Literary Techniques In James Patterson's Run For Your Life
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James Patterson continues his Michael Bennett saga with the 338-paged Run For Your Life, released in 2009. This crime-thriller features a formulaic misguided-revenge killer and banal family drama with several forgettable characters. The bad guy, a man named William Gladstone, decides to go on a killing spree in order to avenge his brother Thomas. The two were separated after their parents divorced at a young age, as William goes to his mother and rich stepdad while Thomas stays with their well-meaning-but-always-drunk father archetype. William becomes a hardcore military veteran while Thomas cheats on his wife and kills himself after she files for divorce. Although William has self-admittedly been ignoring Thomas up until that point, he becomes…show more content… He has no idea who The Teacher is going to strike next until the very end when he realizes the parents are next. Even then, he is unable to find him and The Teacher has to reveal himself by breaking into Bennett’s home. All in all, it seems that Michael Bennett did not do much at all throughout the book; in the end, The Teacher just ended up killing himself anyway.
The most critical part of the novel is The Teacher’s monologue to Bennett in Bennett’s apartment. The Teacher finally reveals his ultimate motive for the murders. The question of why that has been lingering over the reader’s mind throughout the book and in this passage it is finally answered. The problem is, the answer is completely idiotic and breaks the immersion in the story entirely. The rest of the book from that point gets even more ridiculous and ends leaving the reader in disbelief.
Patterson’s writing style does not help the book. His simplistic sentences make for easy but ultimately forgetful reading. He also includes a very large amount of oddly-placed references to modern culture and products. Although the intent may have been to help place the story in the twenty-first century, the reality is that each “BMW 720Li,” “F-15E Strike Eagle” and “Palm Treo 750 smart phone” sticks out like a sore thumb and ruins the flow of the