Customer Reviews

Cradle and All

5 star:		(70)
4 star:		(67)
3 star:		(46)
2 star:		(41)
1 star:		(183)

 

 

It moved me to do something I have never done before. Write an online review to warn others. Please, please, please do not subject yourself to this book. This book is beyond awful and deserves no stars. Several things in this book trully irritated me. I have read other James Patterson books and found them entertaining and normally I like good vs. evil plot lines. However, this book was so terrible I struggled to finish it and nearly broke my 27 year rule of never leaving a book unfinished, figuring that even the most tiresome and mundane of books may have at least one redeeming quality concealed within it's pages.

First, allow me to comment that I had figured out the two virgin plot line about two chapters after Patterson introduced the second virgin and spent the rest of the book being bored nearly to tears waiting for Patterson to get around to confirming my theory.

Second, Patterson seems to have overlooked simple biology in this one. The medical procedures required to monitor a pregnancy would not leave a hymen intact, even if the hymen had been there to begin with. Ask any woman who has ever had a pelvic exam and they will confirm this for you. In addition, at one point after the birth a doctor mentions that one of the girls is no longer a virgin. How exactly does he know this??? The only possible way that a doctor can tell that woman has not had sex is if the hymen is intact, which actually is far from foolproof. However, allowing that Patterson is not a gynecologist and that popular "wisdom" puts forth that an intact hymen equals a virgin I was willing to accept for the purpose of this book that the doctors were willing to say the intact hymen meant these girls were virgins. If this is the case then I can only assume that when the doctor says that the girl is not a virgin after she gives birth be means that her hymen is no longer in tact. All I can say is what did he expect, that the baby would liquefy, pass through hymen, and be reconstituted. Of course her hymen is not intact, a baby just came through there.

In addition to these inaccuracies Patterson has managed to write a book that will offend Christians and non-believers alike. Christians are sure to be appalled by the sexualizing of the story of the Immaculate Conception and non-believers are likely to be turned off by the overly dogmatic drivel spouted at regular intervals.

These are only two of the aspects of the book that have prompted me to give it such a low review. I would rather have read the back of a cereal box, at least that is accurate. I myself think that the premise of a modern reaction to a Biblical miracle could be not only a truly compelling story but also a great way to examine issues of faith, tolerance, and the role the media plays in our collective morality. This book however, failed to be any of this and on top of that was a miserable excuse for a mystery/suspense novel. I am going to guess that many of the higher reviews are being written by younger readers since as a young teen I too enjoyed reading books that seemed "naughty". The pseudo-pornographic "nightmare" sex scene and teen-age angst ridden Kathleen are likely to appeal to teens, however, grown-ups I would recommend you find a better way to waste your time.

As you may or may not know, Cradle And All is a rework of Patterson's 2nd novel called Virgin. Most likely if you read Virgin within the past few years and remember the ending you probably won't want to read Cradle And All -- even though there are differences between the two versions. But if you haven't read Virgin or read it like I did(when it first came out in 1980)and don't remember the outcome, you're in for a real treat. After reading an advance reader copy of Cradle And All, I'm sure that most Patterson fans will find many of the qualities that have made them devour his previous books. In typical Patterson fashion the plot moves along at a break-neck pace, the chapters are very brief with each ending on a note that makes you want to quickly turn the page, and the characters--while not developed in great depth--are interesting. While I'm not a particularly fast reader, I read this book in two days. Be prepared to be glued to your favorite reading place until you finish Cradle And All! You'll definitely enjoy this book.

I've been hooked on James Patterson since I read KISS THE GIRLS. He typically does a wonderful job with character development and suspense. CRADLE has all of the Patterson elements: notoriously short chapters, quickly defined characters, alternating first and third person narration. All in all this is a decent read.

The storyline revolves around the question of how the world would react to the news of a modern-day immaculate conception. Anne Fitzgerald is called in by the Archdiocese to provide an objective investigation into a reported virgin pregnancy. She walks in expecting an easy assignment and instead ends up testing her own faith. Along the way, we're introduced to Nicholas Rosetti, a strong priest sent in to unravel the mystery of two young women claiming to be virgins despite their pregnancies. He believes one will bear the saviour of man, the other will bear the child of satan. The story moves rather slowly through most of the book; it focuses on outlining the media frenzy building around one of the virgins as well as the scapegoating endured by the other virgin. The last quarter of the book builds to a quick climax with an ending that makes the reading worthwhile. It also leaves the question: when is the sequel? Overall, I enjoyed the book. It's a very quick, easy read (at just over 300 pages, I polished this off in a few hours), it addresses some rather heavy spiritual issues, but it delivers a story without being "preachy". I wouldn't qualify this as one of Patterson's best works; it's more like "Patterson-Lite". The novel exemplifies his earlier abilities, but overall, I enjoyed it.

Hearing the title of James Patterson's latest release, "Cradle and All", I expected the story of a missing infant, distraught parents, family secrets and an eventual tearful reunion. I was unprepared for the deception of the benign title; it belies a literal tale of apocalyptic proportions, mixing biblical prophecy, Virgin births, priests and nuns, the Vatican and holy miracles with enough world-wide plague and pestilence to create the ultimate battle of good against evil.

