"Jack and Jill" by James Patterson

Amazon.com Summary:

A child killer is stalking the inner city of Washington, D.C., his latest victim Shanelle Green, an adorable first grader from Sojourner Truth School. This killing is especially unsettling to Detective Alex Cross. Sojourner Truth is the school his son Damon attends, just four blocks from his home. While the death of an inner-city black child doesn't garner much media attention, another murder is making big headlines. The same day that Shanelle was beaten to death, Senator Daniel Fitzpatrick was found handcuffed to a bed and shot execution style. The only clue the police have to go on is a bizarre rhyme, signed "Jack and Jill," promising more high-profile executions, ultimately targeting the president of the United States. When Cross is called in to help protect the president, he begins to suspect that the two cases are somehow related. As he races to put all the pieces together, the killers continue their bloody rampage, paralyzing the city.

Right off of the heels of "Kiss the Girls" I began the 3rd book in the Alex Cross series (1997). A pretty good book that was a little slow in the middle for my tastes. And once again... somebody REALLY needs to talk to James Patterson about guns! In the past several books I've finished it should be noted that you don't "cock" a Glock and it is NOT a service revolver!

Author: James Patterson
Narrator: Michael Kramer
Running Time: 11 hours and 41 min.
Book Rating: *** 1/2
Production: ***
(out of 5 stars)

Audiobook -- I couldn't get this from Audible.com unabridged so I had to borrow it from the library. This Amazon link isn't the production I just finished. Mine was narrated by "Michael Kramer" from "Books on Tape"
Paperback

"Kiss the Girls" by James Patterson

Audible.com Summary:

In the most suspenseful thriller yet from the author of Along Came a Spider, Detective Alex Cross is on the trail of 2 murderers who may be working together. Casanova preys on talented college women from the Carolinas to Florida. The Gentleman Caller is terrorizing Los Angeles. The case takes Cross coast to coast and to the Deep South, where his niece, a law student, has been abducted. Will she be the next victim of one, or both, of the killers?

A good thriller. I really liked the Kate McTiernan character and hope to see her again in future Alex Cross novels.

Author: James Patterson
Narrator: Michael Kramer
Running Time: 10 hours and 55 min.
Book Rating: ****
Production: *** 1/2
(out of 5 stars)

Audiobook -- I couldn't get this from Audible.com unabridged so I had to borrow it from the library... on TAPE no less!
Paperback

"Along Came a Spider" by James Patterson

Audible.com Summary:

Along Came a Spider begins with the double kidnapping of the daughter of a famous Hollywood actress and the young son of the Secretary of the Treasury. And that's only the beginning! Gary Soneji is a murderous serial kidnapper who wants to commit the crime of the century. Alex Cross is the brilliant homicide detective pitted against him. Jezzie Flanagan is the female supervisor of the Secret Service who completes one of the most unusual suspense triangles in any thriller you have ever heard.

I started this book the day I finished "The 5th Horseman" from Patterson's "Women's Murder Club" Series. I had seen this movie years ago but didn't remember much of it. After watching the movie after finishing this book I can tell you without hesitation that the book is WAY better (and more twisted) than the movie.

Author: James Patterson
Narrator: Charles Turner
Running Time: 12 hours and 21 min.
Book Rating: ****
Production: ****
(out of 5 stars)

Audiobook
Paperback

"2nd Chance" by James Patterson

Audible.com Summary:

This presentation features an exclusive special introduction by James Patterson. Master of suspense James Patterson continues the Women's Murder Club series with this sequel to 1st to Die. The sensational killings that have rocked San Francisco appear to be unrelated except in their brutality. But detective Lindsay Boxer senses there's some thread connecting them all. She calls her friends in the Women's Murder Club together to see if they can discover what it is. Working with Chronicle reporter Cindy Thomas, Assistant District Attorney Jill Bernhardt, and medical examiner Claire Washburn, Lindsay discovers that there is indeed a link. Each of the victims had a close relative in a particular profession, a profession that sends a chill through Lindsay's heart. The partners in the Women's Murder Club deduce where the killer is likely to strike next and bait a trap that can't be resisted. But if their calculation is wrong, the consequences will be lethal. And there will be no second chance.

