This is James Patterson's first book and I am happy to report he does get better. I am a huge fan of JP's - I have read all of his Alex Cross and Murder Club books...now I am going back to some of his older books. If I had started with this book I am not sure I would have read any more of his books.

The THOMAS BERRYMAN NUMBER is not very well written. It tells the story of a hitman through the eyes of several people. It jumps from 'present' day back to the past and back again. It tells the same story from different perspectives. At times this style is very hard to follow. He introduces too many characters and it is hard to keep up with everyone and their relationship to the story. The main story line is good but the style of telling the story is confusing and difficult to read.

If you want to read James Patterson - try one of his Alex Cross books, they are wonderful. Skip this one!!

i can't understand why it won the Edgar. I simply cannot see the reason. It is almost incomprehensible to me that a table of judges could sit down and decide that this was the best book of the year. Really? Were there NO other crime books published in that year?

It's a pageturner, and the plot is relatively exciting. The writing is simplistic but better, in terms of quality, than some of his recent books. However, the characters are thing, we never learn much about them at all, the plot is not awfully well explained, the time period keeps jolting about, so the book doesn't flow at all. it all just seems like a lot os misjointed thoughts and ideas put together in random order. The ending is abrupt and somewhat anticlimatic.

As a debut, this is not all that good. It's not near the quality of his later novels, and i would only reccomend it to longstanding fans who wish to read every single thing he's written, just so they can say they have. Who knows, you might even like it. It's possible, i suppose.

I found reading the other readers' reviews (almost universally bad) of The Thomas Berryman Number a real education. It might interest you all to know that when this, Patterson's first novel, came out in 1977 it won the Edgar for the best first crime novel of that year. Yes, this book is very different from his Alex Cross series: The plot is subtle and provocative, the characters are complex and compelling, and Patterson's writing here makes it a pleasure to deal with every page. The Cross books, on the other hand, feature a one-dimensional cardboard hero, comic-book villains, and simplistic writing in very short chapters. No, Patterson's writing has not improved with the years. He's just lowered his standards and is aiming at a larger, dimmer audience.