Mary, Mary

"Everytime I think I'm out, they pull me back in," must be how Alex Cross feels. Here he thought life was settling down, that he could stick around the FBI, be a Dad, take his kids to Disneyland, and then what happens? Someone starts cutting up pretty ladies and he's back on the case again.

This time he's on loan to the LAPD after the murder of an actress whose face was cut to ribbons so that she was nearly unrecognizable. This sets off a string of similar murders, each with an accompanying message to the local gossip columnist.

While Alex is looking for the bad guy or gal, he's also fighting his ex-wife for custody of their son. The custody battle seems a bit contrived, especially when it comes to the ultimate resolution.

But naturally Alex solves the case and Nana-Mama is there to scold him for putting the kids in danger yet again. He promises that he's finished with all the dangerous stuff for good...but is he? Only Patterson's next book knows for sure.

But once again, James Patterson has given us a page turner with sex and violence and home cooking, and isn't that what we expect of Patterson?