I sure hope someone reads this and replies....I recieved Merry Christmas Alex Cross the other day..its not an ARC far as I can tell..its a paperback book but has less than the HC book due out later in the year......What did I get ???? My book is short by about 100 pages but all pages ARE IN the book....odd yes

The other book I have in the title isn't due out for a month or so yet I saw on my WL 1 wish was grated last week....

These books arent out I looked at BN and Amazon......Anyone have a clue?????

Thanks

The book; Merry Christmas Alex Cross; from a search on amazon; did you recieve this copy?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316210730?SubscriptionId=0QCHRJVSKG6F3BRGBNG2&tag=pbs_00004-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0316210730

It is the mass market paperback version of the book.  It looks like the hardover is a reprint.

The Cat book shows a publication date of 4/3 which is less than a week away and could be an inacurate date. I don't think those publication dates are carved in stone either. It's also possible that the person is a reviewer of some kind and got a copy a little early.   I have won books before they were released through goodreads and they weren't ARCS.  Just copies offered by the author, publisher or a reviewer to create buzz.

James Patterson's publishers tend to just send actual copies of the books rather then ARC because, I guess there is no point. People will order and buy that book because he wrote it and no need to tempt people into buying it which is the point of ARC's.  They can afford to send out real copies for review.
Font size could be smaller and why it is less pages then the HC, and normal for a review copy. Less pages makes it cheaper to print.

Hey thank you  all of you....wow I still cannot believe I missed an Alex Cross book lol I love them and no I didnt know about Patterson and ARCs ...I have the paperback....now on the cat book I went in the store BN and could not get a copy ditto online....but like one of you said these people could be reviewers....Thank you all so much I was glad but perplexed