Rating: 
Summary: What's all the fuss about?
Review: I read five James Patterson novels. I needed to know what all the fuss was about. I didn't understand after the first, but I kept buying others. I wanted to give Patterson a fair shake. After reading the fifth, I still didn't understand why this guy sells books.Roses Are Red is the last one I read. It's the last James Patterson book I'll ever read. All that I read were bad, and this one was the worst. The ending was pathetic. I felt cheated. It's a non sequitor. Utter nonsense. What bothers me most about all the James Patterson novels I've read is the overly emotional tone and the excessive use of italics and exclamation marks that underline every aching emotion of Alex Cross (and rest assured that everything that Detective Cross feels is exceedingly achingly felt). I wouldn't want to spend five minuted in the man's company, and I don't understand why anyone else would, either. The writing is something I'd expect from a high school student who doesn't show much promise as a writer. Patterson doesn't let the situation evoke emotions. He simply tells the reader what emotions he wants the situations to evoke ... the sure sign of an individual who cannot write effectively. The fact that Patterson is guaranteed a spot on the best seller list with each new release makes me sad. He is a very, very bad writer.
Roses Are Red is the worst of what I've read by him ... but I don't doubt that he's capable of even worse. Garbage. I wish I could be more clear in my critique of this novel, but the book was simply annoying, and the ending was quite frustrating. It's difficult to intelligently critique a work that's this bad.
Rating: 
Summary: Fairly Good
Review: This was a reletivly good book, it was my third favorite in the Alex Cross series, my first being Kiss the Girls, and second being Along Came a Spider. I like the way Mr. Patterson has short 2 1/2 kind of page chapters and I like the way there's lots of action during the robberies (especially the one where they took the tour bus, but it seems like to me that he throws too much stuff in the book, like when Janie has to go to the hospital, Alex's relationship with Christine, and Alex's relationship with Betsy Cavalier (the romance scene are just the same as they are in the previous novels) and you just want him to focus on the Mastermind and all the bank robbries, or at least I wanted him to. But anyways, if you liked his previous Alex Cross novels, especially Along Came a Spider, then this is a good action packed book for you.
Rating:
Summary: Another Patterson Thriller
Review: Quick read, shock ending ~ you definetly don't see this ending coming, but I guess thats why I love Pattersons novels. Another great book in the Alex Cross series - onto Violets Are Blue!
Rating: 
Summary: Horrible!
Review: James Patterson, I think you have run out of steam. It took me forever to read this book, because there was not much suspense for me since it was all in pretty much the usual pattern. This time we are dealing with bank robbers of the most brutal kind and a mastermind behind this robberies. Also, Janie falls ill in this installment and Alex Cross finds a new romantic interest. Unfortunately, the book gives us not much closure at all but sets us up for the sequel. I guess either Mr. Patterson is getting very greedy or he had a deadline to meet.
Rating: 
Summary: The Best of the Best
Review: All hail James Patterson, king of suspense! If you've been doubting Patterson's ability to turn out a decent plot due to his less-than-stellar recent books (see: When the Wind Blows), then Roses are Red will put your faith back in him. Roses are Red starts off with a series of robbery-murders led by an evil villain (another one of those) named the Mastermind. The Mastermind is recruiting cold-blooded killers to help pull off one of the greatest crimes of all time (at least it is in his eyes). Meanwhile, Alex Cross's personal life is falling apart. His girlfriend Christine decides to move away because she can't handle reality. His daughter is suddenly taken with a possibly fatal illness. Patterson knows what scares us: the unknown. He goes through two people who we are supposed to believe are the Mastermind until his true identity is revealed on the last page. And let me tell you... it's one of the last things you will expect. Giving us plot twists like this are what made so many people fall in love with Patterson's writing. Here's to hoping that all of Patterson's future books are as good as this one. Read Roses are Red... you won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect suspense
Review: patterson does it again with roses are red! Along with "Kiss the Girls" this is another book which I would classify as "perfect suspense." From the moment I popped in the first cassette i was hooked. I spent an entire weekend sitting in coffee-houses sipping coffee and listening to this audiobook. i was literarly at the edge of my seat twoards the ending. The plot twists in this book will drive you dizzy with excitement. As for the ending, what a shocker! Though by then I had a pretty good idea who the true Mastermind had to be. Still, I gasped. i bought "roses" after "violets are blue" came out so now I do not have to wait. I know "violets" has gotten some bad reviews but patterson is great and he can do no wrong by me. I will ignore all the nay sayers and order "Violets" right away. Keep them coming James. Get this audiobook if you love suspense combined with a great plot.
Rating:
Summary: Heart Pumper
Review: This one had my heart pumping and it taught me something about how thriller books are written.I read this book at the same time as another so-called "thriller" that was recommended to me, a book with a peculiar title called Hoochie Mama by Preston L. Allen. I like that Cross and his adventure with the Mastermind kept my heart pumping, but I think that Patterson fell off a little bit in this book because a lot of the subplots did not seem to add anything to the story. I was real sorry about his daughter, and his fiancee and their problems, but I kept wanting to get back to the story of the Mastermind-that was an amazing villain. I am not going to ruin the surprise for you readers out there. This is what Patterson is good at-cardiac stimulation. But I do have to say: the ransom scene on the train is worth the price of the book. Great! But reading that other book I told you about by a more literary writer, I realized that there are other ways to get the pages turning. If you get into the characters on a deeper level like Allen does, you turn the pages more slowly because you are savoring them. I can't say that I savored any page in Roses are RED, but I liked them all enough to run out and buy the sequel. Call me crazy. I just wish that Patterson would do more of what he used to do, back in his Kiss the Girls days when he was writing deeper stuff like what Allen does in Hoochie Mama. He can slow it down just a little bit, be a bit more patient. We will still love him and still read him.Amelinda Fernandez-Brinson
Rating:
Summary: I'm glad I waited until the sequel was out
Review: Don't read this book...until you're sure you have access to the sequel (see the next book). I had to wait almost a week between them, and it nearly drove me crazy! Pity the people who read this book as soon as it came out! Alex Cross is back. I find his love life a little distracting, probably because it's so realistic -- a guy that's definitely married to his job -- but over the course of the Alex Cross books, his character has been fleshed out to the point where he's realer than a lot of th "meat" people I've met. As yet another nemesis enters Cross's life, Patterson continues his strong tradition of steady character development coupled with rapid-fire action. The only shortcoming of this book, if it can be called a shortcoming, is that it's separated into this book and its sequel.
Rating:
Summary: Read it!
Review: James Patterson did it again. This is a must read, especially if your an Alex Cross fan. I just wish he wouldn't have revealed who the mastermind was. This book was excellent!
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed by it being continued
Review: I love James Patterson books... but i wish someone would of informed me that this book was a continued !!! so now i have to wait for Violets Are Blue to come out in paperback and by that time i'll forget a lot of the characters!!! darn it!!!
But it was a great book and the ending is a page turner!
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