Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable!
Review: Actually the best Patterson I have read. It is easy to read, but very enjoyable. You actually really get into the characters and the time period. Don't know how accurate it is, but it was quite convincing. Makes me want to read more about the Crusades.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing book
Review: Have loved reading James Patterson's books, and really looked forward to reading this one. But, like other commentators, was only able to read 100 pages, before putting it aside, never to read it any further. Very disappointing work.
Rating:
Summary: Page Turner?....more like cure for insomnia
Review: I'm not sure what book of Mr. Patterson the other reviewers were reading, but "The Jester" may just be the book that makes the current "The Cat Who..." series read like real mysteries. This book is filled with absolutly no plot, no story line, and its only reason for appearing in print must be that ignorant people will buy anything published by certain authors. If you don't believe that, consider James Michener's last group of "best" sellers. Pap is Pap, no matter who writes it.
Rating:
Summary: The Jester
Review: Cannot tell you how disappointed I am with this book. Read about 70 pages and could take no more. The killing and torturing were just not something I need to hear.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring and bloody......
Review: What a disappointment! I found this story highly overrated. It could have been written in a hundred pages. It's simply the same bloody, gorey scene over and over. It's also very predictable. The "Jester" is a likable character, but not likable enough to save this dreary story. Patterson needs to stick to his usual genres.
Rating: 
Summary: loved-hated it
Review: I couldn't put the book down and read the whold thing virtually in one sitting. I don't advocate or like it when anything bad befalls the innocent, young and babies specifically. However there probably is truth to the infanticide of the times and in fact our own times e.g. Iraq. This was not an escapist book for me and the overt brutality was disturbing because it is probably all too real.
Rating:
Summary: Adult Robin Hood
Review: James Patterson's brave step away from his normal murder mystery novels (hope Alex Cross will be coming back soon) is in a way a great success on the other a bit tame. The action pieces I feel as though I can actually picture them and the blood and dramatic descriptions are quite gruelling. But I feel Patterson should stick to what he is in my opinion the best murder thriller author around.
Rating: 
Summary: Something Different - Something Wonderful!
Review: I just finished the Jester and loved this story. I needed a wonderful hero right now and Patterson and Gross have given us one in Hugh. I had doubts about this book when I first purchased it, but all of my doubts were put aside in the first few chapters. Another wonderful book like all of Patterson's works. I haven't missed a book of his yet and won't in the future.
Rating:
Summary: The worst book I've ever read
Review: Save your time and money by not reading this disappointing story.
The idea and story line could have had great potential but the events are violent, gross and vulgar. The writing is far from creative...
Rating:
Summary: Out of his element
Review: No matter what James Patterson's prior experiences are, he cannot be called a historian.I finished this book with a distinct feeling of disappointment. This is my first Patterson book, and I was expecting far more than I got. I enjoy Patterson's writing style and the short chapters and "train of thought" organization of the story are an interesting change of pace. However, the author has hurt himself immeasureably by not taking the time to research the history of the time in question. He has villagers in southern France building stone buildings in less than a month and has battles fought against castles where the besieged don't use the military tools that any decent castle would have at their disposal. He places artifical hooks in the storyline and uses obvious ploys to move the plot forward. Another thing that annoyed me was his constant use of the first person intermingled with third person. It was as though the author couldn't be creative enough to use foreshadowing and innuendo to achieve what he wanted to convey. Patterson seems to race through events without giving much depth to the story and I found the overall experience to be vague and well intentioned, but with no real texture to grab onto. He could have take lessons from Ken Follett's epic "Pillars of the Earth."
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