For those that have read all of the James Patterson, Alex Cross novels...

[amyrose2712]

I have recently decided to start from the beginning and at first I loved them. Couldn't read the first 2 fast enough. Halfway into the third and most of the fourth I started to find them very predictable. I am wondering if they get better or should I stop now. I hate when I can figure out the ending of something from the get go. It happens way to often in films and tv shows. For example, this past season of Dexter. So many people we shocked by the twists in the story, but I saw every bit of it coming, down to the last cliff-hanger second. It's a gift......and a curse.

[fadedrose]

1. They were good, but too easy

I like something a bit more challenging. You're advancing and ready for something harder..

I read a couple of the Patterson books, and agree with your assessment...

The most recent of the 1000 posts listing favorite authors are posted by clyrc and motely36. Give'em a looksee. DUGosh's weekly lists always have something good to try.

If you go back to DU, the old DU, you'll find so many you'd like...

[amyrose2712]

2. I'm not sure how to get there,

yes they were quite easy. But at the time I was trying for something fun that didn't make me think too much. I have not read much fiction. So much of my reading has been political, historical and environmental. Much of it painful and upsetting. Ya know. Thanks for the feedback.

[fadedrose]

3. Try this link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=208

Don't know if it'll work or not. Your password should work, I think...

[Little Star]

4. I really enjoyed the first ...

10 or 11 Alex Cross Novels.

They started going down hill for me when Cross, Double Cross, Cross Country, etc. started. I read 2 or 3 of those and that was enough for me. Patterson seemed to have dried up of good ideas for this series.


I guess they entertained me a bit longer than you but eventually I found them BORING.

[vanlassie]

5. I stopped James Pattetrson cold when he had

two men, on different parts of the country, kidnapping young women and holding them somewhere underground, and then one thought it would be interesting to send a snake with it's mouth sewn shut into a woman's vagina. I threw that book in the garbage. Talk about "no redeeming value." I don't care if they got caught in the end- this is too sick for me.

[MaineDem]

6. I liked the earlier Cross books

But, lately, I agree, they have become very predictable. I haven't read the latest yet and I'm not sure I will.

[Princess Turandot]

7. Have you read any jeffery deaver?

IMO he's at the top of the suspense writers list, in terms of keeping the outcome up in the air until that last period.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. You're ready for something a bit more sophisticated

When writers get too popular and start cranking out the books, they're in danger of matching Truman Capote's remark, "That's not writing. That's typing."

Have you read any of Sue Grafton's "alphabet" series? John Sandford's "prey" series? Jonathan Kellerman's books about the psychiatrist who's a consultant to the police? Those would be good next steps after James Patterson.

[TBF]

9. I like "the Jester" by Patterson (and Gross) but not much use for the rest ...

too predictable and sometimes just plain crazy.

Do you like British mysteries? I love Peter Robinson's Alan Banks series - here is a description of the first one:

Gallows View (Inspector Banks #1)
by Peter Robinson

Former London policeman Alan Banks relocated to Yorkshire seeking some small measure of peace. But depravity and violence are not unique to large cities. His new venue, the quaint little village of Eastvale, seems to have more than its fair share of malefactors, among them a brazen Peeping Tom who hides in night's shadows spying on attractive, unsuspecting ladies as they prepare for bed. And when an elderly woman is found brutally slain in her home, Chief Inspector Banks wonders if the voyeur has increased the intensity of his criminal activities. But whether related or not, perverse local acts and murderous ones are combining to profoundly touch Banks's suddenly vulnerable personal life, forcing a dedicated law officer to make hard choices he'd dearly hoped would never be necessary.