Ah, if only good writers could stay at the top of their game forever...unfortunately, this isn't the case and it's always sad to see one of your favorite authors turn out a lackluster book that seemed to be written with a lack of regard for his readers' intelligence as well as hastily written and poorly edited. This is the case with James Patterson's latest Alex Cross thriller, Violets Are Blue.  
 
The Premise  
 
Alex Cross is back as a D.C. detective who again pairs up with the FBI to help solve a series of horrific murders that appear to have been committed by vampires. As he works on the case, he continues to be stalked by his old nemesis The Mastermind. Along the way, he meets up with yet another pretty detective who he begins to fall for, leaves his family in the lurch again and again, and does pretty much everything he's been doing in the past novels.  
 
The Pros  
 
The book is written in traditional Patterson style of no frills. The chapters are only two or three pages apiece, the sentences are short and to the point. Readers will likely breeze through this one in a day or two. If this weren't the case, I have a feeling that many readers would have given up before the end due to boredom, frustration or the maddening feeling of 'What the hell is Patterson thinking when he wrote this?' while they read.  
 
The Cons  
 
I couldn't help it with this book--I ripped it apart. I actually kept a piece of paper with me as I read because I found so many flaws, each one nettling me so much that I had to write it down so as not to forget it in my review.  
 
1. This book is not well-written. Although Patterson got away with his completely plot-driven books before because the plot was so good, this plot stumbles along and leaves you looking at the writing. In chapters that are written from Cross's point of view, he uses stupid little lines (that Cross is saying to himself) like "Oh, no Kyle! God no!" and "Kyle, Kyle have mercy on us". His descriptions of people are borderline ridiculous. After describing one character, a supposed vampire's, appearance, he adds the stupid line, "He was dark and dangerous looking." Another is described as, "The most sinister looking man I had ever seen." And he has an unnerving habit of hammering into our skulls that pretty women are pretty. Every time one woman comes into the storyline, he has to mention something about her looks, even though he's already described her as beautiful. It would be okay if it was well-done, but it's not. The lines, like "She looked at me and she had such beautiful eyes" made me cringe. This is the writing of a complete amateur, not someone who is at the top of his game, as Patterson should be by now.  
 
2. The book is full of inconsistencies or muddy areas. For example, a character is identified as Arthur, and is then called Brody a few pages later. This is similar to something I found upsetting in Roses Are Red: there are at least four characters named Betsey, including a major character. When I first started reading it, I thought that it was a pattern and would be explained. Nope. Apparently he just liked the name Betsey or kept forgetting he'd already used it. This is a product of bad editing. Come on, James, you're rollin' in the dough! Hire a professional editor! I'd be available for next to nothing!  
 
3. He takes a few jabs at his children that made me mad. Damon and Jannie have never been described as anything but angelic, but in this book he refers to them as 'the little creeps' and says Jannie 'can be good when she tries'. Huh? I think anyone would kill to have such well-behaved, sweet children, as Cross always has seemed to think in the past. It doesn't make any sense!  
 
4. The things Cross does, we've seen book after book and it's getting very tiresome and irritating. He always gets matched up with an attractive woman in law enforcement (how many of these can there be?! I don't think I've ever seen any in real life!) who he starts falling for. He's always saying he needs to stay home more often, then runs off for days on end on another case, leaving his family high and dry. This is especially irritating in this book because The Mastermind is threatening his family throughout, yet he keeps leaving to pursue this case and leaves them alone with their 80-year-old grandmother and no other protection! When the Mastermind calls and again threatens them, he acts as if he's forgotten they were in danger and calls in his trusty buddy Sampson, who rushes over and watches out for them. Come on, Cross, your kids' mother was violently murdered, you're all they have left and you're taking off when they're in danger and endangering yourself? I've always liked Cross's character in the past, but he got on my nerves here.  
 
5. The plot. There is the dual plot of The Mastermind and the vampire killings, the last of which is solved with a 'who cares?' near the end of the book to concentrate on The Mastermind. The dual plot isn't interwoven enough to make it work. Plus, where Patterson usually writes believably about investigations, this one has some very unbelievable leaps of faith. Cross finds that some magicians are performing in the areas that the murders were committed, and, from that alone, they brand them the killers and are able to get a huge FBI team to follow them. Hmmm...a little more evidence would be good here!  
 
6. I was saving the best (and by best I mean most maddening) thing for last. In the end of Roses Are Red, The Mastermind is revealed for who he is. In Violets Are Blue, we go throughout the entire book with him still being called The Mastermind as if we'd never been informed of his identity! The author drops clues to his identity which are completely and utterly ridiculous because WE ALREADY KNOW WHO HE IS!! What was he thinking here? Did he forget we knew who it was? He seems to be insulting our intelligence by bringing him back in as an unknown, thinking we're not smart enough to remember that we already solved this little mystery in the last book! Ugh! To make matter worse, he's revealed in dramatic fashion like we're supposed to say, "OH! My goodness, who would have guessed?" Of course, we're not surprised and Cross doesn't seem too surprised either. Considering this is the plot that he runs with in the end, it's very disappointing.  
 
Now that I'm done ranting and raving (believe me, I could have done more but I restrained myself), would I recommend this book? Well, if you're an Alex Cross follower, you might as well read it because you're probably already hooked (as I am) and will want to read the next one (which there almost certainly will be--why not if he can get away with marketing this amateurish crap and still stay on the bestseller list?). However, if you can get out now, do it. Patterson seems to be going down the toilet and bringing his faithful fans along with him.  
