Customer Reviews

When The Wind Blows (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition)

5 star:		(189)
4 star:		(125)
3 star:		(94)
2 star:		(71)
1 star:		(197)

 

 

When The Wind Blows by James Patterson is a touching story about a group of children who are mistreated and misused for the benefit of another group of people. This group is using the children as test subjects by mutating cells of different animals and using host women to give birth to the children. These children are born mutated; some have wings, some have no faces, and some do not even survive. The ones that die, or are later "put to sleep" are stuffed away. One of the children in particular, Max, is a 12 year old girl with wings. She and her brother Matthew have taken the abuse from the horrible school for so many years, and are so fed up with it, that they decide to flee the school. This doesn't work to plan. On the other face of the story, a man named Tom Brennan, undercover for the FBI as Kit Harrison, is boarding an airplane to Colorado to investigate the recent news of several murders in and around the Bear Bluff, Colorado area that may possibly be linked. Behind the backs of his co-workers, Kit has been studying the talks of a corporation secretly trying to evolve humans by testing children, which is extremely illegal and distasteful in every way. Kit is told by his boss to go on vacation to Nantucket due to his diligent work ways, but he's actually off to investigate this case. Also there is Frannie O' Neal, a widow of Bear Bluff working as a veterinarian. Her husband, David, was killed a few years ago in a parking lot. The police never found a suspect or lead. She still wakes up sweating after having a dream of her trying to save her loved husband once again. These 3 characters will all meet in one way or another, which leads up to an epic ending full of laughter, surprise, suspense, and loads of entertainment. This book left me wanting more...in which I grabbed a copy of the sequel, The Lake House, to start reading. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has enjoyed a James Patterson book, or to anyone who enjoys suspenseful, murder mystery, and adventure type books.

I really enjoyed Mr. Patterson's series featuring Alex Cross, so I was quite excited when I found this book at the library. I've been hearing about it since December (including the television and radio ads). According to the hype, this book was something truly scary, an edge-of-your-seat thriller. Then I read the book. Instead of being scared, I alternated between amusement and disbelief. Patterson starts off with a good premise: what would happen if a bunch of rogue scientists starting experimenting with cross-species genetics, grafting animal parts onto human tissue. He creates interesting characters in Frannie, Kit and Max--then ruins everything with an unbelievable and unlikely plot. A genetic construct like Max is indeed possible, but then Patterson lets the ball drop, favoring action over substance. According to the author's note, over thirty scientists and medical professionals read and aided in the manuscript. What did these professionals do? Patterson's science is pretty accurate as far as it goes (he throws in buzz-words like "cross-species genetics" and includes such set decoration items as glass pipets and laser spectrographs) but there's very little science in this story. Patterson could have gotten the necessary information from a good biotechnology textbook without wasting the time of those 30 biomedical professionals. If you want a really good (and scary) story of what genetics could make possible, try Nancy Kress' "Beggars" series (especially "Beggars in Spain") or her excellent short story collection, "Beaker's Dozen". Mr. Patterson should stick to mystery and leave the science to real science fiction writers.

I bought this for a long airplane ride, but I think I would have been better off with the bad in-flight movie. This guy is a best-selling author? With that third grade vocabulary? And if his heroine is so bright, why doesn't she figure out that her (murdered) husband was in on the experiments? These "bird kids" are so valuable? Then why did the scientists leave two of them to starve in the compound? That's when I stuffed the book where it belonged, in my "air sickness" bag.

James Patterson was an author recommended to me but I unfortunately bought his When the Wind Blows first. I liked the short chapters. The plot was completely predictable though, and the book probably should have ended halfway through. I was constantly trying to figure out who the "I" was that was speaking because it read like a man's point of view and not the heroine, Frannie. If it were not for the very slight touch of romance and the swear words, I would recommend this book to my 11 year old. Having read some of the other reviews, I will choose a different one of Patterson's books (certainly not The Lake House since it is a continuation of When the Wind Blows)and try to figure out how his books have become #1 bestsellers.

