Annotation #1 - Suspense
Summary: Along Came a Spider is the first title in James Patterson’s series starring detective and psychologist Alex Cross. Set in gritty Washington D.C., the novel begins with the double kidnapping of Maggie Rose, a famous actress’s daughter, and her friend Michael, the whiz-kid son of the Secretary of the Treasury. The villain is the children’s teacher, madman Gary Soneji who may or may not be suffering from split personality disorder. Brilliant but brooding, Cross still hasn’t gotten over his wife Maria’s senseless, unsolved murder. He becomes entangled in an ill-advised romance with Jezzie Flanagan, supervisor of the Secret Service. When Michael’s body is found, the stakes grow higher—can Cross find Maggie Rose alive? Suspense Characteristics: At first I wasn’t sure if this novel should be classified as thriller or suspense. The back of my copy calls Patterson “the world’s most popular thriller writer, with over 280 million copies of his books sold worldwide.” Howev...