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A review by thomas_edmund
Worst Case by James Patterson, Michael Ledwidge
2.0
Patterson's and Ledwidge's Worst Case tells a tale of Michael Bennett, a veteran cop, as he pursues a serial kidnapper/murderer who targets the children of the super-rich.
And to be perfectly honest I the best way to describe Worst Case: Along Came a Spider, without the good bits. The plotline of Worst Case is effectively a string of kidnappings which all follow the same format. 1. Child disapears 2. Phone call 3. Find child dead.
There are the occasional deviations but nothing to get excited about, the most extreme twist being someone organising a fake kidnapping to get some cash and put the blame on the killer (sound familiar?)
I don't know whether this counts as a spoiler but there really is nothing to this story: The good guys pursue the bad-guy until they catch him, there isn't even the uber cheesy "Now it's personal" moment that usually pops up mid novel to amp up the tension.
And don't even get me started on the characters. I never thought I would prefer things more conformist, but the lack of any grit in Bennett's character is gag-worthy. He's an ultra-polite and well behaved cop, who uses lines like "Totally uncalled for and innapropriate" For a moment I thought Super-Nanny was the main character.
Although Bennett does come out with this bad-ass line "No, you're more like an insult to handicapped people." When speaking to a student in a wheelchair.
Bennett also has more adopted children than Maddonna and Brad n Angie combined, is a widower (leaving him free for all the ladies) which all leaves me with the feeling that the authors forgot to give this guy that 'one flaw' that readers crave.
Considering the protaginist, obviously the antagonist is going to have to be a literary mess also. Our bad guy real barrel of problems: Ultra left-wing rich hating, intelligent, mentally unstable and terminally ill. One feels like instead of giving the bad-guy one overarching well-developed motivation for their actions the authors just threw together a bunch of issues and hoped it would work. The only thing missing was Mummy issues.
There is little else to redeem this novel, there is illogical science (Upon an ash cross placed on a victims forehead the lab finds: cigarette ash, cancer medicine and traces of C4 explosive) Now maybe I get the cigarette ash mixing with medicine, that might happen right? BUT HOW THE HECK DID EXPLOSIVES GET INTO HIS CIGARETTES?
Ok breath in, breath out. Inbetween the questionable racial stereotypes thrown throughout the investiagtion there are a few decent jokes, (if you like Dad-humour) and a little bit of flirting, but really, one of those things wasn't good and the other only half good, so just two stars for this one.
And to be perfectly honest I the best way to describe Worst Case: Along Came a Spider, without the good bits. The plotline of Worst Case is effectively a string of kidnappings which all follow the same format. 1. Child disapears 2. Phone call 3. Find child dead.
There are the occasional deviations but nothing to get excited about, the most extreme twist being someone organising a fake kidnapping to get some cash and put the blame on the killer (sound familiar?)
I don't know whether this counts as a spoiler but there really is nothing to this story: The good guys pursue the bad-guy until they catch him, there isn't even the uber cheesy "Now it's personal" moment that usually pops up mid novel to amp up the tension.
And don't even get me started on the characters. I never thought I would prefer things more conformist, but the lack of any grit in Bennett's character is gag-worthy. He's an ultra-polite and well behaved cop, who uses lines like "Totally uncalled for and innapropriate" For a moment I thought Super-Nanny was the main character.
Although Bennett does come out with this bad-ass line "No, you're more like an insult to handicapped people." When speaking to a student in a wheelchair.
Bennett also has more adopted children than Maddonna and Brad n Angie combined, is a widower (leaving him free for all the ladies) which all leaves me with the feeling that the authors forgot to give this guy that 'one flaw' that readers crave.
Considering the protaginist, obviously the antagonist is going to have to be a literary mess also. Our bad guy real barrel of problems: Ultra left-wing rich hating, intelligent, mentally unstable and terminally ill. One feels like instead of giving the bad-guy one overarching well-developed motivation for their actions the authors just threw together a bunch of issues and hoped it would work. The only thing missing was Mummy issues.
There is little else to redeem this novel, there is illogical science (Upon an ash cross placed on a victims forehead the lab finds: cigarette ash, cancer medicine and traces of C4 explosive) Now maybe I get the cigarette ash mixing with medicine, that might happen right? BUT HOW THE HECK DID EXPLOSIVES GET INTO HIS CIGARETTES?
Ok breath in, breath out. Inbetween the questionable racial stereotypes thrown throughout the investiagtion there are a few decent jokes, (if you like Dad-humour) and a little bit of flirting, but really, one of those things wasn't good and the other only half good, so just two stars for this one.