James Patterson, Author

Patterson used to be a better writer, with tighter plots, less wandering and unnecessary verbiage, and an action-driven writing style that kept me hanging from beginning to end. When Patterson began partnering with co-writers, the books became longer, less focused, more rambling, and with absolutely no punch at the end, just sheer relief when the book finally ended. After Andrew Gross’s partnership with Patterson, I stopped buying Patterson’s publications because they were, in a word, boring, and read like a college creative writing class’s collaborative final exam effort hodge-podged together just to get a good grade for using all of the elements of fiction in one poorly-conceived and executed story. [I do, however, continue to purchase Gross’s novels as they are reminiscent of Patterson at his best and, in my opinion, are better.]

A picture is worth a thousand words, and best writing practices show, don’t tell; somewhere in the writing process of his past Patterson forgot that basic guideline, but NYPD Red is old-style Patterson at its best. His characters are well-crafted and allow the reader to develop them based on actions and dialog, rather than the author telling the reader the way the character is supposed to be through extensive, meaningless verbiage. If the readers aren't savvy enough to develop the storyline internally, they aren’t real readers, but page turners who should wait for the movie version.

NYPD Red is a good read that kept me engaged and charging my Kindle battery. After reading the tease for the new Alex Cross novel, I’m going to order that next as it has the same “sound” as Red: action-packed, tight characterization that shows, rather than tells, what’s important for the story.