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: #7476 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

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.

A MASTERMIND OF A STORY!
Despite reading the bad reviews for this book, I still went out and bought it because i love the Alex Cross series and the cliffhanger at the end of Roses are Red had me wanting more.
Other people have said that waiting to the end to get back to the mastermind was stupid, but I think this would have made the story drag on too long. I thought the twist at the end was well written - I saw how it fitted in with Kiss the Girls. As for Alex's career, what will he do now? As long as there are some more Cross strories to come, I will be happy! Keep writing Mr Patterson, you do a grand jo...

Very Disappointing
Violets are Blue does not live up to earlier Patterson masterpieces such as Kiss the Girls, Along came a Spider, Jack & Jill and Hide & Seek. This book has move than 100 chapters and only 300 pages. I read this book in approximately three hours and can not say that I received value for money. The story line for Violets are Blue was even more disappointing than Rose are Red. The story went nowhere and Patterson seems to have run out of new ideas. This novel was almost comicstrip stuff and certainly not a thriller. Having bought and read all Patterson has published I would recommed his earlier novels and would not recommend his last three to anyone but die hard Patterson and Cross fans (2 of the last three). Don't buy this on hardback. You will feel short changed.