Summary and Analysis of “Along Came a Spider”

Introduction

"Along Came a Spider" by James Patterson is an intense crime thriller. I am investigating whether furnishing Gary Soneji with two personalities contributes to the novel's dramatic ending. The novel had a slow start but turned drastically into an exciting and incredibly suspenseful.

Having read previous crime thrillers by Ian Rankin, Tom Harris and Tom Clancy, I was looking for a master of suspense with an imaginative and intellectual lead character. I found both in James Patterson's thriller 'Along Came a Spider'. His main character, Dr. Alex Cross, filled this role admirably.

Alex Cross is a lead detective with the Washington Police Department. He is also a very able licensed psychologist. While investigating a serious of murders, he is called out to take the lead in the investigation of the kidnap and murder of a politician's son, Michael Goldberg, and the abduction of a movie star's daughter, Maggie Rose. It is not long before he finds out the murderer and the kidnapper are one in the same. He is called Gary Soneji. This cold-hearted man was a well respected teacher at the private school from which he kidnapped the two children. The manhunt for Gary Soneji and the search for little lost Maggie Rose and Michael Goldberg have Alex Cross teamed up with the FBI and the Secret Service. Soneji proves to be evil incarnate with a master plan and a high I.Q. The plot thickens and surprises abound, keeping interest at a high level after the first couple of chapters. James Patterson delivers what every suspense reader wants and that is a vulnerable and loveable good guy along with a loathsome, bad guy which makes enthralling reading so much so that you cannot put the book down. It is compelling reading.

'Along Came a Spider' has very well developed characters considering it's quick pace and the fact that there are more twists in the plot than a corkscrew. When the romance elements involving Alex Cross and an FBI agent (Jezzie Flanagan) become boring, James Patterson turns it around. The context of the story is believable, which is rare in a novel. Although most of the chapters are short, each of them contains a surprise in store for the reader. You are desperate to read on and find out what happened next. In chapter 4, you find out that the person who kidnapped the two children was everyone's favourite teacher who had a very relevant name, Mr Chips. This nickname was coined as he always took part in computer competitions and was a very good computer engineer. This was a shock as Gary Soneji was the friendliest teacher around (Patterson, 34-40). The book contained a prologue in which the reader is reading about someone who is re-enacting the famous Lindbergh kidnapping in 1932. This is where idealism is introduced in the book with the idealistic Gary Soneji, because he is so enthralled with the Lindbergh kidnapping. The reader is told the details of this event. Finally you ...