** spoiler alert ** In between my serious reading, I pause occassionally to read commerical fition. James Patterson is a factory for poorly written, fast-paced literature. This, the latest in his Alex Cross series, is about the only thing I can stomach from him. He's like a Big Mac - you enjoy it while you're consuming, but afterward you're still hungry, and you've forgotten all about it.

It starts off promisingly - the criss-crossing cinemtic abduction of two kids - and not just any kids, the presidents - promises great things. And when two Saudi terrorists turn up in town, you expect the heat to burn. Sadly, none of it really comes together - even the title, with the very real threat to Alex Cross, is nothing more than a throw-away line from the abductor, and one you know he'll never follow through on. In fact, by the end, you're not even sure why he adbucted the children and the whole case ends up in something of a major anti-climax. And then the Saudi thing goes nowhere, held over for the next installment.

The newest addition here is homeless girl Ava who joins the Cross family: she comes across as cliched Dickensian waif, designed to highlight social problems in Washington D.C. and provide this installment with a level of gravitas. It simply does not work. Like the rest of the novel.

Nevertheless, fans of Patterson and the Alex Cross series really won't be disappointed. But as literature, it just doesn't work.