Customer Reviews

Virgin

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This is a bad book with a story line that is fairly simple. There are two young girls, both pregnant and both claiming to be virgins. One, Kathleen, rich and privileged, lives in the United States. The other, Colleen, lives in a small country village in Ireland. According to a secret missive from Our Lady of Fatima, one virgin will give birth to Satan's child, the Anti-Christ, while the other will give birth to the child of God, a new Messiah.

Meanwhile, all over the world apocalyptic manifestations are sprouting up. Pestilence, drought, famine, and and other evil portents seem to dominate the global landscape. Something strange is going on, and it appears as if the forces of good and evil are gathering about, girding themselves for one final battle.

Father Rosetti, an emissary from the vatican, has been entrusted with a secret mission by the Pope relative to these two young virgins, and it is one that will sorely try his faith. Meanwhile, former nun turned private investigator, Anne Fitzgerald, has been retained by the Archdiocese of Boston to look into the phenomena of a possible immaculate conception with regards to these two young women who inhabit disparate worlds. Anne must not only confront the unknown in order to assist these two young women, she must also confront her own powerful emotions and a destiny she could not have imagined.

Written in 1980 and originally released under the title "Virgin", this book has been updated by the author to make it appear as if it were a more contemporary work and recently released again under the title "Cradle and All". The book is riddled with ridiculous cliches from the horror genre and lacks any real tension. It has been released again to capitalize on the author's success with his Alex Cross series of thrillers. Unfortunately, it is not cut from the same bolt of cloth and lacks the quality of both writing and plot that earmarks his Alex Cross novels.

It's been a couple years since I read "Virgin", and I was pleased to learn that it was being republished as "Cradle And All". Patterson did a great job of remodelling this story. It was just as suspenseful as the first time I read it. I was fortunate to receive an Advance Proof and I can tell you that this story still is chilling. For those who never read "Virgin", the story is about two virgins, one a 16 year old girl from Newport, RI. The other girl, 14 years old, from an Irish Village, and they're both pregnant. One is to give birth to the Messiah, the other to Satan. No one knows which is the true virgin. This story is as chilling as any other Patterson novel, if not more. You won't finish the book disappointed.

"Virgin" is a really good book, very hard to put down once you've started since you quickly develop attachment to the characters in the book. Though not as long or detailed as James Patterson's more recent novels, it gives a good insight to Patterson's developing writing style. I particularly liked the story, though maybe a tad too religious, but it all worked together well. I think the fact that the book is out of print right now is the public's loss, and if James Patterson ever reads this, I advise him to re-publish it in softcover like he did with "The Jericho Commandment"/"See How They Run" I had to read a library copy of this book, and I'd really like to have my own so I can read it over and over like his other novels I've read. "Virgin" is definately a favorite of mine of Patterson novels outside of the Alex Cross novels.

This book is one of James Patterson's best books and I think that it should be republished. I love James Patterson's novels and this one is so hard to put down and is surprising til the end. I own all of Patterson's books, including this one. I happened upon it in a second hand store and grabbed it recognizing the titles right away. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys James Patterson.

But other than that...! Really, this book was so badly written, the story was full of plot holes and awkward devices, and the ending was ridiculous. I would have stopped reading long before the end, but I was reading on the recommendation of a friend who wanted to discuss it. I can only assume at this point that I must have unknowlingly offended her and this was my punishment.

OK, I am a HUGE James Patterson fan and I love the more recent novels. While I agree that this is no Alex Delaware story, I still enjoyed it quite a bit. I usually like a good scary movie and this has all the makings of one. The plots twists and the church involvement make me terrified at times. Definitely worth an open minded read!

I should have been sufficiently warned by this novel's back cover, which includes a rave quote from Jay Anson, author of "The Amityville Horror." This book follows in that tradition, in that the writing style is flat and declarative, and fairly artless. Get ready for lots of halting, simplistic internal monologues with exclamation points at the end.

Character development is very sketchy; the most the book manages to do is rehash that ancient chestnut about forbidden love among the clergy, in a totally unnecessary subplot about a nun and a priest who have...feelings for each other. Give me a break. None of the other characters even get that much attention paid to them. As two virgin girls advance in their pregnancies, one with Christ reborn, another with something far more sinister (but which has what?), the story plays out with a complete lack of suspense and interest. It actually must take some sort of perverse talent to have a climax involving the earth-shattering occurrence of the Second Coming, and *still* manage to make it boring.

One of those rare instances where the made for TV movie that came from this story is better than the original source material. Stay away! Stay far away!

The characters were well written and interesting. The plot moved along well. It is not Patterson's usual detective novel, so maybe that is why his other readers weren't impressed. So far he has branched out into several different areas and all of them have been good. This novel is no exception.

This had to be one of the best book's James Patterson has writen. Hey if you love the Alex Cross charater, then you might not like this book. I like it on that fact! Yes, this book isn't the "brick" size of "When the wind blows" or "Cat and mouse", but even though, it is a smaller size book, it really is good. Also, the fact that this book is one of the hardest book's to find, ANYWHERE, also makes it mysterious. Virgin really is worth of 5 out o 5 stars!! Also, i read ealier in the year that they were going to re-copy it, and make more cpoies of it, then they comeout with "Craddle and All". Boo. I was surprised that Alex Cross wasn't in it. But if you liked Thomas Berryman Number, then you will like Virgin! TRUST ME!