This was my first James Patterson read; I've always seen his books in bookstores and know a little about him as a thriller author, but until now I'd never read any of his books. I realized after I picked up the book that it was late in the Alex Cross series, but after reading it, I can honestly say I didn't need to read the other books in the series to get the story.

Even the background information on Alex Cross peppered throughout the book wasn't hard for me to pick up on, assimilate into what I knew of Cross, and extrapolate on without much of a problem. To some degree it made me want to go back and see the rest of the Cross stories, but at the same time, I don't have to do it.

Patterson's writing style is short, quick, and easy to read. I read the book fast and felt like the short sentences and chapters helped motivate me to read faster to get to the climax of the book. For a thriller, I think that's a good quality; it shows that Patterson at least knows how to write his genre of choice. I'd be interested to see if his writing style changes in his romances at all.

I thought the plot was well-developed. It had some twists and turns I wasn't expecting. I used to read quite a bit of mystery and thriller books, so I had the same sense of what was coming next that most mystery readers probably would. At the same time, Patterson still surprised me with the ending, so I thought that gave him credit in my book. I will say I wasn't entirely surprised by the kind of person he had as the killer, only the specific person surprised me.

I'd probably read another Patterson book or two, but I doubt I'll read the whole Cross series. It's good, but it's not entirely my genre. I will take a few of his techniques with me; I like the intermixing of third and first person perspectives and think Patterson is a good writer. Overall, I'd recommend the book to a friend, but I might suggest they start at the beginning instead of in the middle.