Along Came a Spider

Having a mind-numbing third-shift job that lets you listen to audiobooks while you work has led to me trying authors I don't usually care for, like James Patterson. When you need something to listen to and you're at the mercy of what's available, stuff happens.

I like the concept of Alex Cross. I understand why people like these books. To me, they're just okay. The first two books in the series are salacious for the sake of being salacious. Alex Cross is a frustrating protagonist, though. He's one of those “too good to be real” types who always has women falling for him, and never met a punch he couldn't shake off.

I think that's why I wrote the protagonists I did in my own mystery novel–they're the polar opposite of the Alex Cross-types. There's something exhausting about those beyond perfect protagonists. You just know they're the author's own avatar of who he wants to be, or thinks he is, and that's a little sad.