Alex Cross’s Trial is my first foray into the literature of James Patterson (the thriller equivalent to Stephen King in terms of popularity), and I can’t say it was all a barrel of laughs. The subject matter is interesting enough: in 1906 a white lawyer from Washington D.C. is sent to rural Mississippi to investigate claims of lynchings, an occurrence that seems to be happening with startling regularity, and amongst shouts of “nigger lover” and other such delightfully derogatory phrases, embarks on a crusade to stop this kind of discrimination in an America post the Emancipation Proclamation.
Interesting enough if much of the plot was actually given room to breathe. Unfortunately Patterson is a writer who successfully churns out close to three or four novels a year, which not only saturates the market with his product but shows in his work (well, here at least), with each chapter being no longer than six pages long with the a narrative baring a striking resemblance to a child with ADD. The whole thing seems desperately rushed, a shame as the story has fascinating potential, if only it had space to blossom.
Its one saving grace, however, is the writing. Despite his short attention span, Patterson uses the language in an accessible fashion, failing to fall into the same trappings of say Clive Cussler, an author with the same level of output but the writing abilities of an eight year old.
Brief, heavily flawed but ultimately fine.
3/5
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