Four Blind Mice by James Patterson

Four Blind Mice by James Patterson is the eighth book in the Alex Cross Series. Like the other novels in Patterson's series, there are multiple murders and multiple killers. This time, the pieces are connected through the military, in particular veterans of the Vietnam War. Alex swears when he helps his friend, John Sampson, that this will be his last homicide investigation.

There are several reasons I gave this book five stars. *****. The first centers around John Sampson. I've waited during the last 7 books to get to know Sampson more intimately, and Patterson doesn't disappoint. He gives a depth to Sampson that I hope to continue to see in the rest of the novels in the series. He is a good side-kick type character who normally just supports Alex Cross. Sampson in many ways is the star of Four Blind Mice.

Another thing I really liked about Four Blind Mice was the motivation behind the villains. In a typical hard boiled novel, the murders are psychopathic creeps that a regular Joe wouldn't see much of himself/herself in. The killers in Four Blind Mice were all men who killed while in war. Some of them are able to move past their demons, and others breed darker demons after returning from Vietnam.

Nana Mama also plays a more pivotal role in Four Blind Mice than in some of the earlier novels in the series. Alex has to make some serious choices about his family life and how it intersects with his professional life. Kyle Craig also reappears in Four Blind Mice, though I very much got the impression that Kyle will reappear in future books as well.

Violets are Blue by James Patterson

Violets are Blue by James Patterson is the seventh book in the Alex Cross series. I couldn't wait to read this novel because at the end of Roses are Red, Patterson reveals the identity of the murder nicknamed The Mastermind. I couldn't believe the Mastermind's identity, and I knew I would find out for sure in Violets are Blue whether or not I had interpreted the last chapter of Roses are Red correctly.

The way in which the Mastermind is caught takes backseat during the majority of Violets are Blue while Alex Cross and a new female detective based out of California try to figure out the identity of a "real vampire" who murders several people by draining the victims' blood after biting their necks. I was a little surprised in the villain of Violets are Blue who ended up being the Sire. I thought the whole thing would turn out a lot differently than it actually did.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed this book a lot because I felt like I already knew a lot about the Mastermind before even picking the book up. He made a nasty villain, much better than the vampires that take up the majority of Violets are Blue. It was a nice change from the usual serial killers, though.

I give this book 4 stars **** The pacing is fast, just like the other James Patterson novels I've reviewed thus far. I couldn't wait to find out what happened the entire time I listened to it in the car on my commute to work.

Roses are Red by James Patterson

Roses are Red by James Patterson is the sixth book in the Alex Cross Series. The villain in Roses are Red is named the Mastermind. Throughout the whole book, Patterson is consistent in using this term, both from Cross' perspective and from the villain's perspective. Just like Cassanova in Kiss the Girls, and Jack and Jill in Jack & Jill, I find using this type of a title intrigues me more as a reader rather than having the name of the killer right away.

The library didn't have this one on audio book, so I read the paperback. Like Cross (the first book I plucked out of the middle of the series, and the novel that got me hooked on Patterson's writing), Roses are Red was a quick, energetic read. I finished it in five days. I don't have the novel in front of me at the moment, but it was around 360 pages. Patterson tends to write very short chapters, sometimes only a page or two, so it wasn't nearly as dense as other 360 page novels. There is a lot of white space on the pages.

I began Roses are Red needing to find out what happens with Christine Johnson and her baby. I wanted to know for sure whether Cross was the father of if Geoffrey Shafer had raped her from The Weasel. I also wanted to know immediately after beginning the book how things end up. The Mastermind was very different from Patterson's other villains I've read thus far in that a lot of the killing isn't carried out by the Mastermind himself.

When I finally found out who the Mastermind truly is, I wished I had Violets are Blue (the next book in the series) because I was hungry for more. Much more. Patterson tells stories with excellent timing. I won't be happy until I've read Violets are Blue. I couldn't believe how Roses are Red ended. I practically salivated.

I also felt like I got to know Jannie and Damon, Cross' kids, a little better.

I give Roses are Red four and a half stars **** 1/2. The only thing keeping me from giving it five stars was that I felt like Cross spent as much time with his love interest as his children. I keep wanting to slap him in the face and tell him to spend a solid week at home with his kids. I suppose that wouldn't make for as entertaining a read, though!

