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It almost makes me not want to read any more of the Cross books, except I probably will because you can always find them in airports. This was the fifth or sixth Alex Cross novel I have read, and it was, by far, the worst. It starts out good, with a terribly devious villain, but the last third of the book is boring, unsatisfying, too wordy (I was skipping whole pages without missing any story) and without logical connection to reality.
This one also tells a good story of his family. Like all James Patterson books you have to pay attention. The book has a lot of twists and turns, but very enjoyable to read.
The number of Jane Doe murders (over one hundred) committed by Shafer is improbable. There's far too much violence and gore and a piling on of killing after killing. "Pop Goes the Weasel" by James Patterson will never be on my list of favorite books, and I don't intend to reread it. He's not an author: he's an industry with sixty-one titles and counting in at least four separate genres. Some readers are going to see all this as nonsense. The hook is a manic driver, serial killer Geoffrey Shafer of the British embassy, high on drugs, driving recklessly through Washington DC streets. It's not a very believable story nor does the character of the monster seem credible.
The killer is nicknamed the Weasel, but the author seldom uses the appellation. Often there are alternating chapters between cops and the killer.
(There were two Morgan Freeman movies about Cross). Patterson has to create phony departmental warfare between Chief Pittman and Cross to spice up his plot, but Pittman's pitiful reaction to the large number of homicides (114 unsolved cases) and his failure to assign adequate police resources fail to ring true like so many other elements in this book.Short chapters are used to give the book a faster pace.
Although this book doesn't list a collaborator, Patterson works with five of them. The small number of people investigating each homicide, the slapdash forensics, and the meager resources devoted to all these killings--all of this seems incredible.
Michael Connelly, where are you when we need you. This one has non-stop senseless violence.It features his series homicide detective Alex Cross who has a Ph.D in psychology from Johns Hopkins.
Shafer, representing Death, is playing an internet game with three others called The Four Horsemen.Patterson's writing style is clumsy, simplistic with no subtlety, art or finesse.
Highly entertaining and Great fun. This book is as good a thriller as you could possibly want. Cross is a likeable hero, while the villain, in this case a British Diplomat, is about as bad as they come.
Being that POP GOES THE WEASEL was a best seller I expected a good read, but that was not the case.Patterson's dialog at times is clumsy and awkward.I didn't care about hearing Alex's kids blabber. I love you. Patterson meanders. many writers do this and I find that it interrupts the story.And Patterson should get someone else to write the love scenes.
That term is only used in 1930s Hollywood movies. I love you so much. Oh my darling Alex."Oh yeah. Patterson had better get out in the real world more often. I lived in the UK and still have several friends who live there, and no Brit I ever knew used the word "chap". It would have been better if the kids were not in the story at all.
Don't stop, please don't stop. All in all the book was -- BORING.I will NOT be buying another James Patterson novel, even if he is the great, best selling author. Plot twists were too perdictable.I don't give a darn about what she wore or what he wore or detailed descriptions of all the contents in a room. "Oh Alex, oh Alex.
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