I just finished badmouthing some of Patterson's books saying as how they were pointless and boring. then along comes "Mary, Mary" which may be his best since "Jack & Jill". Patterson doesn't try to create the next supervillain (a la Kyle Craig), but instead writes about your down to earth, everyday, crazy pyschopath who has an agenda and basically sticks to it. Then, you have Alex Cross who simply does his job, and follows the killer's trail (with all of its twists and turns) and does what any good FBI agent would do. Nothing extraordinarily impossible, no giant leaps of faith, no how did he do that moments...a simple and straight forward murder mystery with action aplenty and a good plot. Maybe Patterson is back