Pop Goes the Weasel by James Patterson

Pop Goes the Weasel by James Patterson is the fifth book in Patterson's Alex Cross series. I listened to the unabridged audio book version of this novel. One thing that struck me as difficult to get used to was that there was a different narrator for this book than Cat and Mouse and Jack & Jill. Unlike both those novels, not only was narrator a different man, but there was only one person reading the story. I had gotten used to hearing two different male voices, one for Alex Cross speaking in first person and one for Geoffrey Shafer in third person.

I had to pay more attention to the details as I was driving and listening since I couldn't space off for a minute in traffic and return to what was happening in the novel as easily. The end result was that I gathered more details of Patterson's writing.

I rate Pop Goes the Weasel 4 stars ****. I needed to find out the ending to this one, especially what happened with Christine Johnson, Alex's love interest.

I didn't identify with Shafer as much as I did with Along Came a Spider, but I liked him better than the killers in Jack & Jill and Cat and Mouse. There was a good mix of mystery behind who he really was, but yet there were a few actions Shafer took that made me shake my head. Even for a deranged lunatic killer, Shafer did a few things that I wouldn't think were realistic. I was able to suspend my disbelief because Shafer viewed everything as part of a larger game rather than acting out of emotion.

The last handful of chapters were the most exciting. I was riveted at the end, and had to pick up the next book in the series, Roses are Red. The library doesn't have an audio book version of the next book, so I'll go back to reading Patterson rather than listening to him. I've been buying so many books lately that I would rather read this next one anyway.

Cat and Mouse by James Patterson

Cat and Mouse by James Patterson is the fourth book in the Alex Cross series. I listened to the unabridged version on audio book. Like many of the other Alex Cross novels, Patterson alternates between first person and third person. There are also two separate killers. Alex and Samson have to find them both.

Gary Soneji from Along Came a Spider returns in Cat and Mouse. As I mentioned in my post about Along Came a Spider, I listed to an abridged version of Along Came a Spider, so maybe the next comment is a little biased, but I felt like Soneji was a totally different character in Cat and Mouse. I liked Soneji in Along Came a Spider, and even kind of rooted for him. He was much more fatalistic in Cat and Mouse. I felt like Soneji was a flat character this time around.

There is another detective named Thomas Pierce who makes an appearance in Cat and Mouse. There are even some chapters in first person through Thomas' perspective. This jarred me because I was completely used to the pattern of first person being reserved for Alex's voice only in Along Came a Spider, Kiss the Girls, Jack & Jill, and Cross. The break with the pattern took me awhile to get used to.

One thing that I did like about Cat and Mouse, and just about the only thing that helped me rate it as 3 stars rather than 2 1/2 stars was that I got to know Sampson better. Maybe Patterson does it later in the series, but I'd like for a whole book to be in Sampson's voice. I like Sampson as much as I do Alex Cross. I smile every time he calls Alex, "Sugar."

The twists in this book just didn't cut it for me. Without having a spoiler, I'll just say that when Thomas Pierce gets involved beyond the Mr. Pierce murder case investigating with Sampson, Patterson lost me. Had this been the first book I'd plucked out of the series, I wouldn't have read or listened to any more. Luckily, I was already hooked from the other books so far in the series.

Jack and Jill by James Patterson

I listened to an unabridged audio book version of Jack & Jill by James Patterson. Finally, I had the whole story again and wasn't listening to an abridgement. Jack & Jill is another Alex Cross novel, and is the third book in the series. Alex and Sampson try to catch the cold blooded killers, Jack and Jill before they kill the president of the United States. They first kill several other high profile people, and they announce ahead of the fact that they intend to kill the president.

Jack and Jill are given different identities throughout the book. They are known as Jack and Jill to the police and FBI, but the real name of Jill is given early on. Jack's true identity isn't revealed until late in the novel. In some ways, it was a good scheme, and makes for a page turner because the reader wants to know who Jack and Jill really are.

On the other hand, I found myself a little confused throughout the book because there are so many names for some of the same people, including another killer who kills young children in who go to the same school as Alex's son, Damon. Maybe I would have had an easier time keeping all the characters straight if I had been reading Jack and Jill as opposed to listening to it while I drove to and from work, but I'm not one hundred percent sure.

