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Tarfumes.com - Violets Are Blue (Alex Cross)
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List Price: $38.00
Our Price: $38.00
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Little, Brown and Company
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780316686563
Format: Large Print
ISBN: 0316686565
Label: Little, Brown and Company
Manufacturer: Little, Brown and Company
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 416
Publication Date: 2001-11-19
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Studio: Little, Brown and Company
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Editorial Reviews:
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Two joggers are found murdered in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, and the killings are bizarrely reminiscent of a Washington, D.C. case that Alex Cross has been unable to solve. He is called to San Francisco, and then learns of similar murders in eight cities from Las Vegas to Charleston. Together with a female San Francisco detective, Cross plunges into a menacing world where posing explodes into bloodlust and frenzy, even as he is being stalked by a terrifying criminal who calls himself the Mastermind. James Patterson is at his most shocking and suspenseful best in a novel that will stun and satisfy his vast audience.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: seems like an END to the Cross Series.............but seriously so far the worst Cross book yet..........
Comment: ok the VAMPIRE plot was so Un-convincing........
tiger and all that nonsense............
it just seemed like Patterson dint know how to followup ROSES are RED...he made up all this BULL_crap about VAMPIRED to keep us hooked............
anyways the vampires things arent well explained........
and as for the MASTERMIND suspense.........
well no matter how SMART the Killer is............
ALEX CROSS always is able to BRING THEM DOWN......
FOR GOD's Sake-- CRoss isnt a SUPERHERO.......
and what i dont like about PAtterson books are that the Killers seem so smart and careful throughout the book but near the ending of the book they suddenly turn out to be careless............
i mean it seriously is getting a bit tooo repetative now........
and though this book explains some of the unsolved stuff from the past novels Kiss The Grils and ect........
it still isnt a good ending..........
actually a big CLICHE follows which dissapointed me a lot...........
i hope the next book is GOOD........
as for the record it takes me 2 days to finish Patterson NOVELS.......
this took me 4 days..........so yeah this book isnt GOOD!!!!!!!!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Page Turning Thriller
Comment: I made the mistake of reading Violets are Blue before reading Roses are Red. But no matter. I could not put this book down from page one. That is a rarity for me. The only problem is that every other Patterson book I've read since pales in comparison. I don't see how he can possibly top this book, but I'm sure he'll keep trying.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Horrible Vampire Story
Comment: Since everything is sub-par there is no need to list all the individual items. I was just in a hurry to finish this book.
This is the seventh Cross book that I have read by Patterson and have seven more to go. Sure hope there is a pony somewhere in the pile.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good In Its Own Right, But Not The 'Roses Are Red' Follow-Up It Had The Potential To Be
Comment: The Alex Cross novel before this one, Roses Are Red (Alex Cross), ended on a major cliffhanger, and I had high expectations for the follow-up. Roses Are Red ended with the revelation of the identity of arch-criminal mastermind and with a final horrific crime that left long-time detective Cross shaken to the core and primed for vengeance. But unfortunately, this follow-up really isn't a direct sequel. It follows two separate storylines - one is the hunt for the still-at-large Mastermind (whose identity, I should point out, was revealed to the Reader but not to Cross or the other characters) who continues to taunt Cross from afar; this story is the smaller of the two main plots though. Occupying the lion's share of the book is a tale about a decades-long series of ritual killings involving either vampires or people who think they're vampires. The idea of introducing a potentially supernatural antagonist into an established series of detective novels is actually a good one; unfortunately, while it didn't fall flat on its face it doesn't turn out to be an especially Good vampire story either.
The sections of the story that deal with the Cross/Mastermind vendetta are better - especially as the Mastermind begins to threaten all those close to Cross - but don't entirely deliver on the potential from Roses's cliffhanger. Violets Are Blue opens up on the same scene Roses Are Red ended on, and right off the bat seems to be setting the stage for something diifferent, less intense, than those last pages of Roses indicated we'd be getting. The sections of the book focusing on this plot line are still the better part of the novel, but its not what it could have been, and the finale came off anti-climatic. The two threads - the Mastermind and the vampires (whether they turn out to be real or just vampirically-inclined killers is something that doesn't get resolved until later in the book) - do eventually tie in, but I was left with the idea that they should have each had a novel to themselves.
As for the pluses - the book is well written, parts of the Mastermind sections do deliver on their potential (and show perhaps what the book could have been like if the vampires had been left for another novel, and the vendetta angle had been allowed to grow), and perhaps most importantly, Patterson excels at writing his core characters - Cross, his family, the other law enforcement agents he works with. It's enough to lift the book up a ways, and it's certainly readable, but it's not on par with either Roses Are Red or with the better vampire novels out there, like The Historian.
