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Mostly Fiction BOOK REVIEWS
 

James Patterson

MICHAEL BENNETT- Father of 10 Adopted Children and NYPD Detective, New York City
--- Jump to read review of 1st to Die and more in the series ---

"Step on a Crack"

(Reviewed by Chuck Barksdale FEB 27, 2007)

 “She just died,” she said.  “Caroline Hopkins just died.”

The Neat Man felt dizzy for a second.  Like the wind had been knocked right out of him.  He blinked rapidly as he shook his head, stunned and elated.  “No,” he said.  “Are you sure?”

The overwrought paramedic sobbed as she suddenly embraced him. “Ay Dios mio! She was a saint.   All the work she did for the poor people and AIDS.  One time, she came to my mother’s project in the Bronx, and we shook her hand like she was the queen of England.  Her Service America campaign was one of the reasons I became a paramedic.  How could she be dead?”

 “Lord knows,” the Neat Man said soothingly. “But she’s in His hands now, isn’t she?"

Step on a Crack by James Patterson

New York City detective Michael Bennett, father of ten adopted children, has been having difficulty working and taking care of his family while dealing with the fatal illness of his wife Maeve when his life gets even more complicated when masked gunmen take hostage all the rich and famous people attending the funeral of Caroline Hopkins, the beloved wife of the former U.S. President Stephen Hopkins. 

Read an excerpt from 2nd ChanceDespite Bennett’s obvious need to be with his family, the crisis at the St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and Bennett’s skill and experience, make him a required man at the scene.  When the police’s main hostage negotiator obviously fails in his attempt to intimidate Jack, the leader of the captors, Bennett quickly takes over and sooths Jack into working with the police.  At first, Jack is calm and only seems to want money transferred into his account from all the rich people he has locked in with him at the church.  After letting go the lesser known, and presumably poorer funeral attendees, he even lets the former President go.  However, things take a few bad turns especially after an attempt to enter the church from an unknown underground tunnel fails, leading to the death of one of the captors.  This increases the tension as a few famous people end up dead and thrown out of the church. 

Jack, the inside leader, communicates through a dedicated and pre-installed phone line with the Neat Man, a fastidious man who also appears to be a germophobe, and true leader who works from the outside and apparently very near the action.  We don’t find out who the Neat Man is until the end of the book, although I suspect Patterson gives clues throughout the book.  From the outside the Neat Man is the one who warns Jack about the police’s planned attempt to enter the church from the tunnel.

As the police work to gather the requested millions of dollars from all the various business and family members of the hostages, Bennett does get to spend some time with his family.  This includes the amazing Irish au pair, Mary Catherine, sent by Maeve’s parents to help out as well as Michael’s crusty but generally helpful, grandfather Seamus.  Their help is especially needed since the captors keep the hostages in through Christmas.

Patterson and Ledwidge are obviously playing with the reader’s emotions by creating the near saint-like and dying wife of detective Michael Bennett and putting both of them and the children in an extremely depressing situation.  Of course, she handles it better than anyone can and her masterful handling of her children and husband despite the illness is somewhat incredible.  Nonetheless, it mostly works as you just can’t resist the charm of Maeve and her children.

James Patterson’s Step on a Crack is a good start on a new series and I’m definitely looking forward to more.  Patterson and Ledwidge have created many interesting characters, in particular Michael Bennett and his family, along with Bennett’s co-workers. The book (and presumably future books) is told in both the first person of Michael Bennett and the third person perspective of several other key characters when Bennett is not present.

I’m sure I’m not alone on slowing down in the reading of Patterson’s books as he has branched out to often using other writers to help with his books.  This tendency and his seemingly weekly addition to the bestseller list made me shy away from him for many years.  I originally became a fan after reading Patterson’s first Alex Cross book, Along Came a Spider (1992), shortly after it was published and eagerly went back to the then mostly unknown early books, but hadn’t really read much of Patterson since Roses are Read in early 2003. (Black Market (1986) was probably my favorite of his early books but I almost didn’t finish Season of the Machete (1977).)  I’m glad I gave Step on a Crack a chance as it had much of what I remember of Patterson – an entertaining book that’s difficult to put down, with good interesting family-oriented people, along with of course, a few evil characters.

  • Amazon readers rating: from 44 reviews

Read an excerpt from Step on a Crack at MostlyFiction.com


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Bibliography: (with links to Amazon.com)

*Sequels

The Women's Murder Club series:

Featuring Alex Cross:

Featuring Detective Michael Bennett:

Young Adult:

 

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Book Marks:

 

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About the Author:

James PattersonAfter initially being turned down by twenty-six publishers, James Patterson's first novel, The Thomas Berryman Number, was published and went on to win the Edgar Award for Best First Mystery Novel. That was in 1976 when he was just twenty-seven years old.

Twenty-three years later, Patterson has penned over one-half dozen novels and has created one of America's most memorable modern heroes, Alex Cross. With the publication of the bestseller Along Came a Spider in 1993, Patterson's popularity as a mastermind of page-turning thrillers was set. Kiss the Girls followed and was turned into a major motion picture by Paramount starring the inimitable Morgan Freeman as Alex Cross.

In addition to writing novels, Mr. Patterson served as chairman of J. Walter Thompson, North America from 1990 to 1996. He began his advertising career as a junior copywriter with the company in 1971 and went on to become the youngest executive creative director and youngest chief executive officer in the company's history. He made his mark at the agency by creating award-winning campaigns for Kodak, Burger King, Toys R' Us, Bell Atlantic, Bristol-Myers and others. He collaborated with advertising colleague Peter Kim to produce the nonfiction bestseller The Day America Told the Truth.

Patterson grew up in Newburgh, New York, fifty miles north of New York City. He graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in English from Manhattan College and summa cum laude with an M.A. in English from Vanderbilt University.

James Patterson lives in Palm Beach County, Florida, with his wife and their young son.

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