I wasn't as thrilled about Jack and Jill as I had been about Cross, Along Came a Spider, and Kiss the Girls. I think it was because a lot of the killing Jack and Jill did was more a political move rather than something tied to their insanity or their emotions. Killing for hire type of schemes aren't as interesting to me as ones tied to emotions. Alex's emotions carry the book, and for that reason I still enjoyed Jack and Jill, but it won't be a book that I would reread or ever buy. I listened to the library's copy of this one.

I give this one 3 stars. ***

That doesn't mean that I'm totally disenchanted with the Alex Cross series. I went ahead and listened to Cat and Mouse right after finishing this one.

Along Came a Spider by James Patterson

Along Came a Spider by James Patterson is the first book in the Alex Cross series. If you've been reading my blogs posts so far, you know that I'm blogging a little out of order with these books. I listened to the audio book version of of Along Came a Spider. Like Kiss the Girls, I didn't realize this was an abridged version until after it came in the mail. *sigh* My review is based on the cassettes, not of the complete, unabridged version. I wished I had read the book instead.

Along Came a Spider came on four audio cassettes. Although the abridgement was better than Kiss the Girls, I think I missed about half the plot. There were a few times when I wondered how Alex Cross, Sampson, and the villain Gary Soneji. Gary Soneji kidnaps two children, and Alex works on another case from the projects at the same time. I identified with the villain in Along Came a Spider, and there was a piece of me that wanted Gary Soneji to succeed. Patterson does a good job of writing the bad guy to be likable in certain respects. I can't pinpoint what I liked a bout Gary Soneji in particular, but I rooted for him to get away.

Along Came a Spider contained a few plot twists that I didn't like. I'm not at all for spoilers, so I won't mention what turned me off exactly. I'll only say that in this abridged version there were things I didn't see coming that didn't have any warning at all. Given how Patterson tells his story in the books versus the abridgements, I think those plot twists wouldn't have come out of thin air quite to the extent that they did in the abridgement.

I give this one three stars *** based on the abridgement. I still recommend it, and I'm going to rent the movie.

Kiss the Girls by James Patterson

Kiss the Girls by James Patterson is the second book in the Alex Cross series by James Patterson. I listened to the audio book version of Kiss the Girls. When it arrived in the mail, I received two cassette tapes, which took me two days to listen to while driving to and from work. From the beginning, the I was swept into the plot of this thriller because I already felt like I knew Alex Cross and because Patterson is an expert story teller.

Unfortunately, I was thoroughly disappointed with how Kiss the Girls was abridged. When ordering the audio book copy, I didn't realize I was buying an abridged copy. In my opinion, abridged versions of thrillers should be illegal because I felt cheated at the end. I'm pretty sure I know where the gaps in the story were because I felt jolted when suddenly Alex Cross and Sampson find the underground "House of Horrors."

Abridged version aside, I think I would have given the unabridged version five stars. I found myself wanting to drive around just to hear more of the audio book while in my car. Also, Time Warner Studios chose two different narrators. The voice of Alex Cross was very different from the other person reading the rest of the book. There were other sound effects adding to the drama of Alex's race to find his niece, Naomi.

Why did I choose to listen to Kiss the Girls before Along Came a Spider? Kiss the Girls arrived before Along Came a Spider did through the mail. Like Cross (see my earlier review), I felt this plot was self contained and didn't leave me confused by not having read Along Came a Spider first.

Cross by James Patterson

Cross by James Patterson was a delightful read. I give it five stars *****. Cross is the 12th book in James Patterson's Cross series. I read the mass paperback version and was enthralled from start to finish. I read it under two days. It was so good that I immediate went out and bought books one and two of the series, Along Came a Spider and Kiss the Girls.

This book had several things going for it. I appreciate Patterson's use of short, straightforward sentences during scenes in which a lot of action occurs. He writes using short chapters. Many of the chapters were two or three pages long. I love this in a murder mystery because it adds to the, "I'll just read one more chapter before going to sleep" mentality of the reader. Patterson alternates in this series between first person narrative for Alex Cross' chapters and third person narrative for the chapters in which the killer is present.

From the sell copy of Cross, we learn that Alex Cross' wife is murdered in this book, and Alex has to find her killer. Wow. That alone drew me into buying the novel. As I mentioned, I plucked this novel from the middle of a series, and I wasn't in the least confused by what was going on. Cross is a self contained book, and I didn't feel cheated by not reading the preceeding books in the series.

Also, a lot of action happens in Cross. It was paced as excellently written thriller.