Awaiting A Thaw With: I, Alex Cross and The Scarpetta Factor

With most of the country in the deep freeze, it’s hard for me to empathize with the Florida tourists on the beach in their parkas when we have minus 50 Fahrenheit windchill in the Twin Cities.  Cabin fever accompanied with crankiness sets in, and if no plane reservations are booked, you settle in, turn up the furnace and try to ride it out.   I, fortunately, have a stack of books that arrived from my library and included are two bestsellers that made my week a little brighter.  There’s nothing like a few good serial killers to pass the time and warm the spirit.

I, Alex Cross by James Patterson was a great, fast read.  I have followed Alex Cross’s career through 15 novels.  He is right up there with Mitch Rapp and Lucas Davenport as an unguilty pleasure.  In one of the great miscasting debacles, Morgan Freeman was cast as Alex Cross in Kiss The Girls and Along Came a Spider.  Casting Morgan Freeman as Alex Cross is akin to casting Minnie Pearl in any Megan Fox role – if you can’t do it right then just leave it alone.  Alex’s age and physical build is more in line with Evander Holyfield so to even recall Morgan in that role pains me still.  Thankfully, the latest novel is classic Cross and I highly recommend it, whether you are an established Cross fan or you’re ready to give him a try.

In a Writer’s Digest interview, they state that James Patterson is the first author to appear on the New York Times bestseller list at #1 in the following categories:  Hardcover Fiction, Mass Market Fiction, Hardcover Non-fiction, Children’s Series and Children’s Chapter Books.  He has sold over 150 million books worldwide.  You can read the interview at: http://writersdigest.com/article/james-patterson and check out Patterson’s website at:  http://www.jamespatterson.com/index.php.

 Before CSI and Bones, the forensic expert to follow was Kay Scarpetta.  Cornwell has done an amazing job to bring well-researched details of forensic analysis to her readers.  The characters include Kay, Detective Pete Marino, Kay’s niece, Lucy Marinelli (genius, former FBI, ace marksman, computer whiz and helicopter pilot), and Kay’s long-term love interest, Wesley Benton, a former FBI profiler (picture Scott Glenn as Jack Crawford in Silence of the Lambs).  They are all so tightly wound and try so hard to control their emotions that you feel like you are witnessing a family holiday hosted by a herd of passive-aggressive Scandinavian Minnesotans.  The Scarpetta Factor, the 17th novel in this series, takes place in NYC where Kay is currently assisting the OCME there and also appears as a regular on CNN.  I didn’t learn much new in this book regarding forensics or cutting edge technology, but I did learn something about Spoof Cards.  This wasn’t my favorite Scarpetta novel, but it was still a fast, enjoyable read.

Patricia Cornwell also has a brilliant writing career.  It is difficult not to think of her when you are reading about Kay Scarpetta.  The physical characteristics are the same and Cornwell definitely has much of the knowledge and background as the famous fictional doctor.  However, there are many similarities between Cornwell and the character, Lucy Marinelli, from relationships that have gone wrong to interests in fast cars and helicopters to recent financial struggles.  The link to this November interview gives insight to what is going on in Cornwell’s life and how future Scarpetta books might have a different point of view than the traditional forensic science that has played such a prominent role in the past.  The interview was quite interesting at:  http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/books/the-cornwell-factor/2009/11/14/1258043832474.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2.  Cornwell’s site is:  http://www.patriciacornwell.com.