I loved the intro by James Patterson... thought it was a cute touch and a nice start to the next book in the Woman's Murder Club series. I'm beginning to really like Lindsay, Cindy, Jill and Claire. I'm still wondering how different this is going to be from the Alex Cross novels when I begin them.

Author: James Patterson with Andrew Gross
Narrator: Melissa Leo and Jeremy Piven
Running Time: 8 hours and 35 min.
Book Rating: ****
Production: ****
(out of 5 stars)

Audiobook
Paperback

"1st to Die" by James Patterson

Audible.com Summary:

Four women - four friends - share a determination to stop a killer who has been stalking newlyweds in San Francisco. Each one holds a piece of the puzzle: Lindsay Boxer is a homicide inspector in the San Francisco Police Department, Claire Washburn is a medical examiner, Jill Bernhardt is an assistant D.A., and Cindy Thomas just started working the crime desk of the San Francisco Chronicle.

But the usual procedures aren't bringing them any closer to stopping the killings. So these women form a Women's Murder Club to collaborate outside the box and pursue the case by sidestepping their bosses and giving one another a hand.

My first James Patterson novel. I decided to start the "Women's Murder Club" series before Alex Cross mainly because of Audible.com. They had a great package deal on the first 4 in the set and they were all unabridged. Whereas the Alex Cross books were going to be harder to get. Audible only had book 1 and 5+ unabridged, so I had to use the Library for books 2, 3 & 4.

"1st to Die" is a rather graphic tale. From the opening scene in the hotel room I knew immediately that James Patterson was one who didn't hold back. It's a great story that explains how the "Women's Murder Club" started and who and why each was involved in it.

Author: James Patterson
Narrator: Suzanne Toren
Running Time: 9 hours and 1 min.
Book Rating: ****
Production: ****
(out of 5 stars)

Audiobook
Paperback

"The Street Lawyer" by John Grisham

Audible.com Summary:

Michael was in a hurry. He was scrambling up the ladder at Drake & Sweeney, a giant D.C. firm with 800 lawyers. The money was good and getting better; a partnership was 3 years away. He was a rising star with no time to waste, no time to stop, no time to toss a few coins into the cups of panhandlers. No time for a conscience. But a violent encounter with a homeless man stopped him cold. Michael survived; his assailant did not. Who was this man? Michael did some digging, and learned that he was a mentally ill veteran who'd been in and out of shelters for many years. Then Michael dug a little deeper, and found a dirty secret, and the secret involved Drake & Sweeney. The fast track derailed; the ladder collapsed. Michael bolted from the firm and took a top-secret file with him. He landed in the streets, an advocate for the homeless, a street-lawyer. And a thief.

After "The Partner" I moved on to "The Street Lawyer". It was an easy flow since Frank Muller narrated this as well. This is a great story that shows that not all lawyers are scum... some will do what's right instead of what's easy.

Author: John Grisham
Narrator: Frank Muller
Running Time: 10 hours and 30 min.
Book Rating: ****
Production: *****
(out of 5 stars)

Audiobook
Hardcover

"The Partner" by John Grisham

Audible.com Summary:

They watched Danilo Silva for days before they finally grabbed him. He was living alone, a quiet life on a shady street in a small town in Brazil; a simple life in a modest home, certainly not one of luxury. Certainly no evidence of the fortune they thought he had stolen. He was much thinner and his face had been altered. He spoke a different language, and spoke it very well. But Danilo had a past with many chapters. Four years earlier he had been Patrick Lanigan, a young partner in a prominent Biloxi law firm. He had a pretty wife, a new daughter, and a bright future. Then one cold winter night Patrick was trapped in a burning car and died a horrible death. When he was buried his casket held nothing more than his ashes. From a short distance away, Patrick watched his own burial. Then he fled. Six weeks later, a fortune was stolen from his ex-law firm's offshore account. And Patrick fled some more. But they found him.

