Violets Are Blue

Violets are Blue is the seventh book in the Alex Cross series and this has to be the most bizarre of investigations. It makes you want to question what really is going on inside Patterson’s mind. This thriller is weird, seriously weird and seriously brilliant.

The book opens where Roses are Red finished (spoiler alert if you have not read it) with the murder of FBI agent Betsy Cavalierre. Whilst in what was Betsy’s house Cross receives a call from the criminal mastermind behind the chaos. He is calling to taunt Cross and the team with catch me if you can, which he continues to do throughout the book, while at the same time threatening the safety of Cross’ family and friends.

Two joggers are found dead in San Fransico bitten by a show more tiger, then hung by their feet and had been drained of most of their blood. Further murders occur before the killer moves to the east coast. The FBI and Cross are completely baffled to what is actually going on in the investigation.

Cross flies out to San Fransico where he meets up with local SFPD Inspector Jamilia Hughes a homicide detective. They strike up a close bond, especially as Hughes is almost another version of Cross without the doctorate. While the investigation drags Cross to California, he learns more about vampires and vampire clubs than he would prefer. The investigation which takes Cross from Washington to California will take him further south to New Orleans and Georgia.

When Cross works out who the mastermind really is he is finally has the target in sight, he is well aware of that this could be a ‘fight to the death’. The mastermind continues to taunt Cross saying that he has a need to be loved something that becomes clear in a very complicated life.

Patterson has written a breathtaking thriller that keeps you on edge throughout the book. There is real suspense showing Patterson to be on top of the genre. show less

Another good, solid read in the Alex Cross series that finally, finally solves the MasterMind mystery! Whew!

This slightly creepy thriller delves into the world of vampires, both of the blood-sucking type and the type known as "psychic vampires" when a series of murders occurs. These murders include bite marks and a young pair of brothers who were raised in a Santa Cruz commune and are now out causing mayhem and murder.

There is also a pair of magicians who use a white tiger (along with several other animals) in their magic acts, and they, too, have a vampire cult following. The question comes up time and again: are the two sets of murderers linked, and if so, how?

Detective Cross is putting back his life after Christine has left, with show more young Alex joining his family with Nana. And he once again is pulled into investigating this series of murders at the expense of time away from his family and broken promises. It's a chorus only too familiar to this smart, driven family man and his son, daughter, and grandmother Nana.

The ending takes some interesting twists and turns, and wow! is how it resolves in the end. show less

Despite most not believing in vampires, it appears that there are vampires (or something like) out there murdering people. There are also a couple of magicians who work with tigers who are travelling around. Alex Cross is working on figuring out what’s going on and are these things connected? There is also a long-time storyline that is wrapped up.

Audio. This was ok. I’m not liking the series as much as at the beginning (I rated the first one very highly (for me) at 4.5 stars and it made my top 10 that year). I’d like to say this could be because I often listen to the audios (and so I do lose concentration at times and miss some things), but that first one was also an audio book. One of the good things in this audio was when we show more followed Alex, it was a different narrator than when we followed the vampires or magicians, so at least I could tell whose POV it was. All this being said, 3 stars is ok for me and I will plan to read the next in the series. show less

This one is a three star rating meaning that is completely skippable, but if you don't have anything else to read or you are following the series, you might enjoy it.

This is probably one of the hardest books to review I've ever read. It is hard to explain this book without revealing anything about previous books in the series, so if you are not reading the series, and you plan to read this one as a standalone, don't, or at least skip reading this review.

I hope, really, really hope that this book truly signifies a complete turn-around on the Alex Cross series. I'm done with cops being the ultimate psychos. It isn't that I'm offended about portraying cops as bad cops, it is that the theme is way too redundant in the first 7 books of this show more series, which makes the books totally predictable.

Also, let's skip the abduction where the victim is found a year later in some foreign land alive and fine. No need to repeat ourselves.

