Jack and Jill

I’m working my way through the Alex Cross novels, and this one really caught my attention. No one knows who Jack & Jill truly are, but Cross (and the Secret Service) is hot on their trail, but that’s not the only case that draws Cross in. I like how there are different plots going on, and they all link back to Cross, who is not just worried about the serial killers looking to kill the next celebrity, or the serial killer who wants to kill another child, but the idea that Soneji is still out there, lurking. The mystery is wonderful, and the time period, as it was written years ago, brings me back. I read it every chance I could get and I look forward to more mysteries and thrilling rides from Patterson and Alex Cross.

I think this book is the best one I have read. I have read eight of the Alex Cross books so far. The story has the most complete picture of who James Patterson’s Alex Cross is and what the “Dragon Slayer” does in order to stop these serial Killers. The killers are most often very intelligent psychopaths who have no feelings of guilt or remorse.
Alex goes through so much in every case that you wonder how anyone could not loose a sense of who he is. His children, grandmother, good friend and music seem to give him the mooring to keep his self coming back and going again. What diabolical people he is dealing with, “Jack and Jill” and the killer of the little children in his own neighborhood, at the same time. He does see the good in some people he interacts with and that makes thing better but you never know who are the good guys and who are the bad guys.
All in all, I believe this book could be a made into a very good movie but there is too much to tell so one of those FX network series might work.

Alex Cross finds himself trying to juggle two serial murder cases. The first one is close to home where someone has brutally killed two children just blocks away from Cross’ house. Against his desire Cross is taken off that case to pursue another serial killer, someone killing influential people in DC. As he investigates that case and finds that there is a bigger conspiracy in that case than he first believed he’s haunted by the rage-filled murders of the young children near his home. There’s a few good twists in this book and it’s better than some of the other Cross books that I have read.

I’m not a book reviewer rather a book reader and writer.

I like the fast pace of James Patterson’s books and his short chapters. This is the second one I’ve read of the Alex Cross series. I’m a slow reader only because I don’t read a book in one sitting. I read it in between writing my novels and researching writing techniques and participating on writing boards. I’d say though with this book I became a faster reader, wanting to finish it. It kept me on edge with one twist and turn and new info with each page as the mystery of whodunit unfolded and became clearer. It was definitely a page turner, hooking me from the first page to the last.

I purchased another author’s book, which had excellent reviews, and could never keep my interest in the novel. I’m going to stick with James Patterson, Michael Connelly, and Michael Weaver for thrillers.

James Patterson’s books are always very fast-paced; he writes very short chapters that usually leave you wondering what is going to happen next. Honestly, I read a lot of really dry stuff for my job, so I read writers like Patterson, Grafton, Child, Paretsky, et al. for fun. That is why I bought this one.

OK, it kept me turning the pages. That’s the good. Virtually everything else about this book is “the bad.” SPOILER ALERT FOR THE REST OF THIS REVIEW!! There are so many plot holes, which I will list in no particular order. Cross and an FBI colleague both have Kevin Hawkins on their list of possible suspects, although it is never explained WHY. The killers of the Senator, law student, President, etc. are never adequately developed; at first two are playing a board game to choose who they will kill, but then this is never mentioned again, which makes you think, “Huh?” When the couple killers are caught (with basically NO brain-power from Cross!), you are left scratching your head, saying, “Really?” Their motivations are never fully explored (other than they are right-wingers who hate the Pres., but then why did they kill some of the earlier victims?), AND you think to yourself, “Wait, this doesn’t really fit with what was written earlier about one of them.” And then the killers are themselves killed at the prison after no one was supposed to have access to them; there is, as far as I can see, absolutely NO explanation for this; it’s like a locked-door mystery with zero explanation for how it happened, as if the writer just gave up and hopes no one will notice. (If any other author had attempted to leave this COMPLETELY unexplained, their editor would have said “we can’t publish this as it is, you will have to fix this major plot hole.”)

As for the other plot line, again, Cross has nothing to do with finding the killer. He is supposed to be so brilliant, but that is not shown in this novel, despite Patterson calling him the “dragonslayer” again and again. Exactly which dragons did he slay??

In addition, Patterson has to keep drilling it into us how awful child killings are. Seriously, do you need to tell us this over and over again as if it were some sort of revelation?

How on earth did this book get published with all the plot holes AND with the sophomoric writing? (If someone I missed some of the major plot holes being resolved, someone please correct me!)

I really liked Patterson’s first novel and kind of liked his second; this, #3, was just awful.

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