**Thank you Sean Comstock at Little, Brown & Co. for sending me this ARC**

I enjoyed this, despite it being overly predicatble. Image a horror movie where you know that if the person goes in the room, he’s going to be killed so, so you yell at the scream not to, and double that. I was just able to see the twist coming from the beginning, and was not truly thrilled when it was finally revealed. But other than that, I liked it. But I’ve been a fan of Patterson’s for a while now, so hey…I’m kind of biased. The story follows Patterson’s usual quick pace and lightning fast action. It’s a normal Patterson novel, short-but-not-so-sweet just mad even shorter with his new BookShots promotion, novels under 150 pages at the speed of life. And it was at the speed of life. I brought this to school with me today knowing I was in a time crunch to read and review it, so I brought is on a whim to read as much as I could during free periods. I finished the entire thing in what I think accumulated into an hour. Not bad. The BookShots idea is convenient, especially for students and people who know that they are going to be waiting around and do not want to carry around a huge hunky books, not that those aren’t great or anything. But speaking as a teen in high school who works on the side, carrying a tiny book like this around is refreshing. So, I will say I enjoyed the BookShots format. I would be interested in reading more in this fashion, to say the least. Though, it does pain me to say that I can easily picture these being sold at checkout lines next to magazines and in small cardboard racks in 7-11s. That to me just seems like it is cheapening reading, as well as promoting. Anyway, ignore me.

Unlike a good Patterson enthusiast, I have only read four books in the Alex Cross series, but that did not hinder my reading experience at all. I was able to follow the plot for the most part, with minimal confusing clouding my reading experience, so I call that a win. I enjoy books in a series that I can read without reading (many) of the other books to understand. So, try this if you want to advance a bit further into the Alex Cross saga. The story is gripping all the same, and you get the real feel of the Patterson writing style, just less for less.

Overall, I enjoyed it. I would read more like this. It was a typical James Patterson read. I think more people will get involved with this quick reading movement through this, so fingers crossed. I would recommend this to just about any reader. I was lucky to receive an ARC to do this, so thanks to Comstock for the opportunity.

Thanks for acting like you’re paying attention.

All quotes pulled from the novel, and included bonus content.

Excelsior.