[.ca] Cradle and All (ISBN 1570428611)

From Amazon.com:
James Patterson's Cradle and All pits the intensity of faith against the certainties of science within an arena of Millennial tensions. A reworking of his 1980 apocalyptic thriller Virgin, this remodeled version boasts a genuinely unnerving premise, amplified with Patterson's fast-paced, uncluttered prose. In the midst of a series of unexplained plagues and famines, two teenage girls are heavily pregnant, despite being virgins. According to the sacred prophecies of Fatima, one will bear the child of Christ and the other, the spawn of Satan. Both Anne Fitzgerald, a former nun turned private detective, and the Vatican's Father Rosetti are sent to investigate. But which girl carries which child? The possibility of a miracle will be tainted with great suffering before the awful, unexpected truth is revealed. As the action moves speedily from the hallowed halls of the Vatican to the media frenzy of America to the small-town hysteria of Ireland, Patterson divines considerable suspense from the novel's central premise, tackling issues of faith with admirable aplomb: "All over the world, after all the years of difficulty, decades of diminishing spirituality, so many people still believed.... Everywhere, people talked of the Apocalypse, perhaps the end of the world. Which explained why so many people were suddenly going to church." A relentless pace culminating in a superbly twisted ending won't disappoint Patterson's faithful followers, and may even convert some new members. --Danny Graydon

Excellent:
I am not a James Patterson fan, but a friend was reading this book, and it sounded very interesting to me. I bought it, and loved it. It is the only book by him that I have ever cared to read, probably because it is so different from the rest of his work. I thought I had the book all figured out until the end. Those are the kind of books I love. This is one that you definetly do not want to read the end first, for it will ruin the whole book!

Everything in one book!:
This is the second book I read by James Patterson. The first book I read was Kiss the Girls, and I was interested in some more of his works, so I read this after discovering I had it for about 2 years and it had been missing. I can't recommend it enough! This book has a little comedy, drama, mystery, action, suspense, and it is based on events in the Bible. This book taught me about the Blessed Virgin Mary. The book couldn't have a more surprising ending, and when I finished it, I wanted to read it again. I last read this book during June, so I have to do this book from memory. That's the best thing; I can remember all of the events from beginning to end, that's how memorable this book is. Anyway, on to the overview of the book and the final judgement. The book is about a nun who joined the police force and gets a call from her friend Cardinal Rooney. There is apparently a plague that is going around the world. Meanwhile, there are two virgin births on opposite sides of the world. One in the U.S and one in Ireland. Kathleen Beaver is seventeen years old, Colleen Galagher is fourteen years old. I won't ruin any surprise twists here, because 1)it would ruin the book, and 2)there are too many surprises. I was so shocked, which adds to the lasting factor and the memorable factor. I would highly recommend this book to anyone 18 and over because of the strong sexual content and language. I am 12, and this book was a little strange to me, it even grossed me out a little, so I think you should be at least 18.

Wake me up when it's over.:
This is one of the most boring books I have ever read. Like another reader, I read the whole thing, just HOPING it would get better. No such luck. It seems like all the characters are just driving around and circling the globe going back and forth between the "virgins". And, some characters are so useless they could have been completely left out. This is the only James Patterson book I've read, and if any of his other ones are like this one, it will be my last.

Not his best:
I've read practically every James Patterson novel, and this was certainly not his best. I love the Alex Cross series and most of his other works because they keep you guessing throughout the entire book. This novel, on the other hand, pretty much tells you the catch and simply repeats itself over and over from Part 2 until the ending. It was so messy that the act of reading it gradually became annoying. It is, however, a quick read (I finished it in less than a week) so even if it is a terrible novel, it doesn't waste too much of your time. By the way, the only reason that I give this book 2 stars and not 1 is because it did have a mildly ammusing epilogue.

I should have seen this coming:
My dislike of this book was a result of my neglect to really pay attention to the preview on the back cover when I read it. Had I paid attention, I would have realized that Cradle and All would be too religious for my liking. Frankly, I did not like it; therefore, I feel compelled to warn others like me who, as I did, might not fully digest the preview on the back cover. However, if you like stories with religious subject matter, try this book; *you* might like it. Beware, though, that the story is quite predictable.