How often do you pick up a book and begin to read, only to find that you quite simply, "can't put it down?" Perhaps once in every twenty instances...every hundred? "Jack and Jill," by James Patterson, was one book which provided me with just such an experience.

I purchased "Jack and Jill" only very recently at London's Heathrow Airport, when I found myself devoid of reading material for a short haul flight to Germany. I began reading the book in the Departure Lounge, continued to do so throughout the flight, then proceeded to spend several subsequent hours completing it when I could - and perhaps should! - have been involved in other activities.

"Jack and Jill" is one of the earlier novels in James Patterson's, "Alex Cross" series. Cross is both a qualified psychologist and a detective in the Washington, DC, Police Department.

The action begins with the cold-blooded but calculated murder of a United States' Senator in his own Washington apartment by a couple calling themselves, "Jack and Jill," while elsewhere in the city, a killer of an entirely different ilk begins preying on young children. Soon, Alex Cross finds himself and his team deeply embroiled in both investigations, his motivation in each case chillingly different.

As the killing of high profile celebrities by "Jack and Jill" continues, it soon becomes apparent who their prime target is and that all the other killings are mere "rehearsals" for the main event. Can Alex Cross stop them in time and prevent the United States being plunged in to chaos?

Meanwhile, the child murderer is still on the loose and active and Cross finds himself working more and more hours as he fights to devote more time to what is becoming an increasingly personal case.

This novel doesn't allow the reader to draw breath, the action coming thick and fast, whipping along at breakneck speed. It's one fault is, that like all good things, it has to come to an end...