Quite a change in pace after just finishing Stephen King's "Cell"! The Partner is a great story with rich characters. I wasn't particularly thrilled with the ending but it wasn't bad enough to ruin the whole story. Production gets 5 stars because Frank Muller is one of the BEST in his business.

Author: John Grisham
Narrator: Frank Muller
Running Time: 12 hours
Book Rating: ****
Production: *****
(out of 5 stars)

Audiobook
Hardcover

"Cell" by Stephen King

Audible.com Summary:

On October 1st, God is in His heaven, the stock market stands at 10,140, most of the planes are on time, and Clayton Riddell, an artist from Maine, is almost bouncing up Boylston Street in Boston. He's just landed a comic book deal that might finally enable him to support his family by making art instead of teaching it. He's already picked up a gift for his long-suffering wife, and he knows just what he'll get for his boy Johnny. Why not a little treat for himself? Clay's feeling good about the future. That changes in a hurry. The cause of the devastation is a phenomenon that will come to be known as The Pulse, and the delivery method is a cell phone. Everyone's cell phone. Clay and the few desperate survivors who join him suddenly find themselves in the pitch-black night of civilization's darkest age, surrounded by chaos, carnage, and a human horde that has been reduced to its basest nature...and then begins to evolve. There are one hundred and ninety-three million cell phones in the United States alone. Who doesn't have one? Stephen King's utterly gripping, gory, and fascinating novel doesn't just ask the question "Can you hear me now?" It answers it with a vengeance.

3 Words... ABSOLUTELY KICK ASS!!!! This is a book where my commute listening was not enough. Not only would I stay in my car some extra time after I got home... but I sat in my car, in my garage, after the kids went to bed and listened while having a cigar. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK and can't wait for the movie (coming in 2007 with Eli Roth (the twisted fuck who wrote and directed Hostel) at the helm) but then again, I'm a sucker for a good zombie story... even if these aren't your "normal" every day zombies.

I gave the production 3 stars because there were several points in the narration that for some reason or another was redubbed with someone else's voice. A bit distracting, yes... but it didn't ruin the flow of this nail biting story.

Author: Stephen King
Narrator: Campbell Scott
Running Time: 12 hours and 29 min.
Book Rating: *****
Production: ***
(out of 5 stars)

Audiobook
Hardcover

"The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown

Audible.com Summary:

While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci, clues visible for all to see, yet ingeniously disguised by the painter. Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion, an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others. In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who seems to anticipate their every move. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's ancient secret, and an explosive historical truth, will be lost forever.

An excellent book. After just finishing (once again) the Harry Potter series, it took me a few chapters to get used to Paul Michael but he grew on me after every chapter.

I was so into this story that I found myself sitting in my car 10-15 minutes after I arrived at home because I couldn't stop listening. I look greatly forward to the movie and plan to begin the first "Robert Langdon" novel, Angels and Demons later this year.

Author: Dan Brown
Narrator: Paul Michael
Running Time: 16 hours and 58 min.
Book Rating: *****
Production: ****
(out of 5 stars)

Audiobook
Paperback

New Audiobook Section...

It's no secret to many that I've been listening to A TON of audiobooks during my commute to and from work.

My main source of audiobooks is Audible.com. I've been a customer of theirs since 1999 and have purchased over 100 audiobooks from them.

I will be adding more to this section soon but I want to use this section to share what I consider to be a great use of otherwise worthless time.

I'm NOT going to do full blown reviews on every title I complete (go to Amazon or Audible for that) but I will rate the book, the audio production and make a few comments about each of them as I complete them. I will also update the last several I've completed in the past few months.