About
Reviews
Search
Submit
Home

Mystery Books for Sale

[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]


  

STEP ON A CRACK
by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge
Little, Brown, February 2007
400 pages
$27.99
ISBN: 0316013943


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

New York City hostage negotiator Mike Bennett is doing his best trying to keep the Christmas season happy for his ten adopted children, but it isn't easy. His wife Maeve is in the hospital, dying from cancer. Mike is bringing up his children with the help of his grandfather Seamus.

When the former President of the US Stephen Hopkins's wife dies from a peanut allergy while eating in a restaurant, the whole world is devastated. A large funeral is prepared for her at New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral. Many famous dignitaries and entertainment stars are going to be there.

Once the crowd is in the cathedral, the doors are secretly locked and the keys are broken off in the keyholes to make sure no one can escape. Then a dozen 'monks' walk down the aisles and they reveal weapons. The people are told no one will be hurt if they just follow directions.

Mike is called to negotiate with the leader of the terrorists, Jack. Jack is a calm man who knows exactly what he is doing. He lets most of the hostages leave the church but holds 30 people inside including: a famous pop singer, the Mayor of New York, a popular comedian, a talk show host, and an aging trendsetter.

It is up to Mike to make sure that all the hostages are released unharmed and to find out why Jack is doing this and who Jack really is.

The storyline on STEP ON A CRACK is interesting and the setting of St. Patrick's Cathedral is different. There are a few good twists here and I wanted to know who Jack was and how he planned to get away. Even though I was able to figure a few things out, I did enjoy the book.

STEP ON A CRACK is James Patterson's newest novel and he wrote it along with Michael Ledwidge. But if Patterson is trying to start a new series with a new character, I think he should consider a new formula. Even though the main character, Mike Bennett, is not supposed to be Patterson's Alex Cross from the wildly popular Alex Cross series, the only difference between the two characters is the name. There should be more things different between Bennett and Cross instead of just making one man African American and the other white, and having one live in Washington, DC and the other in New York City.

Both Bennett and Cross are successful detectives and negotiators. One is helped to raise his family by his grandmother and the other by his grandfather. Patterson has the talent to weave a good story but the similarities between Bennett and Cross are too close.

If you are a Patterson fan, definitely read this book. But there's nothing actually new here. You can easily interchange this new character's name for Alex Cross.

Reviewed by Sharon Katz, December 2006

[ Top ]


QUICK SEARCH:

 

Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]