Book Review: Along Came a Spider by James Patterson

I should be ashamed to admit this, but I just recently got around to reading James Patterson's Along Came a Spider. For those of you who weren't aware, this is the first book of the Alex Cross series, which has been going on for the past twenty years. This novel, originally published in 1992, started the nation's love affair with our hero, Alex Cross.

Here's the Goodreads summary for Along Came a Spider:

A missing little girl named Maggie Rose . . . a family of three brutally murdered in the projects of Washington, D.C. . . . the thrill-killing of a beautiful elementary school teacher . . . a psychopathic serial kidnapper/murderer who is so terrifying that the FBI, the Secret Service, and the police cannot outsmart him - even after he's been captured.

Gary Soneji wants to commit the crime of the century. Alex Cross is the brilliant homicide detective pitted against him. Jezzie Flanagan is the first female supervisor of the Secret Service who completes one of the most unusual suspense triangles in any thriller you have ever read.

Alex Cross and Jezzie Flanagan are about to have a forbidden love affair--at the worst possible time for both of them. Because Gary Soneji is playing at the top of his game. The latest of the unspeakable crimes happens in Alex Cross's precinct. It happens under the noses of Jezzie Flanagan's men. Now Alex Cross must face the ultimate test: How do you outmaneuver a brilliant psychopath?

I am also ashamed to admit that this book...just didn't really do it for me. It lacks the excitement I've come to know and love in Patterson's novels. It doesn't examine Alex as a person as much as his modern day novels do. Also, I really didn't like Jezzie from the get-go. I even struggled with the case, because it wasn't all that exciting to me.

This book was made into a movie, too, in 2001. Morgan Freeman plays Alex Cross. This is definitely a movie I would like to watch!

Bottom line, this is a good read, but certainly not my favorite Alex Cross novel so far (actually, my favorite so far is Kiss the Girls).

This book did put me over my page goal for 2012, though! Here are my stats:
Along Came a Spider by James Patterson
Rating: 3/5
Pages: 449
2012 Reading Goal: 15,259/15,000