Annie, a former nun turned private investigator, is content with her present limited involvement with the Church, consisting of occasional investigations of sensitive matters. In the midst of an outbreak of "new polio", she is summoned by her old friend, a Cardinal, to handle a secretive and potentially dangerous crisis; she is told little more than it involves a pregnant teenager named Kathleen, who lives in Massachusetts and claims to be a virgin. Meeting and befriending Kathleen is a journey of faith and conscience for Annie, who must venture beyond her own skepticism, particularly when she learns of a second pregnant teen in Ireland, Colleen, who is also believed to be a virgin. Only then does Annie learn the magnitude of her assignment: to investigate whether the prophecy foretold by the Virgin Mother in Fatima in 1917 - that the child of God and the child of Satan would each be born to virgins - is becoming a present-day reality and whether the potential of such an event is behind the crises of sickness, famine and drought suddenly sweeping the earth. The resolution to this mystery shocks Annie (much as it does those of us following her pilgrimage), changes the course of her life and defines its purpose.

I understand that "Cradle and All" is a re-working of Patterson's out-of-print novel, "Virgin". I am likely to go in search of that version of this story to see what Patterson felt the need to modify now.

I highly recommend this work. Do not be mislead by the title or assume that it is similar to James Patterson's standard fare (which I always eagerly anticipate): this book is not a "light" read nor a "murder and mayhem" mystery. It deserves more thought (even introspection) than that... Many persons believe that we live in the "end times"; James Patterson presents such a scenario without becoming preachy or overtly threatening. However, the implications of his proposal are frightening in the world today, which is plagued too often by cynicism and a weakness of faith: what if the child of God and the child of Satan were each born on earth as human children? Would anyone recognize them now? Would anyone care?

If your an avid James Patterson fan, as I am, avoid "Cradle And All". It is thouroughly the most disappointing book I have read in a long time. It doesn't come close to the great writing and ploting we expect from a James Patterson mystery. Maybe it's because it is reissue of an earlier, less succesful novel, "Virgin", from a time before he hit his stride and began keeping us on the edge of our seats, but it just doesn't work for me. Yet, everyone is entitled to a bad day, so we will just have to wait for the return of Alex Delaware. If you want to stay a fan, I strongly reccommend you pass on "The Cradle & All" Sorry!

I've read most of James Patterson's work and consider him a "popcorn" novelist. Nothing fancy, but usually satisfying. Unlike other reviewers, I like his short (2-3 pages) chapter approach to writing as I think it keeps things moving along pretty well.

But Cradle and All just didn't do it for me. I tried, I really tried, but I finally had to give up at about 150 pages. I think the religious and apocolyptic angle just doesn't jibe with his usual style of murder mysteries. Plus, the nun-turned-detective just wasn't believeable enough to pull this one off.

This book was a re-write of a book Patterson wrote 20 years ago and reissued to cash in on his popularity. Something tells me that this and The Season of the Machete, another old Patterson book that was just awful, should have stayed in obscurity.

Patterson is best when he gets into his characters. The Alex Cross books are highly entertaining and the first in the four San Francisco women series (1st to Die) was very promising. My suggestion is for a new reading to read the series books and avoid most of the rest.

This book has little or no merit and could only have been foisted on the reading public by a successful author who has the leverage to get a literary dog published. Oh well, let the buyer beware, I suppose.

This one star is generous. Next time, I'll keep my debit card in my wallet. This book was so badly written and a complete waste of a wonderful concept. There were sloppy errors in detail and zero meaningful background information about the characters; the relationships were cliches; the descriptions were inadequate; the scenes were ho-hum predictable. It was written in eighth grade style with stultifying sentence structure, flat verbs, and way too many adverbs. And those sound bite chapters stretched a 250 page book to a bare 300. Rip off! When an author lets his publisher promote this kind of second rate effort, it is an insult to his readers. I won't buy James Patterson again without reading strong reviews first.

Patteson has the horrible habit of either being brillant, Jack or Jill or terrible, When the Wind Blows. Unfortunately, this is an example of the later. The book should be called fataled and flawed. This literary ttempt has a ridiculous plot, flawed character development and an absurd ending. Even if they gave this book away, it will cost too much. Hopefully, the rest of the summer will be better for the genre.

For those who just love the Alex Cross Novels, and can't be without, I'm warning you now, this one doesn't feature Cross, and isn't worth your time.

First of all, this is a pretty dumb plot. Shocking ending, but I still can't believe I read this entire book. It was only 325 pages (Hardcover) and so I figured since I started it, I'd better finish.

But all and all, I was very displeased. This is based on an earlier book Virgin, but I bet Virgin was better.

I was really disappointed with this one. The only thing it has is really good detail. The characters aren't well built. For example, Kathleen likes Anne Fitzgerald, and never gets a problem with her in the book. But Kathleen dislikes everybody else.

What was worse was that "shocking" ending. Not exactly the best of Patterson. This isn't a book you'd want to read, unless you're really bored. At first it is a very confusing book. This may hold our darkest fears, but they're put into a very uninteresting story.

If you are a fan of Alex Cross, then I wouldn't recomend this one. I also would say that this isn't a good first James Patterson read.