When the Wind Blows

An emotional roller-coaster ride, When the Wind Blows is a story about resilience in the face of overwhelming odds and love in the wake of devastating hopelessness. When I read this book over twenty years ago, I loved it. And now, after rereading it, it still has the power to warm my heart. Patterson skillfully combines a children's fairy tale with terrifying violence as he spins a story of power-crazy scientists conducting biological experiments on children in a secret lab hidden in the wood of the Colorado Rockies. The vulnerability of the winged children, the cruelty of the scientist/doctors, and the bravery of Max, a unique, eleven-year-old miracle, brought tears to my eyes many times. I recommend this one to everyone who loves the show more supernational. show less

Delightful and despicable – all at same time – those were my conflicting responses as I read “When the Wind Blows”. Meld these two plot elements: cute children with beautiful wings who really fly AND evil scientists doing genetic engineering, who experiment on humans and routinely “put to sleep” their failed specimens. Now for good measure shake in a handsome but rogue FBI agent and a pretty but disturbed vet, and you can guess where the plot goes from there. This is the typical Patterson with 2-3 page chapters for those with ADHD. Recommended beach read for those who like an occasional mindless action-filled romp.

Patterson isn't my favorite author, but while browsing in NoveList I came across a description of this title that sounded intriguing--a female veterinarian with an isolated practice in the wilds of Colorado sees something weird in the woods. Sounds like something I might like--was I ever astonished to discover within the first two sentences that the weird thing she sees is none other than--Maximum Ride! Hmm, I should check the dates, but my guess is that he wrote this first and decided (or someone told him) that Max was a character with lots of YA appeal. It's pretty interesting to read her story from an adult's perspective... Moved right along--characters (except for Max) aren't very fleshed out--the bad guys are really bad--and show more everyone our vet knows (except the FBI agent love interest) is one of them! show less

With a clunky mix of science fiction and a myriad of other genres this foray in to different territory is not Patterson at his best. The plot is suited to a shorter novel, a lesson learned later is his stellar career, yet that won't make reading this any easier. There are no memorable action scenes and despite the unwieldy attempts at a romantic angle there is still enough of a hook to keep those pages turning. Patterson's art is still on display here, creating a story which sucks readers in, despite the flaws. It's something different and is territory explored further with The Lake House and the Maximum Ride series.

I felt that the idea of this book was quite decent, but it was let down in the execution, Patterson's writing style just didn't really seem to fit the story. Instead, it came off as somewhere between a young adult book and a crime book, but sadly wasn't very good at either of those things.

Initially, I was very unimpressed with the book, which says something considering my expectations were already low being a Patterson book, and getting it from the free bin at the secondhand book shop. After about a quarter of the way through though things do start to improve and it does redeem itself, although that being said whilst it turns into a reasonable book, I didn't find it to be good per se.

Overall, you could certainly do worse for reading show more material, it was average, distinctly so. show less

The premise was good, and some of the chapters were well-written. But some of the other chapters left a lot to be desired, and sloppily written. It seems to be a trait in all of Mr. Patterson's books (at least those I have read) in varying degrees.

I will say one thing - this book was way better than the Maximum Ride novel I read the other day. I had actually read Maximum Ride before this, but enjoyed this book better. This book could have been improved by putting in more detail and fleshing out the plot - many questions are left unanswered. I don't know if I'll pick up a copy of 'Lake House'.

A group of scientists and doctors from around the world set up a secret research facility in an isolated area in the Colorado mountains. The purpose is to create super humans who will be extra strong and in some cases, capable of flying under their own power.
FBI agent, Kit Harrison, has been trying to monitor these people but his superiors claim he is crazy and eventually send him on leave. He uses the opportunity to go to Colorado to find the secret science centre. There he meets a widow who is also a veterinary when he rents a cabin from her. Soon their lives are full of danger when they finally discover the illegal medical experiments the scientists are performing and the many murders being committed in order to keep them secret. show more Fast moving and difficult to put down. show less