Alex Cross, Run by James Patterson

"You know what else is true? There are evil people out there in the world. Someone has to do the work that you do, and we're all very lucky that you do it so well. But that doesn't mean you can't care too much sometimes, Alex. I think you do. And that's when I worry about you---about what this might be doing to...well, to your soul."
             -Adele Finaly, psychotherapist, from the novel

I used to read one after another of Patterson's thrillers but I finally realized they were not doing much for me. It was like "read 'em and forget 'em." And the sadistic brutality and bloodiness is very disturbing, much like the TV series "Criminal Minds" that I have long been a fan of but am now finding upsetting; I may decide to give it up in spite of my affinity for the characters.

I have read many novels of the Alex Cross series and have gotten to know and like several characters: Alex, his family and his friend and co-worker John Sampson. In this suspenseful novel, Alex is searching  for two---or is it three?---serial killers while another crazed individual is gunning for him. If that weren't enough stress, his foster daughter goes missing and he gets himself into some legal trouble.

Short chapters, foreshadowing and twists and turns of the plot all made Alex Cross, Run a true page-turner. I could hardly put it down and finished in just over 2 days. I have to rate it a 4 for entertainment but I would not consider it literature which Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines as: 

writings in prose or verse; especially : writings having excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest

A literature professor once said that good literature teaches life lessons. Neither of these definitions fit Patterson's body of work, in my opinion. Fun to read but no redeeming social value!