Rating: 
Summary: Please tell us why....
Review: Violets are Blue is no different than the last few Alex Cross novels. It is an exciting page turner with thrills and chills but needs so much work to compare with Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider.Patterson is obviously a great writer. He shows the talent in this story, creating truly evil characters who committ horrible crimes and keeping me turning the pages wanting to find out if they were going to be caught. Patterson definitely has the skills to keep the reader entertained and on the edge of his seat, but he also leaves you with so many questions. Many times I read a book and have questions about the plot, but usually the author gives you the answers in the story, you just have to look. I have so many questions about Violets are Blue, but none of them are answered in the story. This novel has two storylines: murderous vampires on the loose and the Mastermind from the last novel. The vampire cult is the main case the Cross travels throughout the country trying to solve. The Mastermind is always there, always on Cross's mind, and always part of the story. William and Michael are two killers travelling throughout the country killing people and drinking their blood. Cross and the FBI are hot on their tail, arriving at each murder scene and analyzing it to death. This is Patterson's weakness. Cross is basically an idiot. Cross never discovers or deduces anything. At each crime scene Cross asks questions like "what are the killers trying to tell us?" and "what are their reasons?". But Cross and the police never discover any clues or solve any mysteries. A good author would allow Cross to make a discovery that makes the reader think he has accomplished something, then throw in plot twist. But here it is just murder after murder after murder. Also, it seems like Cross spends hours upon hours "jotting down notes" or "working on the computer". What kind of notes are these. Obviously not notes geared to solve the case. It appears Cross may be on to something, and he jots down notes and questions, but the reader never sees them and therefore there is no suspense. The vampire killers comment on how their is a method to their killing and it is leading to a purpose. See if you can figure it out. At first I couldn't but now I think I did, and boy what a let down. Cross never figures it out either. Then there is the Mastermind. If you read Roses are Red, you know who it is. Throughout the novel, Cross notices suspicious things about the Mastermind, but never really acts on them. Then at the climax it all makes sense to Cross. But it never made since to me. Patterson covers this plotline from Cross and the Mastermind's point of view. It seems the Mastermind has always been out to get Cross, and his actions have been going on through quite a few Cross novels. The Mastermind reveals and Cross discovers that the Mastermind has been committing murders for years and has even been in cohorts with some bad guys from some other novels. This isn't a spoiler because this is just stated as fact. There is no moment of revelation or discovery. Patterson just comes right out and says it. It's like Patterson is jus treading on the surface with this novel. There is so much more to be seen, to be revealed, to be discovered. Patterson prefers to keep it a secret, or as I believe, he doesn't even know its there. Patterson is a good thriller writer who could use a lot of work on the supsense part. He starts out with vampires with grand schemes of killing. But what are the schemes. No one ever discovers them. The mastermind has been committing murders for years and after Cross for years. But why, how, when, where? This book needs a lot more detail to be satisfying.
Rating: 
Summary: TERRIBLE!
Review: I've only read a handfull of James Patterson's books and have to say that none of them strike me as "can't put them" down reads. This one takes the cake though!!! What a waste of time....
Rating:
Summary: Dude; get a fact checker.
Review: "Eating at a diner in Woodland Hills, just off the 5 freeway"?
The 5 is nowhere near Woodland Hills. Try the 101. And stop making each chapter 6 pages long, and ending in a SHOCK. It reads like Nancy Drew.
Rating: 
Summary: Frustrated and disappointed read
Review: I have read all of the Alex Cross novels and I must say that "Violets are Blue" is frustrating to read and not up to par with the other Cross novels. The biggest frustration centers around the Mastermind. I was disappointed with the way "Roses are Red" ended and was looking forward to having the matter resolved quickly with Violets are Blue. Instead, the reader is lead through several anti-climatic scenes with the Mastermind getting close to dealing with Cross, but then deciding the "time wasn't right." Gimme a break! Each chapter seems to rehash the same type of suspense that goes nowhere and leaves the reader plowing through another endless chapter of mayhem, gore and another budding romance between Cross and another female. Read it, seen it, tired of it! I love Cross' character, but Patterson does him a disservice with this storyline. What else could happen to this man! I for one will continue to look forward to more novels, but I am leary and disappointed that Mr. Patterson has gone into the mass market, cookie cutter manner of writing. Take a break Mr. Patterson and write the next Cross novel with better care and respect for the character and your many readers.
Rating: 
Summary: Handwriting On The Wall
Review: Looks like we are in for a series. The poem: Roses are red, Violets are blue, Sugar is sweet, And so are you. The first two verses are books. Looks like 2 more books before we find out the entire story. Sugar is sweet looks like it can play on what Sampson calls Alex Cross- "Sugar". Anyway, look forward to seeing how this plays out.
Rating:
Summary: TERRIBLE!
Review: I've only read a handfull of James Patterson's books and have to say that none of them strike me as "can't put them" down reads. This one takes the cake though!!! What a waste of time....
Rating:
Summary: Dude; get a fact checker.
Review: "Eating at a diner in Woodland Hills, just off the 5 freeway"?
The 5 is nowhere near Woodland Hills. Try the 101. And stop making each chapter 6 pages long, and ending in a SHOCK. It reads like Nancy Drew.
Rating:
Summary: Sadistic garbage
Review: What's with the trend for crime to occur in the most horrific ways possible? Here it's vampires. Add the poor writing and you're better off skipping this and reading anothr book.
Rating:
Summary: Only Mystery Here is How It Got Published
Review: I rarely write a review of a book I dislike, but if I can warn a single person away from this book, the effort will be worth it. "Violets Are Blue" was so predictable, so poorly written, and so shamelessly padded, I was almost laughing. I was reminded of the time in high school when I was given an assignment to write 2000 words about some topic, I can't remember what. Well, I wrote the paper, but when I counted the words, I was less than half way to the 2000 word total. So I spent hours adding in extraneous material any way I could to bloat the paper to the requisite length. Patterson has done the same thing to two (flimsy) mysteries stories and rolled them into one. Both mysteries are so predictable that if you can't figure out the bad guy before detective Alex Cross does, you might think about switching to reading romance novels. One manhunt goes from city to city throughout the U.S. so that Patterson can add paragraphs of flimsy local color, including street directions to every scene, local restaurants (where I'm sure Patterson will dine for free from now on), etc. In neither mystery does Cross actually DETECT. The bad guy is simply the last suspect standing. A shameless padder, Patterson gives a plot summary for every one of his previous books and phones all the (living) key characters from them. And every other chapter is a warm, touching slice of his family life. Which has nothing to do with the plot, but sets the reader up for the next book in the series. I liked "Along Came A Spider". Since then, Patterson has obviously decided it's less work to be a hack than a good writer, and the pay is the same.
Rating:
Summary: A very good entry to the Alex Cross series
Review: As opposite to many viewers, I actually find this entry a very enjoyable one. As a veteran fan of Alex Cross, and after reading more than once for each entry in the whole series, I must say that Violets Are Blue are quite unique in several ways.
First, the focus on vampire-like murders make me feel like reading a crossover with X-file/Buffy. Second, Cross and Jamila weres in many moments too close to Mastermind that you would really feel worry about them. Third, the ending is a real twist and it makes me unstoppable to turn the pages to know what will happen. Finally, this entry almost signify the end of Cross's life in Washington PD migrating to FBI. Another good thing about Cross series is that, once you are hooked to them, the characters (Nana, Sampson, Christine, Jamila, ...... are just so real that they all like part of your life)
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