What a waste of my time and Patterson's talent. Totally unbeleivable, sophmoric writing. If Paterson needs money that bad, lets take up a collection. The blurbs on the book cover did not give a hint that this was science fantasy. Wish I had bought it through amazon.com so I would have read the reader reviews.

(...) I gave it 3 stars because there weren't 2 1/2. The first half of the book it keeps repeating the same things too much, and the ending seems like it was done in a rush, too quick, and really you felt your time was wasted for all that reading. A so-so story, but nothing that leaves you satisfied. I'm giving James Patterson a 2nd try with Roses Are Red & Violets Are Blue. I dont really recommend this one...

It sounds like such a good story and I was so disappointed. It reminds me of bad fan fiction, the kind of stories lonely junior high students write about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Except the Buffy characters actually have some depth. The Good Guys are drippingly good - and good looking - and the Bad Guys are unadulterated Evil. The story line has problems too. Patterson has no grasp of subtlety; even comic book plots are more involved.

And to top it all off, the writing is just weird. Clearly at some point in his formative years as a writer, somebody told Patterson not to use the word "said." He resorts to a lot of awkward and occasionally just plain wrong sentence structure to avoid the use of this horrible, terrible, no good, very bad word. There is some gratuitous cursing, though.

Bottom line: save your money. If you want to read about animal experimentation, HG Wells did it better in "The Island of Doctor Moreau." If you want to read about adults misusing special children for their own ends, read Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game." Don't waste your time on this one.

What an interesting idea, and believable, genetically altered children with superhuman intellect and strength who are like normal children in every other way except that they fly. Totally engaging. I often found myself with a smile on my face and wishing these kids really existed so I could meet them.

One thing I like about Patterson is that he, unlike most suspense novelists, goes out of his way to give the reader a believable excuse that the protagonist does not go to the police. Most novels leave you with the conclusion that the hero suddenly takes idiot pills and that's why he/she doesn't go to the police. In this story, Patterson makes it somewhat understandable why Kit and Frannie don't call for backup.

The one thing I'd like to ask Mr. Patterson: is it really believable that an FBI agent could be such a renegade and survive in that agency? That said, thank you sir, for a great experience of fantasy and fun.

Many people have given this book 5 stars. I would give 5 stars to The Brothers Karamazov, Les Miserables, East of Eden, etc. I am being generous to give this book two stars. Please, people, maintain a little perspective.

The premise is tired. Genetic experimentations. Children with no nipples that can fly (okay--the no nipples thing was at least an original. It's actually one of the few things I can remember about this forgettable little volume!). A rogue agent that follows his conscience instead of the FBI bureau policy, who also happens to be really hunky. Crooked people in high places. A heroine, who happens to be beautiful and looks good through windows while naked, that hates then loves the good guy. A bad guy that cares nothing about anything but evil greed and power. Not one of these characters would be missed if they got shot or drowned, since they could easily be replaced by any number of other pop-fiction cliches.

The writing is poor. I say this honestly, not to be contrary. It is flat, staccato, and more technical than artistic.

The outcome is a foregone conclusion. It is unfortunately an imagination-free event with lots of crashing and shooting. I won't ruin it for you; but hey, you really will know it within the first 40 pages of the book. All that you will be reading to learn at that point are the incidental details.

I was glad when this book was done. If you find someone or something real to relate to I suppose you will like it. But I think if it were written by someone other than a bestselling author, it might have gone straight to the paperback section at a truck stop.

How about Animal Children? I was completely unprepared to read the second page of this book. I read the first 2 pages, I sat it down, thought about it, decided it was completely unplausible....then picked it back up and read 200 pages before putting it down again. By the end of the book you will have a whole different perspective on the human genome project. It is an easy, quick, fun read, but your brain will work overtime for days afterward.