Rating: 
Summary: Perhaps the best installment of the Alex Cross novels
Review: Alex Cross and John Sampson track down a gang of killers who execute with military precision...James Patterson seems to be spending every waking minute writing. I'm too laz --- er, too busy right now to check, but I think that FOUR BLIND MICE is the third book he's had published this year. He has a strong trademark character with Alex Cross, and writes a number of "stand-alone" novels as well just to keep the mix varied. FOUR BLIND MICE is the latest --- and possibly the best --- installment of the Cross novels. It combines Patterson's trademark literary style --- short sentences and brief scenes which keep the narrative moving along --- while providing Cross with a change of scene from the standpoint of both geography and plot. FOUR BLIND MICE begins with Cross being asked by his lifelong friend John Sampson to assist him in coming to the aid of Ellis Cooper, another old friend of Sampson's. Cooper, a sergeant in the U.S. Army, has been convicted of a triple homicide. The case was practically open-and-shut: there is DNA evidence; the murders were committed with Cooper's knife; and he was observed at the scene of the crime. The only exculpatory evidence which Cross and Sampson have is the eyewitness account of a young boy who lives next door to the home where the murders took place. His account: there were three men at the home at the time of the murder. Patterson lets his reader know almost immediately that Cooper is being framed, and lets us know that the boy is correct: there are three murderers --- The Three Blind Mice --- who are highly trained killers in the midst of a murder spree for hire. While the identities of the killers are revealed early on to the reader, the question remains as to who is their shadowy, mysterious employer whose identity and motive is unknown even to the murderers. Cross and Sampson, through dogged, good old-fashioned police work, slowly learn for themselves what was revealed to the reader and find that the trail ultimately and unexpectedly leads back into Cross' own past, with possible repercussions for his future. Patterson continues in FOUR BLIND MICE his practice of letting Cross and his supporting characters slowly evolve and develop. Cross makes a big change in his life in FOUR BLIND MICE and appears to be on the verge of making another. Sampson makes a totally unexpected change in his life as well. And as for Cross' family, well...they are as real as one can find in mystery fiction. Patterson's ever-evolving ability to balance Cross' professional and personal life as a backdrop to a suspenseful manhunt is ultimately responsible for the ongoing popularity of this series, which has translated, in turn, to success for his non-Cross novels as well. Patterson shows no sign of slowing down at this point, and his legion of fans --- large, and growing ever larger --- will undoubtedly continue to clamor for more. --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Rating: 
Summary: WHERE HAS MR. PATTERSON GONE?
Review: The Alex Cross books have always been exceptionally well-written, carefully plotted and full of unexpected plot twists. In "Four Blind Mice," Patterson falls short in all these areas, giving us only a minimally enjoyable entry in this established series.
Alex's plans to retire are thwarted when his buddy John Sampson comes to him to help prevent the execution of one of his old war buddies, who has been wrongfully accused of three brutal murders. Early on, we meet the "Three Blind Mice" responsible for a series of staged murders, setting up military veterans. Why? And who is their big boss?
Patterson spends too much time on the love interests this time; they don't really help further the plot or show us anything new about the heroes. It's nice to have a lot more Sampson in this book, but Alex's relationship with Jamilla is so shallow, in comparison to all the other women Cross has supposedly fallen in love with. Add the mysterious illness of Nana Mama, and a couple of scenes with dear Kyle Craig, and you come up with a diversional novel. Patterson needs to remember what made Alex Cross so interesting and so successful.
This is the least effective of all the Cross novels.
RECOMMENDED ONLY TO THOSE FANS WHO WANT TO SEE ALEX CROSS RETURN TO FORM!
Rating:
Summary: Cotton Candy - Good Without Substance
Review: The story moves rapidly. It is laced with violence and death, spiced with thought provoking sermons about capturing family moments and sprinkled with not so subtle jabs at the business of war and some thereby employed. If you need Spock-like logical characters, this tale is not for you. Patterson's Detective Cross will annoy you when he repeatedly puts himself in harm's way - sometimes alone. Likely equally annoying will be the fact the Patterson does not slow the plot by taking time to explain how Detective Cross and his partner John Sampson are able to spend weeks solving crime(s) with no apparent connection to the District of Columbia - their employer. Read for entertainment, not to escape the ugliness that life brings to some.
Rating: 
Summary: one blind editor
Review: **spoilers** "Four Blind Mice" by James Patterson -- who usually writes engaging mystery thrillers -- is an inferior offering that suffers from an exceedingly contrived plot and numerous storytelling errors. His editor should have shelved the entire book or, at least, done a better job of proofreading. The novel is about a group of Vietnam veterans whose war experiences turned them into sadistic, callous killers. This commonplace stereotype is undermined because they mananaged (apparently) to control their murderous impulses for thirty years until the events of the novel begin. Then they set killing other vets by framing them for murder which results in death sentences. Eventually their nefarious deeds are uncovered by Alex Cross, Patterson's earstwhile protaganist. The novel is full of plot and narrative errors. For example, at one point a cop is killed (for no real plot purpose), but apparently his body is never found and no one ever looks for him because that's the last it's mentioned. Similarly, while the murderers had video taped all their crimes, after they're caught there's no mention of these recordings. It's as though they never existed. At numerous time the characters repeat dialog and information. If Patterson really wanted to write a story about Vietnam vets and (I guess) the perils of capital punishment, I wish his editor had made him get the details right.
