ALONG CAME A SPIDER

Am I afraid of spiders? Not really, I am a big macho man, spiders don't phase me at all, really they don't. Well I do not touch them, I actually do not like to see them, whenever I see one I take a wide berth around them. The times(often) my wife wanted me to dispose of one, I would complain, complain and complain some more then after minutes of yet more complaining I would use a dustpan and brush to catch it and remove it. Maybe I am indeed afraid of spiders, am I?

Is the novel "Along came a spider" about spiders? No. So why do I start with fear for spiders? No reason at all, I just thought it would be a nice start. No hidden meaning, I am too simple for that, or am I?

About the book. I read it in a few days, I kept reading whenever I had a possible gap in time, lucky for me I had two weeks off, so time a plenty. It is a page turner.

The story is about a black detective, Alex Cross, investigating the kidnapping of two white upper class children from a highly exclusive private school. The kidnapping was done by Gary Soneji, a serial killer out for fame and a little fortune at the side.

The FBI with assistance secret agents leads the case, Alex Cross help in the case is requested on and off. There is more to the kidnapping that is evident from the start, at the end there are some refreshing but foreseeable twist in the story.

The story is told in first person when told from Alex Cross point of view, when a chapter is about another character it is told from the third person. It worked out well and I could see myself using the same technique in the future, it was good seeing a well done example.

The main character being black and the writer white posed some problems for some readers. I've read some reviews where some feel the dialog or mannerism depicted by the character Alex Cross sounded fake. I myself noticed some extra attention to blackness in Mr. Patterson's writing that needed not be there, but taking the whole story in account and it being fiction I did not see all that wrong with it. For example he mention at times, maybe too much, the color of characters and not only in describing, it's been done with a tad too much emphasis. Like I said these are details which I feel should not be taken into account into judging this book, again it's fiction.

One thing I notice while reading was the word "orangish" he mentioned it more than once. It's the word for the color between red and yellow, actually just orange would do. It's the first time in my life I saw this word, it stuck to me and I noticed it again and again, about six times. It irritated me, I do not know why but it just did.

I mention it because it is an example how a repeating word can affect a reader. A word that is strange to the person reading it, will be noticed more than a known word. A very common and known word such as "Said" will be noticed less than a not common word (in my case) "Orangish".
Imagine if this word had been repeated to dead instead of only about six times, what effect would it have had on me as a reader? I probably would have put the book down and not finished it. I am glad I now notice these things, it makes it that more clear to take care with how to write.

I liked "Along came a spider", it's a well written and entertaining novel. I recommend anyone who did not read it to try it out, the chance you will like it (if you like thrillers) is greater than that you would be put off by it.

I'm going to read some fine books

For my birthday (April) I recieved a gift certificate from my employer. With it I bought these five books: "Along came a spider" by James Patterson; "Darkfall" by Dean Koontz; "Weaveworld" by Clive Barker; "The colour of magic" by Terry Pratchett and "I am legend" by Richard Matheson.

I just finished reading "Along came a spider" and "I am legend" and I am now reading "Darkfall".

"Along came a spider" is the first James Patterson novel I read. I knew him from his movie book adaptations. I liked his writing and I will elaborate on his book later this week with a mini review.

Last year I saw the movie "I am legend" starring Will Smith. I expected the novel to be along the same line as the movie, maybe few different details, but I was wrong! The movie was a bad adaptation of the book, unrelated except for the title. I liked the book better and I can recommend anybody that did not read the novel to read it, it's worth it.

I started reading "Darkfall" today, the story is about a detective investigating a string of gruesome murders done by supernatural creatures and as far I understand they operate in the shadows. The first pages are gripping, they sucked me in completely. I hope the quality at the start continues throughout the story till the end.

I chose to buy "Weaveworld" because I wanted to read one more Clive Barker book. It was an impulse buy. The story is about a magical world woven into a rug, I hope the story will be as interesting as it sounds. I plan to read this one after I'm finished with "Darkfall".

I heard about Terry Pratchett from acquaintances playing the Discworld computer games. They praised the novels and I planned to one day to read them, after about 10 years I finally decided to do just that.

It's been a while I read fiction. I've been busy writing my own stories and practicing my writing. By reading and paying a little more attention (reading more like a writer than a reader), I got a better feeling of the flow and the how the novel was written.

It's a more superficial knowledge gained than by copying the work. By copying you will absorb and notice much more about the written word. The drawback of copying by pen is that it takes a lot of time and it isn't that entertaining.

Reading and enjoying a story is much faster and can motivate your own urge to write. These last weeks reading more and writing less, my motivation to write had a significant boost.

Sometimes it is good to just unwind and read the stories of others.