Currently riding high in the
bestseller lists, Mary, Mary is a proficiently written thriller about a
serial killer.  It starts with a triple
murder in a New York City movie theater, and proceeds with many more.  The killer is described as male, which is
confusing when the killer starts sending emails describing his murders to a
Hollywood newspaper editor, signing them as “Mary Smith.”  Is Patterson playing games with us, portraying
the female murderer as male, or maybe the murderer has some sort of sexual
identity confusion?  The reader is left
guessing until near the end of the book, although when the murderer is finally
revealed, it all fits together.  Most
readers will probably be surprised, although they are given enough information
along the way to guess whodunit ahead of time. 

Patterson’s FBI Agent Alex Cross is
normally based in Washington DC, but he happens to be in California when taking
his children for a holiday at Disneyland. 
He gets dragged into the Mary Smith case as the bodies start piling up,
and this gets him tangled in LA police department politics.  He has the temperament and experience to
cope with the grisly murders, and despite his troubled personal life, he of
course solves the murder mystery eventually. 

Although we get to learn much about
Cross’ personal life, he is not a very compelling lead character.  Similarly, while it is possible to piece
together the killer’s motivation, we never learn much to make it clear what
makes it psychologically possible for him (or her) to commit such heinous
crimes.  What keeps the reader’s
attention is the Patterson’s crisp writing and the Hollywood theme, with famous
names frequently being dropped.  The
unabridged audiobook is performed by three actors, Peter Fernandez, Michael
Louis Wells, and Melissa Leo, and they help to keep the different characters
distinct.  The production quality is
high, with added music and atmospheric sounds. 
The book is on 7 CDs and they go quickly.  Recommended for those who are looking for a insubstantial yet
dark mystery that holds the attention only until the book is done with. 

© 2006 Christian Perring. All
rights reserved.