THE prolific novelist James Patterson teams up once again with Michael Ledwidge for a cops and robbers / good vs evil romp.

Patterson is best known for his Alex Cross novels, a series of books about the detective and his nasty multi-killing adversaries, with two books (Kiss The Girls and Along Came A Spider) already made into feature films starring Morgan Freeman.

Since the gritty, gory and at times quite complex Alex Cross series, Patterson seems to have gone for a more simplistic style of storytelling, perhaps as more of a follow-up from his children's series Maximum Ride about a group of winged children and their talking dog.

Step On A Crack is based around a new hero, a strapping detective with a saintly wife dying of cancer (hospital visits slotted in between bad guy episodes) and 10 adopted children who are scarily well behaved, not to mention a comedy grouchy grandad recently turned priest.

The story is told in a simple build-up style from the points of view of the detective and a couple of the bad guys and their victims, including mastermind Mr Clean, and a (gasp!) cold-blooded killer with obsessive compulsive disorder.

A high-profile funeral is targeted by the criminals and a pile-up of celebrities, politicians and wealthy citizens are held hostage inside a cathedral.

It's cliche city as sportsmen try fighting their way out, old rockers try unlikely heroics and a foul-mouthed rap star turns traitor.

As the story unfolds there are no great shockers but it is neat and there are only a few minor loopholes. The sentiment factor is high with the good guys as noble as it gets and the bad guys all-round evil.

Perhaps it could work well as a made-for-TV movie - I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! (before they kill me).

DELIA BARNARD