Cat & Mouse by James Patterson (1997)

Cats are usually predators, and mice are usually prey. This time, however, there is some confusion as to just exactly who is really the cat and who is the mouse. What's even more confusing is that it appears the cat is, down deep inside, afraid of the mouse no matter who it may be.

Yes, as might be expected, this is another of James Patterson's Alex Cross novels. Patterson is a constant source of amazement (and even some degree of inspiration) in both his incredibly human characters, and his horrifyingly imaginative plots, and his relentlessly riveting style of writing.

It's almost as if each chapter is the literary equivalent of a TV "sound bite." Whether a single page in length or (for the longer ones) three or even four pages, each chapter tells a micro-tale. A page and a half to describe a character's appearance and relate it to his mood. Two pages to paint the bloody image of a killer's torturing of his victim so vividly you can smell the blood. Just enough to close the scene at hand, with enough left over to whet your curiosity to know what will inevitably happen next!

It's that "what will happen next" which has the cat frightened, yet driven to catch the mouse. So, who is it? Is it forensic psychologist, detective, and family man Alex Cross? Alex is tall, good looking, highly intelligent, dedicated to his two children and his Nana Mama, and committed to an unremitting pursuit of criminals. Alex, though he also knows the adrenaline rush of pursuit and capture, knows the gut clenching fear of he and his family being stalked by insane killers -- like Gary Soneji.

Or, could it be Soneji (pronounced So-nee-jee), a psychopathic serial murderer. Soneji is a master of disguise, a planner par excellence, a married man who hates and would like to hill his wife and kids, and sane enough to know that he is being pursued by Alex Cross.

Or, perhaps it's a cold-blooded butcher who's in the process of stacking up horribly mutilated dead bodies across Europe -- with side trips to America. No one knows who Mr. Smith is -- not even we who are privileged (by the author) to enter his warped mind and see his thoughts about his victims. Like Soneji, Mr. Smith is a master of disguise who can pass as part of any metropolitan venue. Hmmmmm. Do you think...??

Then again, could it possibly be Thomas Pierce, the long-haired FBI profiler who's pursuing Mr. Smith? After all, it was Mr. Smith who killed Pierce's fiancee, mutilated the corpse and cut her heart out. He, too, knows the chill of pursuing a chimera more horrible than ever conceived in legend.

How about John Sampson, Alex's huge best-friend-for-life? Surely Sampson knows the ragged teeth of fear as he struggles with his emotions after Alex is ambushed and his family assaulted. God only knows, I felt the gnawing bite of fear when I saw Alex carted off to the hospital with a negative prognosis. Even though my reason said he couldn't die -- he's the hero after all -- I've come to know that anything is possible in a Patterson novel!

It's all here, folks. Soneji is loose and Mr. Smith is loose, and innocent people are dying both here in American and in Europe -- and Alex is plugged into life support! Who is the cat, and who is the mouse? What will happen to Alex, to Nana Mama, to the kids, to Alex's new love Christine, to Pierce, and to Soneji and Mr. Smith?

I'm not joking for an instant when I say I would gladly give my left testicle (or right, I'm easy to deal with) to be able to write as absorbingly as James Patterson. Granted the two techniques are different, still Patterson can do in six pages what it takes Stephen King sixteen to accomplish!

If you haven't read him yet, you should! If you have read him and haven't yet read this book, you've missed mind-frying suspense. If you've read this one and disagree with this review, you have some problems of your own that should be attended to. Seriously, though, this isn't just dynamite, it's literary C-4 Plastique, and Thomas Harris had better start writing some more! My advice? Get this book! Read it! Take a couple of days off from work to calm down again afterward! Then, look for another Patterson/Cross novel and start all over again.