Rating: 
Summary: Not Patterson's Best
Review: This is James Patterson's first book and I am happy to report he does get better. I am a huge fan of JP's - I have read all of his Alex Cross and Murder Club books...now I am going back to some of his older books. If I had started with this book I am not sure I would have read any more of his books.The THOMAS BERRYMAN NUMBER is not very well written. It tells the story of a hitman through the eyes of several people. It jumps from 'present' day back to the past and back again. It tells the same story from different perspectives. At times this style is very hard to follow. He introduces too many characters and it is hard to keep up with everyone and their relationship to the story. The main story line is good but the style of telling the story is confusing and difficult to read. If you want to read James Patterson - try one of his Alex Cross books, they are wonderful. Skip this one!!
Rating:
Summary: Not Patterson's Best
Review: This is James Patterson's first book and I am happy to report he does get better. I am a huge fan of JP's - I have read all of his Alex Cross and Murder Club books...now I am going back to some of his older books. If I had started with this book I am not sure I would have read any more of his books. The THOMAS BERRYMAN NUMBER is not very well written. It tells the story of a hitman through the eyes of several people. It jumps from 'present' day back to the past and back again. It tells the same story from different perspectives. At times this style is very hard to follow. He introduces too many characters and it is hard to keep up with everyone and their relationship to the story. The main story line is good but the style of telling the story is confusing and difficult to read. If you want to read James Patterson - try one of his Alex Cross books, they are wonderful. Skip this one!!
Rating: 
Summary: A Difficult Read
Review: This was a disjointed and confusing story. By the time I came to the end, I really didn't care how it all came about
Rating: 
Summary: Not the usual James Patterson but okay.
Review: This was James Patterson's first novel. It also won the Edgar Allen Poe award in 1976 I believe. It had a pretty good plot although I thought it was very predictable. Maybe that's the way it was meant to be? I have no clue. But I do know that now JP's books are usually entirely unpredictable. But this is excellent for a first book. Hell, most authors sound like they're in second grade when they wrote their first novels. This actually got a little confusing at times. Maybe that's also a trait of new authors. Again, I'm not positive. What I did like about this book a lot was the fact how fast it read. It's under 300 pages and the chapters are extremely short. I thought this book was a little better than three stars but still not worthy of the fourth. If I had read and reviewed this back in the 70's, I would have said all the things I said about the actual story itself. But, I would've added that I bet this guy'll be one of the best story tellers in the next fifteen years. Now, obviously, I'm not going to say that because I believe he's all ready established that position in my mind. And certainly in the minds of thousands of others. If you like James Patterson I'd recommend reading this just for the history of the writer and to see how he has developed over the years. Just don't go into this book expecting his best story. If you do that, you should come out satisfied that you did take the time to read it.
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