Quite Contrary

After eleven books, it's getting quite impossible for Alex Cross to function properly. He has stopped murders, criminal masterminds, and terrorists. In the real world, he would be up there to Dr. Baden, the famous forensic pathologists, but an LAPD officer doesn't know him from Adam. That's the difference between the fake world and the real world.
The written word isn't just for intellectuals. Take Harry Potter.
But those books are written for children. James Patterson should know better.
His latest work, Mary, Mary, has its moments, but it feels like it should have had a better editor. He presents a list of characters who might be potential suspects and even suggest the possible of a female serial killer. Mary, Mary would have worked better if Patterson had decided to focus entirely on the plot and leave the subplots (especially those with Cross and his family) alone.
Morgan Freeman has played the character twice in Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider. It's not hard to picture anyone else but Freeman. If he's smart, he would option this book for the next Alex Cross movie. Cross has sex with two women in this book and dates a third. Go Doc.
Welcome to Hollywood where a serial killer is going after famous people. Enter Alex Cross, the famous criminal psychologist, who can solve cases but can't keep his family life running normal. His vacations are interrupted by his work. He's in the middle of a custody case with his youngest son. Things aren't going smoothly.
But who cares?! We all know it's going to work out in the end (it does, with little explanation.)
However, the best parts of the book are when Cross and his colleagues are tracking the killer who goes by the psuedonym "Mary Smith."
I like the title, because we are dealing with two Marys, but I won't tell anymore.
But there are a few loopholes that Patterson doesn't clear up, like what really happened at Disneyland on the It's a Small World ride and what's the explanation of that hair in the movie theater.
Those who are unfamiliar with Patterson's writing might feel like Mary, Mary is an easy read. His chapters are 2-3 pages long on average and he writes one-line paragraphs. The book moves from first-person with Cross to third person omniscient.
Mary, Mary isn't the smartest book to come out here lately but it does propose some interesting ideas. I just wish Patterson didn't write the book like he was fulfilling some contract obligations. Parts of it feel rushed. At times, I felt like I was reading of some work from a person who just began a creative writing course at a community college.
The ending hints that Patterson might be ending things for Cross as he goes into retirement. But as long as Patterson's book keep selling, he will keep writing. And writing he has. I just wished his Alex Cross novels would return to what they once were.