On the last round of $4.95 sales I bought two books. Still Life with Crows (Pendergast, Book 4)
and 1st to Die (The Women's Murder Club)
I'd read/listened to the earlier Pendergast books. I like them, though I did figure out the big surprise of this one a bit before the big reveal, the action was enough to keep me listening, and even motivate me to find something physical to do so I could KEEP listening. It was weird, highly improbable and sometimes really disgusting, but entertaining! You do have to start with the first of the Pendergast books to get some of the references, but it stands alone very well. If you like weird and sometimes gross (though somehow not as gross as Stephen King) it's a good read/listen.
1st to Die was my first James Patterson. It's also my last. I do understand that Alex Cross is his major character, and Kiss the Girls (Alex Cross)
and Along Came a Spider (Alex Cross)
were wildly successful and became movies. I didn't read those books but I didn't mind the movies, they were somewhat entertaining and were over in 2 hours. This book was just freaking painful - lame, cliched, hackneyed, tedious, predictable...like the author, I don't have a thesaurus handy and am running out of synonyms for SUCKED. I wasn't expecting more than an entertaining summer read, and I was really surprised that it sucked to this extreme of suck.
If this man is a bestselling author none of us have any excuse - his finished product is no better written than the entirely unedited and sometimes wine-powered 1st drafts I produce here. He should at least buy a thesaurus with the shitload of money he rakes in. I feel good about ending my sentences in prepositions now, because he does it on every freaking page. The science, the law, the wildly unethical concept of the police and the DA and the press all hanging out in a girly club because the boys don't appreciate them, ARRRRGHHHH!!!! And why the hell are there 100+ "chapters" in a book that runs 8 hours in unabridged audio?
The opening of the book is the narrator holding a gun to her own head, contemplating suicide. I stuck with the story while walking the dogs, mildly curious about what led her to that moment. I now think she figured out she was going to be trapped in a series of really shitty books.
P.S.: I finished the Patterson book while walking the dogs last night and I want that 8 hours of my life back. I slogged through to the bitter end to see how he resolved the dramatic opening moments when the improbably young and of course beautiful police inspector had her gun to her head. Answer: He didn't. The attempted suicide is shrugged off with a one sentence dismissal - she couldn't go through with it because of her dog. No explanation of what led her to consider it in the first place. Ditto the drama of her life-threatening blood disorder - suddenly it's all FINE - that bit of dramatic tension was no longer needed so, nevermind! This was a horrendously bad book, and wildly successful. Never again.
Does your local library offer audio books for check out? In Iowa, there is a network of public libraries that offers audio books that you can download to your computer over the net, and then transfer to a player, like an iPod. I like to listen while I knit, so I just listen to them from my laptop. The same network also offers eBooks you can borrow and send to your Nook or Kindle. They don't have allot of old books, but I was able to get "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," (which I hated), and the latest Eric Larsen book on my Kindle. I just started using it, so I'm still learning about it, but it is very convenient to have 24/7 access to library materials, especially since you don't have to leave your house (or put on outside clothes) to get them. The files delete themselves from your device when they are due, so if the weather is bad or you can't get to the library for some reason, you don't have to worry about returning the stuff.
ReplyDeleteBrenda
Municipal libraries may be THE thing I most miss about living in the States. Besides my family, of course.
ReplyDeleteThe library does have audio books and e-books, but just as with the paper books, if it's worth reading there's a long wait list.
ReplyDeleteI've never read James Patterson either. Thanks to you I don't have to try one. I am amazed at the number of my friends who can't wait for the next one. Perhaps they take some getting used to. But with so much good stuff out there why bother?
ReplyDeleteMy introduction to James Patterson was via the movies, which were better written than the books. I am not a fussy picky reader (though I know I sound that way here when I do a random review) but this was just excrutiating, from concept through execution. At one point the heroine had to get a piece of paper from the court to get a document from a third party, and he danced all around the name of that piece of paper, calling it this and that, and I was screaming, "SUBPOENA! The word you are groping for is subpoena! NOT a 'court document', not a 'paper' - honestly, he danced around the proper word for it so hard, I decided he didn't even do ANY basic research. And yet, he makes waaay more money than I ever will churning out this dreck! Of course, so do the Kardasians, just by breathing.
ReplyDeleteThe money making mantra is "Find a niche,and fill it." and I guess he's found one - both he and the Kardasians. Every time I see or type that last name, I think of the Horrid Star Trek Nemesis race. Thanks for the great review!
ReplyDeleteI've wondered if the Cardassians were an inside Hollywood dig at the Kardasians. At least the Cardassians had intelligence and a kind of creepy, dangerous charm. The Kardasians are just fame whores who endorse nail polish colors and whatever for a quick buck. I'd like them better if they had the brains to be Cardassians, but they make buckets of money while being dumb as bricks and not NEARLY as deep.
ReplyDeletePS: For those who may read and want to swoop in to correct me, I do know that STNG predated the Kardasian Girls' fame. You have to go back to their father's fame as a high-powered Hollywood attorney to wonder if it was an homage/dig. ;-)
ReplyDeleteHeehee. I think you are right there, Mz C.
ReplyDelete