Product Description

The Mastermind is back – and he’s hot on Washington, DC, detective Alex Cross’s trail. His cold, taunting threats leave Alex angry and deeply concerned for his family’s safety while he is away from home.

Two joggers have been found dead in San Francisco – bitten and hung by their feet to drain the blood. Further murders in California, and then on the East Coast as well, completely baffle Alex and the FBI. Is this the work of a cult, or role players, or even of modern-day vampires? Desperate to stop the deaths, Alex teams up with Jamilla Hughes, a savvy woman detective, and the FBI’s Kyle Craig. But Alex has never been closer to defeat, or in greater danger. He must survive a deadly confrontation – only to learn at last the awful secret of the Mastermind.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9563 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Fans of James Patterson's resourceful black cop Alex Cross will be relieved to find that he's back on familiar territory with Violets Are Blue--and (more importantly) it's one of the best Alex Cross thrillers in many a moon.

The malign criminal genius of Roses Are Red is back and fixing to give Alex a hard time once again. The FBI joins Patterson's dogged cop in a particularly unsettling investigation: two San Francisco joggers have been viciously murdered and are found suspended by their feet, with all the blood drained from their bodies. And when further brutal deaths follow in California and on the east coast, Alex is forced to contemplate the bizarre possibility of modern-day vampires, although his instincts point him to one of the many sinister religious cults that flourish on the West Coast. Aided by Jamilla Hughes, a streetwise young woman detective from San Francisco, Alex finds that he has to crack not one but two impenetrable mysteries to stop further bloodletting.

Readers of Patterson expect the extremely concise, page-turning chapters (116 of them), along with a reluctance to dawdle over details of his hero's personal life, and both characteristics are firmly back in place. If you can resist reading this one in just a few sittings, you deserve some kind of a thriller-reader's medal. --Barry Forshaw

Review
'If there really were human superheroes, Alex Cross would be at the head of the class ... and, with each instalment in the series, Patterson makes sure his superhero gets bigger and better while at the same time becoming more vulnerable' New York Times -- New York Times 'This superb thriller kept me reading all night. I could not put it down and read the 440 pages in two sessions.' -- Telegraph & Argus Bradford 20020727 'It's tightly written and you can't stop yourself turning the pages. No wonder Patterson's got his canines firmly into the bestseller lists.' Bournemouth Daily Echo -- Bournemouth Daily Echo 20020906 'If any writer plays cat and mouse with your emotions and fears, it is James Patterson, in a class of his own in the thriller/chiller stakes...Not many can keep the nail-biting and the nerve-shredding up until the very end, but Patterson never lets you off the hook.' Northern Echo -- Northern Echo 20020709

New York Times
'James Patterson does everything but stick our finger in a light socket'

Customer Reviews

Cheap, but still a page-turner
Well, it was probably about time to wrap up the Alex Cross franchise. The man just couldn't take anymore, nor could we. "Violets are blue" definitely keeps the pages turning, but ths is more because you 'll want to find out how the two stories end, rather than being intrigued by some intelligent writing.

Patterson weaves a fairly-researched plot (mmmm...vampires. What would be next? Aliens? Alex Cross the X-filer?), though it gets a little obscure somewhere in the middle. The characters - as with all the other Cross novels - are straight out of TV, but at least the maudling level, much like every chapter, is kept to a minimum, and the author manages to keep the pace going. And yes, it is annoying that Cross falls in love again.

So, it's an average novel, but the whole thing has been turning average after "Kiss the girls". Worth reading if you 're a fan, more like a Sunday afternoon flick. Read, enjoy the ride, and then forget about it.

Writing to a tired formula
This seems to be so by the numbers. What to expect? Short chapters/ Unstoppable villains/ Torn Alex Cross/ Beautiful female counterpart. But Patterson seems to be at the stage where the books are almost a pastiche. The main plot line here once again concerns killer(s) who are unstoppable, arrogant and killing for no discernable reason. Whereas in the earlier books this would at least be explained, here the villains are cardboard. They're not scary, they're not motivated, it's just let's get through murder one, move onto murder two etc. The final showdown between them and Cross is dreadful; no tension. Yes, it's all building up to the climax with the Mastermind, but I'm sorry- that too I found to be boring by the time I got to the end of this book. By the end it looks as if Patterson is giving some closure to Alex Cross. I don't think that's a bad thing. Hopefully he can return to the character in a few years and have something original to say as he did in Along Came A Spider or Kiss the Girls. This struck me as a lazy book where Patterson knew readers were interested in the conflict between Cross and the Mastermind of Roses are Red, but had no idea how to fill a novel with the conflict, so instead introduces a new light weight adversary to take up three quarters of an already short novel before the final denouement.
Massively disappointing.

Great series back on track!
After reading Roses are Red I was a little disappointed. I wasn't sure what to expect from this attempt but was glad to discover that I had needn't worried. I was a little sceptical throughout biggest part of the story but at the end decided that it was a cracking read.

Patterson takes a little change in direction with this one. His series has entered the domain of being somewhat implausible at times, but hey, its fiction and thoroughly enjoyable. I just love the characters and their developments and relationships with each other. Patterson has a great knack of writing these elements.

Overall, a little different but once again thoroughly enjoyable. If you are a fan of the series, and are prepared to follow a little bit of a different approach/direction, then I don't think you will be disappointed. Good novel!