Rating: Summary: And a half, slighty less than average rating. Review: Somehow I missed the third book in the series, I don't know, I was just getting into them because they were on the family book shelf, so what do I know?
I gave this one less than three stars because I think it fell short of the first two, which I read and reviewed with ratings of three.
Patterson has some annoying habits, and while the books are fast paced and quick to read, this one included, he has such huge plot holes it's hard sometimes to keep reading with a straight face. I am saying the books are entertaining, but I'm not beating down the door to find the third book in the series, which I jumped over. That should say something I think.
You shouldn't read this one first, by any means, if you like the first three, than you'll probably want to go ahead and read this one too, however, it's much more sloppy than books one and two.
The killers in this book aren't developed well at all, one is from previous works, he makes a comeback, as the editorial reviews point out. There is a new killer and also a minor villain that makes an appearance. The problem is that it's not a very long book, so as you can imagine, nobody, not even the hero and his new love, get a full treatment.
The plot is again filled with stuff that could simply never happen. Now I know, that's part of the magic of fiction, however, if the fiction is set in a real universe that we know and understand, it should at least follow basic logic and generally follow standard practices as we know them. I'll give you a quick example, which actually involves an earlier book and a similar complaint I made in that review.
There is a point in this book where the FBI is staking out the a bunch of places because they are on the track of a horrible killer, they are even staking out a grave site of someone the killer once loved. Okay, now, in Kiss the Girls, a victim, living and breathing, goes home from the hospital to her home in which just a short time earlier she was abducted. The horrible killer is still loose and she's the only one alive that has seen him as the killer/rapist. Now, do you think the FBI would stake out her house, noooooo...
Anyway, maybe in Patterson's world the FBI got smarter between books two and four, but for me, it's just one of many huge plot holes that have nudged me into the opinion that Patterson is more excited about churning out books quickly then telling great stories. But that's just one man's opinion.
Rating: Summary: Scary characters Review: Cat & Mouse is actually two stories in one book -both stories star our hero, detective and doctor Alex Cross. In this book Alex finds himself falling for his kid's headmistress, and he finds himself hunting a very bad serial killer, Gary Soneji, who has gone crazier than ever. We are told, through Gary Soneji's actions and thoughts, that he wants to kill Alex, no matter what it is going to take.
At the same time, another serial killer, Mr. Smith, is roaming the streets of London, Paris and also the cities of USA. After some events which I will not reveal here, Mr. Smith comes to USA to hunt down people and kill them after his own very special pattern. Alex is thrown into this investigation as well, together with some of the hotshots from FBI. The hunt for the serialkillers is exciting to read, and it is well written, but I wish there had only been one storyline in this book, as I do not think that James Patterson has managed to juggle the two 'parts' of the book that well.
Rating: Summary: Confusing, but yet exciting! Review: This is the first James Patterson book that I am reading and I have come to enjoy it. The book takes many twist and turns but it makes you want to keep turing that pages. With the chapter being short it makes it easier reading that other books.
I find it hard how it takes them so long to get Mr.Smith and Soneji. It's strange how they are both able to hind there muders so well. It's nasty how they do there kills. Soneji has been killing people since I a little boy, so I guess that is why he tend not to stop. Also he has AIDS so I guess that he figures that he isn't losing anything becasue he is going to die anyway. I can't believe that they kept trying to catch Soneji, but some how he was able to keep getting away. I was glad when they got him.
Another twist that this book took was when the night that they caught Soneji, doing the night there was an attack on Alex and he family. No one really understood what was going on.
There was also another case that was being worked on and that was the Mr. Smith case. Thomas Pierce was on that case. Here we go with another twist. Pierce was working on the Mr. Smith case, and guess who turned out to be Mr. Smith. Pierce! Some how he became Mr. Smith.
I'm Glad that during this whole mess Alex was in he ended up being able to fall in love again. He met a Lady christian and they were perfect for eachother. I'm glad they both found eachother. It was hard at them at first, but they looked past it.
Then end of the book tells you want happened with them. So i guess it is left to you to see what happens.
Rating: Summary: A dull Cross novel Review: I have noticed that after a while, James Patterson's books all seem the same. In the fourth Alex Cross novel, "Cat and Mouse", Cross must combat his old enemy Gary Sanji, who has arrived out of nowhere to take revenge on him. Also, Senji has a secret. And there is also a new villian thrown into the mix; Mr. Smith, who is murdering people all over Europe and in the U.S. On his trail is Agent Pierce of the FBI. How these two storys combine is pretty thin for my taste. The whole book seemed way to contrived. I usually like Patterson's books, but this one, while fast paced and exciting (loved the chase through the New York subways), just dosn't hold up to logic very well, even worst here than usual. Cross is in love with his kids' school principal, who lost her husband in the previous book "Jack and Jill". She seems to be just there to give Cross somthing to do between cases. All in all, I really didn't like this one as well as I did the others.
Rating: Summary: Good but not his best Review: I am reading all the Alex Cross books in order. This was not my favorite so far. Even for not a very good Cross book it is still better then some books I have read. I only gave it three stars compared to other books that Patterson has written. It is still well worth the time to pick it up and dig in.
Rating: Summary: Very disappointing Review: Cat and Mouse went awry and James Patterson didn't have the time or desire to go back and fix it before the publication date. First, I'm not a fan of the Gary Soneji character who Patterson dotes on in all his novels. I liked having the threat of Soneji in Jack and Jill, but as a main character, he becomes a tedious, repetitious attempt for Alex Cross to create a psychological profile. It is plain annoying. Then Mr. Smith felt like a scrap of writing that Patterson had lying around that he wanted to use somewhere. The second, first person narrator through the mid section of the book was an obvious and unsatisfying attempt to attach it. Bad! What's good? I love the primary characters. Alex, Nana, Jannie, Damon, Christine Johnson are excellent. The relationships are outstanding. John Sampson is also a very cool character and was severely underused in this story. Tom Pierce got too much focus and Sampson was forgotten. James Patterson falls way short in this one.
Rating: Summary: Okay for a quick read, but not exceptional Review: This was the first Patterson novel I've read, and I'm not sure if I'll read another one or not. First, I thought the murders committed in the book were overly-violent. If that's not something that bothers you, you may like this novel better than I did. The other thing that bothered me was that I found some of the plot twists a little beyond belief. I like plot twists that are cleverly constructed so I find myself thinking "yeah, why didn't I catch on to that?" not "where did that come from?". Maybe I missed something when I was reading the book, but I just found some of it too far-fetched for me. I did find myself wanting to keep reading, though, so it wasn't bad. I guess I just prefer other authors better than this one.
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