Customer Reviews

Season of the Machete

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(31)

 

 

As a dedicated fan of James Patterson, I realized that this was the one book of his that I had not yet read. Considering myself somewhat of a "completeist" when it comes to authors and musicians, I felt compelled to find a copy even though many, many Amazon reviewers recommended otherwise. Well, I guess I should have listened to the reviewers! This is not the James Patterson who wrote the great "Alex Cross" series (or even lesser works like "Thomas Berryman...", "Virgin", or "Black Market"). The character development is almost non-existent and the plot is so jumbled and rambling, it's like a runaway stagecoach.

Oh, don't get me wrong, there's plenty of action and numerous gory murders, but the set-up for the book is wafer-thin and it's really hard to fight your way through it. Like an earlier reviewer stated, I defy any reader to really tell me what the heck is going on through most of this book.

If you're a fan of Patterson's, stick with the Cross novels and his other later works. "Season of the Machete" was obviously a very early effort by Patterson and has about as much substance as some of my last-minute, weekend term papers from college. It's hard for me to give any Patterson book "one star" but when you compare this novel to his later books, this reviewer cannot do otherwise.

Stick to his good stuff and avoid this "Season"!

This is my ninth novel by Mr. Patterson. I guess I have been spoiled with Alex Cross stories. I try to read all a Author writes if I enjoy his books. I believe this to be his third and I have read all the rest. I felt he was still learning in this book. Very confusing, plenty of action but no growth of new characters, as I finshed it I realized that Peter was still in pursuit, I couldn't tell that until the final sentence. We all improve with time and so has this Author, all the rest have been great and I will read more as they come.

I wish they'd pull this one from the market. I've never heard a soul say anything good about it. It's just out there so Patterson fans will accidentally buy it. DON'T BUY IT!! It is nowhere near the quality of any of his other books! Get ANYTHING else by Patterson and it will be better than this.

After reading Patterson's Alex Cross novels I decided to read his earlier works. This book is the best he has written before Along Came a Spider. Unlike the others that have written here I understood the ending and loved it. Finally a good ending and you can see where Patterson gets his double villain themes from. I would definately recommend this book over "See How They Run", "Hide and Seek" or "The Thomas Berryman". Number

SEASON OF THE MACHETE is James Patterson's second novel, originally written in the mid 1970s. This book was re-issued in the 1990s to capitalize on the success of the Alex Cross series. Although I'm a fan of Patterson's later work, I found this particular novel to be remarkably bad.

There are so many things wrong with this novel it's hard to list them all. The characterization in SEASON OF THE MACHETE is thin to non-existent. The premise of the novel is absurd, and the rambling, incoherent plotline made for a confusing read. Ever read a book and have no idea what's going on most of the time? Or much less care? This is that kind of novel.

In short, SEASON OF MACHETE is one the most painful reading experiences I've had in a long time. Unless you're a Patterson completist, my advice is to avoid this novel at all costs.

I'm a huge James Patterson fan, and I purchased this book without reading any reviews. Oh, what a mistake that was! The writing was choppy, the sentence structure hard to follow, and the story line bland.

This definitely does NOT compare to his later works.

If this would have been the first James Patterson book I ever read, it would have been the last (and that would have been a shame!). Too gory (without any real purpose), too many characters (who are very one-dimensional) and too much stuff going. That being said, I did quit reading this book about 1/3 of the way through (which I hardly ever do). Maybe I missed out on the good stuff in the last part of the book, but I really doubt it!

Don't get me wrong, Season of the Machete is no masterpiece. But for James Patterson's second book it's not all that bad. Throughout the whole book I really didn't get bored with it. There were times when it moved a little slow but I think Patterson had to add in a story that wasn't just people getting chopped up by Machetes. There were a lot of killings and details in this book that probably didn't have to go into it, but Patterson had a story line that he wanted to do and he stuck to it. I do have to say though that sometimes the sentences did not make any sense. I found myself re-reading lines because I didn't know what the heck they were talking about or doing. But I think that is how Patterson has developed over the years. This book doesn't have snappy dialogue and short suspenseful chapters but it holds your interest. The ending though is definitely the best and most intriguing part of the book. The old saying "the end justifies the means" applies to this book in a huge way. Overall, Season of the Machete is not perfect literature but it is still worthy of a read. 3 Stars

I bought this book to listen to on a long driving trip. Expecting the usual entertaining quality of Mr. Patterson's work, I was disappointed. The story and characters were not well developed, but I continued to listen. As the end I was puzzled by this book and finally thought to look at the copyright date - 1977! I've concluded it was written early in Mr. Patterson's career and that's the explanation I choose to accept for my disappointment! This will not prevent my buying his more recent books.

I write very, very few reviews in which I trash a book or an author. I am giving this one two stars simply because the author is James Patterson, and I do admire much of his work. This book though, my goodness, I could not even finish it! That is a very rare event in my life. The story was forced, disorganized and simply not good. The characters had no character and were very poorly developed. The story is simply about a couple killing people, innocent people. Might as well watch the evening news. I do not recommend this one, although I do still recommend the larger body of this author's work. Sorry James, this is the best I could do with this one.