I knew I had seen the movie, which sometimes eliminates the need to read the book. The book came out in 1993 the movie in 2001. I’m at chapter nine, so not very far along, when I thought to myself… I don’t remember this, or even that??
The benefit of reading on an iPad (this post was written on it) is that you can break away to do a little research. I found this article comparing the two genres. Written by Valerie J, the first obvious fact is that Morgan Freeman, although one of my favourite actors, was no spring chicken as Alex Cross obviously was in this book. There are plenty more differences as well (read the article).
The question really is, should you read the book before or after a movie? I’ve always been an ‘after’ kind of guy although there have been exceptions; Lord of the Rings comes to mind (both were too long in my opinion).
Conclusion? Don’t dismiss a book just because you saw the movie. They might be and often are, two different stories.
P.S. I struggled with the title as it didn’t really make a lot of sense but in the end decided the confusion might draw a reader or two.
the dan blog 