Pop Goes the Weasel
by James Patterson
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Book Reviews of Pop Goes the Weasel
Book Review: My first Patterson/Cross - expected better
Summary: 3 Stars
I really expected a better thriller after reading so much about Patterson's Alex Cross novels. Maybe not many people will share my opinion but I was going for a suspense novel about a detective against a deranged psychopath and all of a sudden the detective is kneeling side by side with a strike team who's hunting the killer down on the other side of the world.....The idea of the four horsemen was really good but Patterson didn't exploit it. There's Schaffer alright and then there's a chapter that mentions this wannabe who's also going for a kill and that's it. The other Horsemen are just mentioned here and there.
I also think Patterson could have worked a little further on Schaffer. In the end I don't get the impression of a fearful, God-don't- ever-let-me-bump-into-him villain. I just see a brat. And it's not that a "brat" would make a bad villain, but he's not treated as such. IMHO there should have been a stronger focus on Schaffer's Delusions of Grandeur. But presenting him driving reckelessly at full speed against oncoming traffic and then going "Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah you can't touch me, diplomatic immunity" just makes him look like a brat. Take a look at the way Gary Soneji's delusion is depicted on the Prologue to Along Came a Spider (my 2nd Cross novel). That tells me so much more about the character.
And speaking of Along Came..., don't you find these two books incredibly similar? Stark Raving Mad megalomaniac who poses as a loving family man while secretly imagining his wife and kids murdered, tries to "be the best", get's nailed by Cross, becomes obsessed with making the good detective go to hell and back, goes to trial, get's away with it, only to go back to his old deeds, and YET remains available for the sequel. Now... which book am I talking about? I bet some of you can't tell.
(Just please, PLEASE, somebody tell me the "Mastermind" in "Roses are Red" (my reluctant 3rd) is not another family guy with bloody delusions who goes to trial in the middle of the book. PLEASE!)
Book Review: Total Crap
Summary: 2 Stars
This is my first and last James Patterson novel, which I thankfully did not pay full price for.I can't believe these books are so popular. The writing is mediocre, the plot is predictable, the ending is obvious, and the characters are wooden. Even Alex Cross is wooden!
Spoilers ahead...
My main problems with this book (other than the above) are:
1. I find it extremely hard to believe that a guy as crazy as Schafer would allow Christine to live. Baby or no, given his psychopathic tendencies, I think he would have killed her in a heartbeat just to get back at Cross.
2. Sure, WE all knew Schafer was The Weasel, but Cross never completely proved it or linked him to the killings. (He suspected it, yes, but never proved it.) After the female cop's death and Christine's kidnapping, that became the focus of the book, not The Weasel killings. Ironic that Cross was complaining about the lack of coverage on the case due to the locale and victims, but then as soon as he is personally involved, it was no longer a problem.
3. Cross's children and home life are toooo perfect. Although I hate books where the main character has deep rooted issues, Cross's life is too sugary sweet to be believed.
4. Cross's fiancee disappears and he's back to work immediately??? Whatever.
5. The trial was laughable. Are you going to tell me that a prosecutor who has the defendant on the stand isn't going to pick him apart and get him to break down? Instead she only asks him about his sexual relationship with his therapist? And she's supposed to be a revered prosecutor? Give me a break! I realize Patterson only showed us parts of the trial, but this was so completely unrealistic.
6. The ending was wrapped up too nicely. Hardly any climax, and how nice that after a whole year Christine is still alive, and with a baby to boot. Terrible.
Don't even bother with this book. It is awful, awful, awful.
Book Review: Michael Connelly, Where Are You When We Need You?
Summary: 2 Stars
"Pop Goes the Weasel" by James Patterson will never be on my list of favorite books, and I don't intend to reread it. Although this book doesn't list a collaborator, Patterson works with five of them. He's not an author: he's an industry with sixty-one titles and counting in at least four separate genres. 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. (There were two Morgan Freeman movies about Cross.) The hook is a manic driver, serial killer Geoffrey Shafer of the British embassy, high on drugs, driving recklessly through Washington DC streets. 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. It's not a very believable story nor does the character of the monster seem credible. The number of Jane Doe murders (over one hundred) committed by Shafer is improbable. 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. 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. Often there are alternating chapters between cops and the killer. The killer is nicknamed the Weasel, but the author seldom uses the appellation.
Some readers are going to see all this as nonsense. There's far too much violence and gore and a piling on of killing after killing. Michael Connelly, where are you when we need you?
Book Review: This Game Is Deadly...
Summary: 5 Stars
Alex Cross is drawn into a diabolical computer game similar to Dungeons and Dragons, but on a much more sinister and sophisticated level. The Four Horsemen play their increasingly ingenious game on encrypted computers around the world. The stakes are very high and rising daily, as one of the players, the self-named Death, spirals out of control.Death, in the person of minor British diplomat Geoffrey Shafer, has crossed the line between fantasy and reality, and his madness has intruded on Cross's life just at a most wonderful and happy time for Alex and his family--his beloved Christine has consented to be his wife.
There's not much time for merrymaking, however, before Cross is inexorably drawn into the game, accused of a murder he did not commit, and derided in the media as an out-of-control, murdering cop. Cross would be able to fight with a cool head in just about any circumstance, but Christine has disappeared, perhaps taken by one of the Four Horsemen, and she is presumed dead. It's more than Cross can deal with, despite the help of his family and his dear friend John Samson.
There is no time, however, for normal grieving or even self-pity. The game has heated up to a point of excruciating finesse, all at the hands of one of the most dangerous killers ever. And now that killer, the seemingly mild-mannered Geoffrey Shafer, has focused on Alex as an opponent worthy of being part of the game.
I read this book in one large gulp. To my mind, it was the best yet in the wonderful Alex Cross series, and I'm sticking to my opinion, even though I know that some reviewers do not agree. I recommend it to anyone who wants a great, suspenseful read. I'm glad there are more books in the series, because I'm hooked and I cannot stop!
Book Review: Patterson: Master Manipulator of Emotions
Summary: 4 Stars
I have to admit that while reading POP GOES THE WEASEL, I wasn't sure if I was going to like it or not. It had all of the elements that make James Patterson's Alex Cross books winners, but I found myself wondering just how much tragedy and bad luck one person could endure. After finishing the book and reflecting back, I now question if this reaction wasn't exactly what Patterson wanted the reader to think and feel. I'm now of the belief that Patterson is an expert at manipulating the emotions of the reader like a cloth blowing in the wind - at any time, he can change the direction of the wind, and the cloth, unable to resist, just continues along the way. Patterson is amazingly true and accurate in this manipulation ensuring that we as readers don't realize we're being maneuvered until we've turned that last page.
All of the regular cast members have returned in POP GOES THE WEASEL: Alex Cross, John Sampson, Christine Johnson, Nana, Damon and Janelle. This book introduces another diabolical villain who enjoys masquerading as a taxi cab driver that not only murders his fares, but tortures them as well, then does bizarre things to the corpses. Where does Patterson come up with this evilness book after book? The antagonist is definitely wicked, psychotic, and a master mind!
POP GOES THE WEASEL leaves the doors wide open for a sequel. This one is not as good as CAT AND MOUSE but still excellent. My only complaint is that James Patterson hooks us with these stories and then we have to wait almost a year for the next one to be published. He definitely needs to write much faster to keep his loyal fans happy and reading!!