Instruct: Classify the given Amazon review into positive or negative sentiment.
Query: Atrocious, primary-school pulp.

I'd heard that Patterson was a bad writer, but I wasn't prepared for the true impact of his shoddy, grade-school prose. The story is plodding, kept alive only by single-word paragraphs and two-page chapters. The line-by-line writing is juvenile and the story developments - such as a split-personality killer being hypnotised in court - feels more like a parody of a psychological thriller than a NYT best seller. Avoid.