle and All" is the re-birth, if you will, of that earlier novel and the difference, to my mind, is light years. Patterson brings this early effort up to speed and modernizes it. This one contains mentions of the internet and even 'N Sync has a reference. But what he also brings is a more polished style of writing and that, I think, is all to the better for the reader. Sure, the story is more along the lines of a made for TV movie, but Patterson uses his usual bag of tricks - short, distinct chapters, lots of dialogue, and many changes of scene - to move the plot along. Anne Fitzgerald is a former nun now turned private eye. She is asked by the Cardinal of the Archdiocese of Boston to investigate, Kathleen, one of the virgins. She ends up going from being Kathleen's investigator to being Kathleen's protector. She does meet the other virgin, Colleen, who lives in Ireland (natch), but Colleen is investigated more by Father Rossetti, a priest from the Vatican, who is told the third and final secret of Fatima. And that's what get's everyone running. You know that you are in for a good time when the Cardinal asks Anne two questions right in a row" "Do you believe in God?" followed by "Do you still carry a gun?". Oh boy! Patterson adds an epilogue to this story that tends to tie the loose ends up a little better and the secret of "Who's who" or, perhaps, "Who isn't", is somewhat revealed with a clue early in the book. Still, Patterson goes great guns with the action. This is a good read for a rainy saturday afternoon. It has everything anyone would want: action, intrigue, supernatural elements, mystery, romance, cradle, and all. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: I liked it.
Review: In spite of what other reviewers have been saying about this book - I liked it.
It was not the typical Alex Cross detective novel. It is basically the battle between good and evil.
The ending was a nice little twist. Worth the time to read.
Rating:
Summary: cradel and all review by jason bookmaster zdon
Review: The cradel and all is an exellent book. It is a story about a beautiful blonde hair girl named Kathleen Beavier. She Is on the way to the docters office. But she finds out that she is pregnant but she has never slept with anyone. She was ether prude or just had old fashion morals but how could she be pregnant. Is it a sign from god? Kathy just seems to be a troubeld girl. In the beginning of the book when she is in the womens medical center is one of the creepist things i had ever read and i still get the goose bumps when i think about it. And There is this creepy soft voice that keeps messing with everyone in the book. Telling them to here themselves. Or to tell them how bad of person they are. Is it there concious? Our is it a supernatual form. Now another main character in the book is Anne fitzgeraid. She was a nun but she decided to be a private investagter. Anne was asked to go to los angelas to investagate the disease thats speading in los angelas and boston by one of her long time friends who is one of the cardinals in the cathlic church. So anne flys to los angelas and goes into the hospital to see nothing but kids in pain. They had a deasie like polio but none of the vacines were working on any of the kids. The same was happennig in boston and know one knows what is going on with this deasies.And in all of these cities people are dum founded by the epedemics, droughts, famine and floods. Hopefully youe take my edvice and read this book.Anne must find out what is going on with all this if she wants to save kathy. And herself. When you read this book you will be thinking is this a sign of good or evil. Or is the world going to end? Is the child inside of kathleen the devil or christ reborn to come and hurt or help us? Is anne going to figure out if whats going on maybe or maybe not. But i really enjoyed this book its one of the best books i've read and i really don't like to read my teacher said it was a good book so i gave it a shot and i enjoyed it. One other reason i really like this book is because very compelling and simple to follow. It is also a fast paces book and doesn't drag on it gets strat to the truth. The only thing that i didn't like about the book was how james jumped from character in the book. One thing people might obtain from this book is to appreciate life a little bit more. Because you don't know when life is going to throw you a curve ball when the four horsemen come for us. Thats if you belive in the bible. But i don't think this book is for anyone under the age of sixteen cause of the language and graphic ideas in the book.
Rating: 
Summary: A quick read and retreat
Review: This book was a very quick read and page turner. Extremely ludicrous but suspensful. It provided a well deserved escape that I needed while attending to my terminally ill husband at the hospice.
Rating: 
Summary: Patterson writes books for the retarded and cradle proves it
Review: Don't get me wrong. I used to love the James Patterson books when I was a kid since the two-page-length chapters kept my a.d.d like tendencies at drift. Unfortunately, Patterson has come up with a formula in all of his books and he refuses to deviate from it.
If the Patterson novel of choice does not deal with Alex Cross then you can expect the protagonist to be a buxom, romantically challenged female in her twenties to thirties whose dialogue consists of cliche. Then Patterson develops said protagonist by dropping a bunch of lame-ass product names into the protagonist's characterization.
When it comes to Cradle and All, one of the main characters, Kathleen Beavier, manages to describe what she is wearing in painful detail minutes before she arrives at an abortion clinic. Kathleen wears a Rolex Lady Datejust watch, washes her hair in Aveda shampoo, likes fatigue jackets, patterned skirts, and various Urban Outfitters apparel. At least Patterson hasn't sold out yet.
Another big problem I had with this problem is how women view themselves in this book. I know this is supposed to be a thriller and consequently character development takes backseat, but just listen to this. The protagonist in Cradle and All, Ann Fitzgerald, takes a bath right before her big investigation. Ok, so what's the big problem you're asking, right? This is how she describes herself when nude in front of the bathroom mirror and this is directly from the book: "I stared into the steamy pier glass, still awed, amazed, and amused that I'd emerged from my nun-y duckling feathers with what could pass as a model's body." Now I'm a guy and even I know that if you're a girl and you're not a completely conceited bitch, you notice about a million areas on your body you are totally insecure about. I mean what the hell??
I could go on and on but the fact is this is your typical formulaic Patterson tripe attempting to pass itself off as a credible novel. Let me just assure you that the surprise ending is no more surprising than the ends of all of his novels. If you have a speck of imagination you can pretty much figure out the ending halfway through. Read another Dan Brown book if you need to satiate that need for a popcorn novel.
Rating:
Summary: two births
Review: A story of two births that have a pretty good suspenseful ending. Religious skepticism is always a good thing to read about when mixed with with real facts. This was a good book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I've read practically every James Patterson novel, and this was certainly not his best. I love the Alex Cross series and most of his other works because they keep you guessing throughout the entire book. This novel, on the other hand, pretty much tells you the catch and simply repeats itself over and over from Part 2 until the ending. It was so messy that the act of reading it gradually became annoying. It is, however, a quick read (I finished it in less than a week) so even if it is a terrible novel, it doesn't waste too much of your time. By the way, the only reason that I give this book 2 stars and not 1 is because it did have a mildly ammusing epilogue.
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