Bottom line though, still a good book - I may have liked it more if my expectations going in weren't so high - and one that Cross fans should give a try.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fairly good execution, not a great idea
Comment: First let me begin by saying I listened to the audiobook version of this novel, as I have most every "Cross" novel. They provide an entertaining enough distraction from life. It included a "very special introduction" from the author. Wow! James Patterson actually taking some time to possibly give some insight into how he created the character, or what his writing process is, or...or just him patting himself on the back. Yes, this is indeed what he took two minutes out of his writing schedule for. He literally began by saying he's been called an author that people tend to read too much of. They seemingly are so enthralled by the story they sit in their driveways or in the parking lot of the office not wanting to get out of the car. He then went on to talk about how he went to dinner with friends and met Clint Eastwood, who told him he "needed a hit movie..bad!". So basically he insinuated that ol' Clint needs him to write him a hit movie. What?! I wanted to (and would have had I not been at work myself) scream out loud, "You pompous ***!" I couldn't believe he was being so self-serving.
A very humble writer once said that a good writer can never hope to be a great writer. There are very few great writers, such as Shakespeare. This humble writer put himself in the good writer category, knowing he could never hope to achieve that level of penmanship. This humble writer is considered by many to be one of the greatest writer's of our time. His name is Stephen King. While you may be a competent writer Mr. Patterson, you sir, are absolutely no Shakespeare. You are not a Stephen King for that matter.
As for this book, it's a typical Patterson "Cross" novel. It employs psychopathic killers who tend to be over the top, and this one is basically two stories in one. The main focus of the story involves two (in the beginning) serial killers who commit vampire style killings, biting their victims, then draining the blood and hanging them upside down. This for the most part is the most unbelievable antagonists Patterson has come up with yet. However, he does end up executing the story well enough to keep the reader involved. I've read most of the "Alex Cross" novels, mostly because they provide enough entertainment that I'm distracted from the real world for a while.
The backstory is of a man called "the Mastermind". He calls Cross at all hours of the day and night, usually while he's in the middle of solving this particular murder. Cross ends up on a cross country trek hunting down the two killers and trying to figure out exactly how they operate. It leads him to San Francisco where he reteams with Jamilla Hughes, and of course sexual chemistry abounds. Although I have to commend Mr. Patterson for choosing this time not to have Cross end up in the bedroom of a hotel describing almost every intricate sexual detail. Between that and the following pillow talk, I begin to wonder if I'm reading a crime novel or an erotic novel written for women. It's not only uncomfortable, it's just in my opinion, unnecessary.
Of course there is the family time, and for the most part, those scenes are written in order to give us a break from the tension that the main story is supposed to provide us with. These are written in a way that seems forced and the dialogue is so sappy sweet you can't help but laugh. Unfortunately, it's not because the jokes are funny. Dialogue is meant to sound real, not like a gimmick that Mr. Patterson would use in a commercial back when he was in marketing. Unfortunately, most of the scenes play out so quickly there isn't any real tension to be found. While the author is adept at moving at a quick pace, whenever "the mastermind" calls to taunt Cross, threatening his family, the situation is resolved so quickly you never feel the gut-wrenching fear that Cross should feel. By the time you get 3/4 through the novel, you don't believe for a second that his family is in any real danger.
The vampire part of the story ends up in a very anti-climactic showdown that plays out a little too conveniently when he reveals the plot twist. And the most tense filled moment of this particular part has Alex facing down a tiger.
When we finally do find Cross figuring out who the mastermind is, we can't help but see a huge plot hole big enough to drive a semi through. He's been taunting him with phone calls for weeks, yet he can't recognize his voice on the phone. The showdown between the two plays out just as expected, a little more tension filled than the rest of the book, however more unbelievable than the vampire story. I find it a little hard to believe you can interrogate a suspect with an icepick buried in your chest!
Overall, it's worth a read or listen, but just don't expect to be enthralled enough to sit in the car not wanting to get out. The shame of it is that I wouldn't be shocked if Cross started shamelessly promoting himself and name-dropping the same way that Mr. Patterson does. At times it seems that Cross is not only a doppelganger of Mr. Patterson, he has his same arrogant traits. It's usual "Cross" antics, and unfortunately that's part of the problem. You pretty much know how it will all turn out. At this point you know he's not in any real danger. You just wish that Mr. Patterson might change up the game a little and have him do something original. Have Cross and Samson open up a private detective agency. At least then the hard-boiled over the top cop dialogue might be more believable...or at least easier to swallow.
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