Rating:
Summary: Over the top bordering on stupidity but entertaining
Review: Detective Alex Cross is asked by his friend, John Sampson, to help look into the case of Sergeant Ellis Cooper, of the US Army who is scheduled to be executed. Cooper was convicted of violently killing three women on the army base. Cooper swears he is innocent and wants them to prove it. As Cross and Sampson look into the case, they discover a possible conspiracy in the US army that might be responsible for the killings. Of course, their lives are in imminent danger as they delve more deeply into the case.
James Patterson has a unique way of writing that is undoubtedly responsible for his huge popularity and success. Characters are fully developed and well known to the readers of his Alex Cross series. They do not, however, drive the plot progression. That is driven by the evil villains trying to destroy someone important in Cross's life such as his family or girlfriend. The plots are always over the top and can border on sheer stupidity. However, they are always entertaining. The books are written in extremely short chapters which read like staccato fire from a machine gun. Pages virtually fly by. In fact, the books can be read in one sitting of moderate length-- perfect for a long plane ride. This one is no exception.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining
Review: Not Gripping
Not from the pen of a Brilliant mind
Not Perfect But an intresting read - and one that doesn't give it's endings away 1/2 the way through - You cannot see what's going to happen Unpredictable - Thats a good thing for a book to be Unfortunatly a bit slow to start off with, his love intrest just annoyed me, and I think was used to fill up pages but A good book - non the less
Rating: 
Summary: Makes Me Fear for the "Public"
Review: How did this guy ever get on top? If the people who praise this writer ever read, Connelly, Hunter, Sanford etc. they would have a different perspective. His writing is so childish as to be embarrassing. He must have mentioned the size of the porterhouses they were eating 5 times. And who ever heard of being able to "hug" an inmate let alone one on death row? This may seem to be nitpicking but it is just an example of the tenor in whole book. Write for adults for god`s sake.
Rating: 
Summary: great
Review: this is one of my favorite james patterson books. action from beginning to end and still he gives his characters a human aspect.
Rating:
Summary: Alex Cross Never Gives Up, Never Quits
Review: Alex Cross is a Washington DC Detective with a degree in psychology. He often helps out the FBI and other departments on cases needing psychological profiles on serial crimes. But he's told his family he's going to quit his job with the police department, and possibly go into private practice. Then his best friend, old police partner John Sampson, asks for a favor. He needs help getting his friend and former army buddy, Sgt. Ellis Cooper, who has been convicted of murdering three women on an Army base in Raleigh, North Carolina, off of death row. Sampson believes Cooper has been framed. The three women were having a girl's night out at one of their homes. They were later found murdered, with deep knife wounds and painted blue, all evidence pointing to Cooper, like the fact that he was found with the murder weapon. But he denied it all. Alex and Sampson investigate and are quickly plunged into the closed and hostile world of the military. Still they continue, but they aren't in time to prove Cooper's innocence. They watch him die by lethal injection and it fuels their fires even more. They are determined to find out what's going on and why. They gather what little information they have and it points to the three blind mice, who are three homicidal Army Rangers, Vietnam vets. And then there is their mysterious controller, the fourth blind mouse, but are they just pawns in a bigger game? As records go missing and revelations from the Vietnam War come to light, Cross and Sampson must battle against the Army bureaucratic barrier as they learn about even more deaths and a possible cover up. Once again Mr. Patterson has written the kind of book you just cannot put down. Once again Alex is in the think of things and once again his life is on the line. And once again I was help captive as I read away. You know, somehow I don't think Alex is ever really going to go into private practice.
Rating:
Summary: Mixed feelings type appeal with this one.
Review: I wasn't sure what Mr Patterson was trying to do with Alex Cross in this book. Alex isn't sure if he's going to retire or not. I felt that in this book Alex was in a transition phase of retiring all together or going into the FBI. It started out by helping his friend Sampson on a case which invovled an innocent veteran friend of Sampson being accused of killing 3 women. The whole concept of the 3 blind mice was great. 3 Vietnam veterans that did rogue-ish activities in the war, committing gruesome crimes in the good of U.S of A and a mysterious fourth mice is doing heavy duty cover-up. Finally, Alex have a stable love life. I really got tired of Alex feeling like he's a person that can be hard to love because of his job. There needed to be a balance in his life. I felt Mr Patterson at times added insteresting elements to the story which were interesting but I felt had nothing to do with the book. Maybe he was trying to hint of certain things coming on the horizion in future books. There were times I felt certain parts were rushed especially near the ending. After reading this book I felt if I hadn't read any previous Alex Cross novels I would of cared less about this book.
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