Friday, June 06, 2008

The Quickie...random thoughts




The Quickie by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge. To be perfectly honest, I had no immediate plans for reading this book. But Rich read it last week, and for the three or four nights it took him to read it, I would hear him murmuring things like, "My god, what could possibly happen next?!!" and "You've got to be kidding me!" The clincher came when he said, "They really should have put a warning label on the cover for people with heart conditions." How was I supposed to resist this? Especially when I realized that it would count for a Q title in Joy's A-Z Challenge.

All that being said, personally I'm not inclined to think it needs that warning label. I've definitely read more suspenseful books than this one. But then again, I did really enjoy it. I used to be a huge James Patterson fan. I really loved the early books in his Cross series. The last couple have lacked that zing though. I'm not sure if it's just that my reading tastes have changed in some ways or that the series has started to become a bit stale. Either way, I haven't entirely given up reading them, so I obviously still see something in them.

Anyway, back to The Quickie (which, by the way, is not part of the Cross series). Frankly, it's a bit hard to talk about the plot. It just never quits. Seriously, it's just one twist after another. Some I saw coming, but many caught me totally off-guard. And I'm afraid to even talk about the beginning for fear of giving something away. Many years ago, I read A Simple Plan by Scott Smith. The first half of The Quickie brought that book to mind. The actual events of the two books have nothing in common, but it's that whole idea of good people making one simple mistake and ending up digging themselves in deeper and deeper and deeper. And then things get even more bizarre.

I'm sorry, this is about worthless as a book review, huh? But like I said, I just don't want to say anything to ruin any parts of it for anyone inclined to read it. Bottom line, if you like thrillers, you might enjoy this one. And even if you don't, you won't have wasted much time because it is a super fast read (and that's saying something coming from me).

*****

If you've read this book, feel free to leave a link in the comments and I'll be sure to add it here. Thanks.

*****

Read for:


A-Z Reading Challenge.

5 comments:

Dawn said...

Sometimes thrillers cause me great anxiety!! I'll have to keep this one in the back of my mind for someday when I ready for that .

take care,
Dawn

Ana S. said...

I don't often read thrillers (not that I have anything against them) so I bet I'd have reacted like Rich too :P

Stephanie said...

I'm with you. I loved the first books in the Alex Cross series, but the last few I read felt really flat. Glad to hear this one is worth picking up!

Anonymous said...

I had this one my list to read, but it keeps getting pushed further down the line.

alisonwonderland said...

i started to read The Quickie last night and finished it this morning - specifically for the A ~ Z Challenge. when i linked my review to the challenge site, i saw that you'd read it too. (most people went with Queens or Quilters!) i'm going to link your review to mine, if you have no objection.