The Big Bad Wolf by James Patterson

Genre: Suspense/Thriller

Date of Publication: October 4^th, 2004

Memorable Quotation: “A parish priest had tried to explain an eternity in hell to Benjamin’s sixth grade class. ‘Picture a river with a mountain on the other side,’ the priest had said. ‘Now imagine that every thousand years, the tiniest sparrow transports what it can carry in its beak across the river from the mountain. When the tiny sparrow has transported the entire mountain to this side of the river, that, boys and girls, would just be the beginning of eternity.” (pg. 155)

Lasting Impression: The plot was great and I was definitely afraid of the Big Bad Wolf but with small climaxes throughout the story and an unresolved ending, the novel left me feeling robbed of what should have been a complete finale.

Storyline: A

Pace of Story: A-

Characters: B-

Ending: D-

Overall: C-

“Who is afraid?” the inside jacket of Patterson’s novel The Big Bad Wolf asks and then answers, “You are,” and they were right.  For most of the novel, I really was scared of the big bad wolf, and with his identity still being unknown by the end of the novel, he kept his mystery and his fear he instilled into others, even if it was frustrating to never find out who he really was.  The Big Bad Wolf centers around one of, if not the most, famous James Patterson character, Alex Cross. He is training to be an FBI agent when all hell breaks loose; a federal judge’s wife has been kidnapped and upon further investigation shows that she isn’t the first. Men and women over the past few years have been abducted and sold as slaves to men who desire them the most by the Russian mobster only known as The Wolf.

The novel is reminiscent of the 2008 film Taken, with its plot around the same disturbing subjects of modern day slavery and prostitution and a pace that leaves you breathless and wanting more.  Unfortunately, unlike Taken, the novel’s ending is a huge disappointment.  It ends on a cliffhanger with no sign of resolution as far as Cross’ personal life is concerned and as mentioned previously, Wolf’s identity is not discovered. However, upon doing further research, you can learn the Wolf’s identity in a completely unrelated novel, London Bridges, that involves his character and is published exactly a year after The Big Bad Wolf.

I loved and hated the character development.  With some characters, I loved how Patterson inserted the smallest of details about them and gave them a specific way of speaking, helping me really get to know who they were (although I never wanted to learn about some of the perverts involved with The Wolf). On the other hand, others were given brief descriptions and just appeared to be there, just a body with a voice so to speak.

In retrospect, the best aspects to the novel were when the kidnappings happened, were reported to the FBI, and then solved.  The politics of the Russian government and the constant searching of The Wolf’s identity really took away from the main storyline, even if it was an unsettling subject. 

I am sad to say that, overall, I have read better James Patterson novels than this one, as far as delivery and endings go. The James Patterson I am familiar with delivers such a punch at the end of his novels you feel the impact and satisfaction of the twist that you never see coming.  Patterson is one of the greatest suspense writers to have ever lived, and to have published a novel that had a great plot but was brought down by poor execution makes me want to ask the question R. Shaff posted on his Amazon.com review, “Will the real James Patterson please stand up?”

~Shelly-Beans