Pop Goes the Weasel
by James Patterson
List Price:
Our Price: $4.37
You Save: $3.62 (45%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: James PattersonEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000-10
ISBN: 0446608815
Number of pages: 480
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Book Reviews of Pop Goes the Weasel
Book Review: More holes in the story than in the victims.
Summary: 2 Stars
Any James Patterson fan has to be completely willing to suspend disbelief: there are more holes in his story than in one of the knife wound or bullet-riddled corpses killed by the villain, Geoffrey Shafer.
Shafer is a cartoon character walking away from every situation perfectly intact. Just a few of the issues:
How come there was no evidence in his hideaway? There would have been tons.
Stripping the victims to remove their ID. How ludicrous. Anybody, including Shafer would know about prints, dental records.
Nina Childs was young and strong. She would have fought back and scratched, bitten and hit him and not just let him beat her to death.
How could Shafer have known about Cross' plans to go to Bermuda? Completely uncredible.
How could he have followed them to Bermuda without anybody finding out?. FBI could easily have determined who purchased a plane ticket to Bermuda through the British Embassy on the date he went.
How come his family couldn't tell he was a drug crazed loonie with all the drugs he popped? Didn't they ever look at his eyes? How come the family never saw any blood on him?
How come nobody was around to see him dump Mr. Odenkirk in the gutter and strip him in a busy neighborhood. Maybe he did it in the taxi. Do you know how hard it is to move a 200 lb corpse? There would have been an ocean of blood and brains in the taxi, impossible to clean up -- not just "dark stains on the upholstery that looked like blood". And a bullet hole in the back window. How could the cops not have spotted this?
What about all of his bloody clothes and shoes? Why didn't they search his house?
Patsy Hampton would have been too smart to tail a lunatic serial killer by herself. Her ending up alone with him in the parking garage is completely uncredible. Shafer's trial is also ridiculous. They would have considered the blood of multiple victims and other evidence they found in his taxi, house etc.
How could the psychiatrist not have noticed the blood on Shafer right away after he killed Patsy? Doesn't play. And she was a cardboard bimbo too.
Why would his wife support him at the trial and then just run away? His wife was a wooden character with no personality anyway.
Why wouldn't Cross have revealed, and testified about, the threatening phone calls from Shafer and the fantasy game playing, at the trial?
Who would have kept Christine safe and in secret for a year? Boy, does that one strain credibility.
Oh, and the end game came out of nowhere. A lame foundation for why Shafer would want to off his partners all of a sudden, after playing The Four Horsemen with them for eight years.
The book has as many killings as there are sex scenes in Fanny Hill. The story would have been MUCH better if some of them had been foiled. I expected someone to foil his killing in Virginia when the dice told him it was the wrong time to kill.
The end of the book was sickening, and a cop-out. Right. Just a teaser for the next Geoffrey Shafer meets Alex Cross rag.
My guess is Patterson knew all this, but he didn't care because he was too eager to take his royalty checks to the bank. Now, here is a skilled writer at the top of his craft. What he knows is just how hard he has to work to get the book to the publisher.
This was not a one-star book because the plot and the quality writing definitely kept me interested. But it scarcely rises above a two. Next time, please write smarter, not faster.
Summary of Pop Goes the Weasel
Detective Alex Cross is back-and he's in love. But his happiness is threatened by a series of chilling murders in Washington, D.C., murders with a pattern so twisted they leave investigators reeling. Cross's pursuit of the killer produces a suspect, a British diplomat named Geoffrey Shafer. But proving he's the murderer becomes a potentially deadly task. As Shafer engages in a brilliant series of surprising countermoves, Alex and his fiancee become hopelessly entangled with the most memorable nemesis Cross has ever faced.Likened to a "young Muhammad Ali," Alex Cross, the Porsche-driving profiler, doctor, detective, and father of two has seen his fair share of vicious killers. From a bloodthirsty butcher who came after his family (Cat and Mouse) to a devilish duo working cross-country (Kiss the Girls), Cross has managed to outmaneuver all of his enemies. Until he meets the Weasel.
A series of killings in the forgotten, crime-infested ghettos of southeast D.C. has sent Cross and his 6'9" 250-pound partner, John Sampson, in search of the "Jane Doe" killer. However, their racist, tyrannical boss George Pitman orders them to stay out of the southeast and investigate the high-profile murder of a wealthy white man. Cross already has suspicions that the murders are linked, but when Sampson's ex turns up in an abandoned southeast warehouse kicked to death, the two detectives carry on with their original investigation. Meanwhile, Cross's longtime love, Christine (Cat and Mouse), has taken prominence in his life, and it looks as if the two will finally get hitched--with one glitch: Cross puts everything he loves in jeopardy as he obsessively goes after the Weasel.
Akin to a slick Hollywood action flick, Pop Goes the Weasel doesn't have time for meaningful character development or thoughtful moral analysis. And it doesn't need to. Its winning formula is based on short scenes (chapters average about 3 pages), addictive plot progression, and mean dialogue: "Sampson sighed and said, 'I think her tongue is stapled inside the other girl. I'm pretty sure that's it, Alex. The Weasel stapled them together.' I looked at the two girls and shook my head. 'I don't think so. A staple, even a surgical one, would come apart on the tongue's surface.... Crazy glue would work." --Rebekah Warren
Literature & Fiction Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Literature & Fiction Books
Little Womenby Louisa May Alcott
Scribner; Published: 1986-06-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.49
Price in other shops:
The Killing Groundby JACK HIGGINS
HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS LTD; Published: 2007; Hardcover; Book
Saving Fish from Drowningby Amy Tan
4th Estate; Published: 2005; Paperback; Book
Life Expectancyby Dean Koontz
Harpercollins Pb; Published: 2005-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Constant Princessby Philippa Gregory
Touchstone/Simon & Schuster; Published: 2005; Hardcover; Book
Wolf of the Plains (Conqueror, Book 1)by Conn Iggulden
Harper; Published: 2007; Paperback; Book
Saharaby Clive Cussler
Harper Collins Pb; Published: 2005-03-21; Paperback; Book
Perelandra (Cosmic Trilogy)by C. S. Lewis
Voyager; Published: 2005-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.85
Price in other shops:
The Lord Of The Rings: Part 2 The Two Towersby J. R. R. Tolkien
Harper Collins Publishers; Published: 2001; Paperback; Book
Red Marsby Kim Stanley Robinson
Trafalgar Square; Published: 2001-06; Paperback; Book
Similar Books and other products
Cat & Mouse (Alex Cross Novels)by James Patterson
Grand Central Publishing; Published: 2003-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.79
Price in other shops:
Kiss the Girls (2nd Alex Cross Novel)by James Patterson
Warner Books; Published: 2000-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops:
London Bridges (Alex Cross)by James Patterson
Vision; Published: 2005-10-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
The Big Bad Wolf (Alex Cross)by James Patterson
Grand Central Publishing; Published: 2004-10-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops:
Cat & Mouse (Alex Cross Novels)by James Patterson
Vision; Published: 1998-11-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.81
Price in other shops:
Four Blind Mice (Alex Cross #8)by James Patterson
Grand Central Publishing; Published: 2003-09; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
Roses Are Red (Alex Cross)by James Patterson
Vision; Published: 2001-10-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.16
Price in other shops:
Along Came a Spider (Alex Cross)by James Patterson
Grand Central Publishing; Published: 2003-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops:
Violets Are Blue (Alex Cross)by James Patterson
Grand Central Publishing; Published: 2002-10-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.10
Price in other shops:
Jack & Jill (Alex Cross)by James Patterson
Vision; Published: 1997-11-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops: