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Critic's Corner
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VIOLETS
ARE BLUE Reviewed by: Patricia Ann Jones James Patterson was 27-years-old when he wrote "The Thomas Berryman Number," which won an Edgar as best first mystery novel. Patterson has had five Number One bestsellers in a row: "Along Came a Spider," "Kiss the Girls," "Jack and Jill," "Cat & Mouse," and "When the Wind Blows." His Alex Cross series is off to the fastest-selling start of any featuring a continuing character. "Kiss the Girls" was filmed by Paramount Pictures and became a Number one movie with Morgan Freeman staring as Alex Cross. "Along Came a Spider" is currently being developed by Paramount. "Violets are Blue" is Patterson's 17th novel and another Alex Cross mystery. This time out, the lovable Dr. Cross confronts his most terrifying nemesis ever-and his own deepest fears-in an electrifying suspense thriller that takes readers into a netherworld of secret clubs and role-players. Two plot lines weave in and out offering a super-criminal from Cross's past known as the Mastermind, and several someones insane enough to have crossed the line from dark ritual to real blood. "Nothing ever starts where we think it does. So of course this doesn't begin with the vicious and cowardly murder of an FBI agent and a good friend named Betsey Cavalierre. I thought that it did. My mistake, and a really big and painful one." Alex Cross took Betsey's death hard. "Another one of his partners was dead." She was the second brutally murdered in the space of two years. As Alex is going over the crime scene, his cell phone rings. Alex spoke into the receiver, then heard a machine-filtered voice he'd heard before. "Do you feel a little bit like a puppet on a string, Detective? You should," said the Mastermind. "Because that's what you are. You're my favorite puppet, in fact." The voice went on asking, "How about I kill your grandmother and your three kids tonight? I know where they are too." Alex hung up and called his partner John Sampson who was taking care of Alex's family. Sampson assured him all was well. No problems in D.C. Then, the Mastermind called again saying that he was only having some fun at Alex's suspense. He had no intention of killing the family, not tonight anyway. The call ended with the maniac telling Cross that he was the one he really wanted. "You're next, Dr. Cross." Cross returned to his home in Washington, D.C. where he worked as a liaison between the FBI and the D. C. Police Department. It isn't like Cross didn't have enough on his plate with the Mastermind stalking him and those he cared for, another case of a totally different nature popped in California. An Army Lieutenant Martha Wiatt and her boyfriend, Sergeant Davis O'Hara were murdered while out jogging in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Due to the nature of the murders, the FBI was called in on the case. Alex Cross had never believed in vampires. But when the two joggers were found slain in a manner that suggested a macabre ritual, he had to reconsider his belief. Suddenly, Cross finds himself caught between the Mastermind, and a series of gruesome murders that defy belief. Were the cultists role-players or were there actual vampires among them? As for the Mastermind, he keeps Cross's cell phone hot with constant taunts, cat and mouse games, cruel enough to drive even a psychologist insane. Even when it was over-it wasn't. Cross does ultimately discover the awful secret of the Mastermind, but the details were still coming in on the cult. However, Cross feared he'd never know everything about the strange murderous cult that had sprung up in California and spread across the country. He knew it was usually that way in Homicide. You never knew as much as you wanted to know. That's the single most basic truth about being a detective, and you never see it on TV or in the movies. Reality doesn't sell as well as fantasy! Patterson fans will enjoy the numerous red herrings as well as a conclusion that leaves you hoping for a sequel. Remember, "Roses are Red," "Violets are Blue," what comes next, Sugar is Sweet? Click Here to Order Violets are Blue
(Jones is a
published writer & literary critic)
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