6th Target

The latest James Patterson novel featuring the Women's murder club leaves the reader with a sense of utter disappointment. There was no strong projection of the plot and the central story was a chain of three different murder cases- each disjoint from the other. None of the Women's murder club" girls were given a decent chance to project their strong individual personalities. Well finish it I did, like I always do of all his books. Surprisingly thrillers make me do that even though sometimes the ending is quite evident.

To sum up, this was nothing close to any of the Alex Cross series (the Alex Cross series was getting repetitive and predictable, btw).

So moving on to James Patterson's books....there is a story behind my initiation into reading his books. When I first moved to Virginia, on a transfer from down south, the only person I knew at work was my director C. He lived in Philly and would drive to DC every Monday and drive back on Thursdays. He lived in a studio apt for the week and would stock up on books and music to tide him through the week. So when I moved and had settled down, he stopped by one day to ask how I was doing. And the first thing I told him was that I was settled otherwise except that I was looking for the closest library to get a membership from. So that same day, at lunch time, he drove me to the county library where I gleefully got my membership.

When the paperwork was done and I proudly held on to my card, he had checked out about 4-5 books...............all James Patterson's!!!

Well, with my curiosity aroused, I had to ask about the author and his books. C, as is evident, was a big fan of his. So he made me borrow my first James Patterson novel(my memory fails me as to which one it was! but it was surely an Alex Cross one). And so I got hooked. The best part of the story is that psychopaths and serial killer mysteries so had me engrossed that I finished all of his books within 2 months!!!!

I was even more encouraged because it was a sure topic for hallway conversation with C where we'd exchange books or even review them. At one point he was lagging so far behind , I remember he sat overnight to finish a couple of them JUST so he was caught up with me. I am quite sure if it weren't for that kind of reading company and constant goading, I'd never have gone this far. It wasn't that I was into psychopaths and serial killer mysteries that much, but it was definitely suspense-worthy for an attention-deficit person like me to hang on till the end.

And thus ends the tale. Now I have moved onto to better and more challenging employment opportunities and have lost track of C, but recall him, I do, every time I read a James Patterson novel.

So C, if you are out there AND miraculously happen to read this post AND haven't read 6th Target YET, then firstly don't! and secondly nya nya nya me first, AGAIN! ;)

Next in the reading cart (rubbing hands) : Khalid Hosseini's "A thousand splendid suns".