Now let's talk about this book. You should not read this book if you are planning to just read one book in the series. This book will not hook you. This book is skippable even if you are reading the series. Yes, it is that bad, and you'll be highly disappointed.

First of all, you know who the "Mastermind" is if you read the previous book "Roses are Red". You are not going to find out anything interesting by reading this book. As a matter of fact, it doesn't make any sense who the "Mastermind" is. Yes, the ending of "Roses are Read" is shocking and leaves you with a bunch of questions. Well, this book will answer none of them.

The book feels as is the author was just tired of writing about the same theme and just came out and give some bogus explanation to what happened in the previous books in the series. This is not a well thought, ties everything together kind of book. This is a BS explanation of who the "Mastermind" is.

By the way, I can't by any mean, consider the "Mastermind" a mastermind. Other than pulling Alex Cross into cases throughout the series, the character is irrelevant, it has no weight, and there is no reason for him to hate Cross as much as he supposedly does. I also don't understand why he hates Cross because the author hasn't come up with a plausible reason.

Let's talk about the plot. What a weak plot! People are getting murdered by tigers and wannabe vampires. There are even some magicians in the picture. Could that make for a good story? Of course it can if the author had decided to make a story out of it. Instead, the author decided to resolve the case in 5 seconds with nothing leading up to that moment.

Let me explain that again. Up to the moment where the bad guys are discovered there are no leads, there are no patterns, no one knows who these guys can be. All of the sudden, the "Mastermind" knows who they are and they find them. I guess he was really a "Mastermind".

You'll think that all this happens at the end of the book or close to it. Nope. This happens a little bit over half way through the book. That's it. The rest of the book is complete and utter garbage.

I'm not even going to talk about the fact that Cross seems to fall in love with everything that moves. Apparently, every single detective out there is this amazing beautiful woman that after a couple of sentences (not very clever sentences by the way) are immediately attracted to an Ali in his prime look alike.

I don't like to be so critical of a book; especially, because I wouldn't be able to do it better. If I could, I would be writing instead of criticizing. But the point that I want to make is that this book is skippable in the series so don't bother unless is a personal goal. I am also hoping for a complete overhaul of the series because I'm not sure I can put up with same of the same for the next 17 books. show less

This is my second ever James Patterson novel. I loved the narrators and I think they made the story a LOT better. Even though this is the sixth Alex Cross novel and I haven't read the first ones, I decided to pick it up. These are all basically stand alone novels anyways. It started off really promising, and I was instantly hooked. The murders were freaky and the bad guys were scary. I wanted to know more. Unfortunately the ending was very anticlimactic. It turns out there was more than one story in this story and it made the ending.... not what I anticipated. Overall, it was pretty decent I guess.

For fans of James Patterson novels and cheap thrills.

Violets Are Blue follows directly on from Roses Are Red's lightning bolt ending where the identity of the Mastermind was, perhaps, revealed depending upon how you interpreted the final lines of the book.

Pleasingly, the answer isn't simply revealed here, instead the truth is danced around, and what would appear to be contrary evidence to the answer is presented, whilst also confirming evidence giving credence to the potential identity of the Mastermind is also presented. It's quite a compelling story arc, all the while there is a pair of vampire emulating killers on the loose across the country killing numerous people in a graphic depraved manner.

After this crime is solved, the story the returns to the Mastermind arc where after tying show more into several events & points of previous books the identity is revealed in a climatic and satisfying ending. show less

I am working my way very slowly through James Patterson's Alex Cross series. This is certainly not one of the best with the first three quarters of the book being a particularly silly chase after "vampires", (surely we've all had quite enough of them) with Cross feeling sorry for himself, missing his family and needing a woman. It is only after that is wrapped up that we get the "proper" Alex Cross.
The writing is typical Patterson, short sentences, little textual colour etc etc. I will persist because I own most of the series but I certainly will not be dipping into the "James Patterson &" mountain of dross!