Many times when authors use a character ad infinitum in a series of books, the plots become old and tainted. Cussler continues to use Dirk Pitt, Ludlum (to a lesser degree) capitalizes on Jason Bourne, and Patterson, of course, uses Alex Cross. In Patterson's case, he wrote two books in between the latest Cross novels (Diary for Nicholas and 1st to Die) so perhaps the reader would benefit from a fresh perspective. Yes and no.

(If you haven't read "Roses are Red" and intend to do so, I suggest you stop reading the reviews for "Violets are Blue." You'll thank me later.) In the latest iteration of Alex Cross' life, we find Alex whisked off to California to investigate some very bizarre, vampire-like murders. The bodies of two joggers were found in Golden Gate Park....hung by their feet and drained of blood via bites. Vampire bites? Alex's FBI friend(?), Kyle Craig calls Alex and asks him to join the investigation team. Upon arriving in San Francisco, Alex finds a pleasant surprise in Detective Jamilla Hughes. Alex and Jamilla run the traps on the few leads available. However, even as they are investigating the Park murders, several other murders occur in California and now, in Las Vegas. It becomes quite obvious that the murderers are on the move and several steps ahead of Alex. Concurrent with his murder investigation, Alex receives continual cell phone calls from the Mastermind (Alex's nemesis from "Roses are Red.") Ultimately, Alex heads back to D.C. dejected as to his lack of progress in this highly unusual and complex case.

As the parasitic vampires move from the West coast to the East coast, Alex is plunged into the seemingly paranormal world of vampiric norms. Alex learns much more about the tilted netherworld of vampiric cults, teeth sharpening and yes, the consumption of human blood. Alex continues to follow the trail of the murderers crisscrossing the East coast to New Orleans and finally back to California. All the while, Alex is haunted by the Mastermind.

The vampiric portion of this book climaxes for the reader in Alex's last trek to California. The storyline relating to the vampire-like murders is very unusual and off-beat thereby making it less than expected. If Patterson had developed this storyline a bit more and left the Mastermind for a succeeding book, I believe that "Violets are Blue" would have been an excellent book. However, with the ever-present Mastermind hanging over each chapter, the reader isn't allowed to focus on the vampire plot. This is a shame as I felt the vampire plot was so peculiar (out of the ordinary), it was engrossing.

Finally, the Mastermind. I enjoyed "Roses are Red" thoroughly with the exception of Alex's "Frasier-like" love life. However, at the end of "Roses," the identity of the Mastermind is revealed. Inasmuch as "Violets" shares of dual plot of vampiric murders and the eternal search for the Mastermind, the latter portion becomes somewhat rote as the reader already knows the Mastermind. If Patterson knew he was going to write a continuing sequel (which was a given based on the ending of "Roses"), why did he reveal the identity of the Mastermind? Knowing the identity of the Mastermind was almost a nuisance in this book.

Patterson is a very gifted and creative author. However, "Roses" and "Violets" could have been blockbusters if Patterson had stepped back from the writing and looked upon his current and successive plots from the point-of-view of the reader. Oh and, by the way, Patterson has very obviously left the reader hanging for the next installment of the Cross saga with the following, final sentence of the book, "But that's another story, for another time." Yes, I'll read it but I hope that Mr. Patterson will read a few of these reviews prior to penning it.

"Violets are Blue" is the seventh novel in the Alex Cross series. It follows as a sequel to "Roses are Red," yet it doesn't capture the thrill of that book.

"Violets are Blue" picks up where "Roses are Red" left off, at a murder scene of someone close to Alex. The Mastermind is still taunting him, threatening to kill Cross's family. Meanwhile out in California, a couple is killed in Golden Gate Park while on a night jog. Their corpses were found hanging upside down, all their blood drained. The San Francisco PD links these murders to one that took place over a year earlier. Suddenly, they've got several unsolved murders done in the same fashion, dating back to almost eleven years earlier. And Alex Cross has to deal with the fact that vampires exist and may be commiting these murders.

"Violets are Blue" has some slow points throughout the novel. For being a sequel to a novel about the Mastermind, that villain is hardly in this one. The main villains in this novel are two vampires named William and Michael. They are boring at times, but kept me entertained. Whenever the Mastermind does make an appearance before page 300, it's only in a phone call or when he's following Cross. And Patterson does something here that drives me crazy: the Mastermind has several opportunities to kill Cross. But instead of finishing Cross when he's following him alone in the dark, he waits until another time. When he and Cross finally do confront each other, it seems anti-climax.

Overall, I think the Alex Cross series has run its course. It's had its high points, but I think it's time for it to end. Patterson is already at work on another Alex Cross novel, and I hope that that one will be better than "Violets are Blue." Maybe it will even be the final chapter in the Alex Cross saga.

My first book by James Patterson was "Along Came A Spider". Since then, I have been hooked. I just can't wait for his books to hit the shelves. When I was in the US, I bought an autographed copy of "Cat and Mouse" and it is now sitting proudly on the top of my shelf.

This time around, in "Violets Are Blue", James Patterson writes about ritualistic killings and mind games. As usual, the protagonist in this story is Dr. Alex Cross. This book is slightly twisted and weird. However, according to the author, such events (or the existence of vampires) do occur in real life. Much research was done on this topic for the book.

I think this book is the darkest of all James Patterson's books so far. I mean, vampires and ritualistic killings really put the creeps into everyone. I didn't mind so much the kidnappers, serial murderers and schizophrenic killers. But, vampires really give me the creeps.

Overall, I still think this book is worth reading. James Patterson's style of writing makes reading his novels easy. I like the short paragraphs and quick flow of action.

If you are reading James Patterson's books for the first time, I would suggest that you get "Along Came A Spider" first before reading this, in case you think all his novels are so dark.

Don't waste your money (and time) on that ancient book.

It's shame to offer a 70's book for regular sale! Although it reprinted again in 94, its content remain.

It is a very usefull book for an computer engineer.If you are in a first class of computer engineer you can have some difficulties about using the mathematical formulas in computer.This book makes you learn yery easy.It is for a starter.

This won't help you land a job one bit. A host job? He says he can help you get a host job? You're better off saving the $20 you spent on this book and sticking it on 17 black and letting it ride 5 times. Than the casino would owe you so much money, you won't need a job!

This book has some useful information on subjects like training, job interviews and etiquette. The majority of the book, however, is padded with anecdotes about things that have happened to the author or other casino workers on the job. For the most part, the book was not helpful and I have found better information on the net.

How to Get a Casino Job is a useful book on breaking in to the casino business. It covers the entrance requirements, schools and starting casinos in different places, including cruise ships. Its only weakness is a lack of information on the day to day aspects of casino work (after you get the job). If you want to get a casino job you should probably buy this book.

This book was written for scientific programmers who program mainly in Fortran but who want to move into C++. It is a brief and elementary discussion of C++. The main features of C++ that make it different than C are not discussed until Chapter 17, and then only briefly. No discussion is given in the book on performance issues in C++ vs Fortran. Serious scientific programmers in Fortran have to face up to these issues and be convinced that C++ is the way to go if they are to make the switch. The book might be useful to those who want a quick look at C++.

Instead of presenting a comparison between the two ideologies and how moral values coincide with those belief systems, this book simply presents five essays, most of an academic tinge and of a conservative leaning. Somewhat interesting but doesn't do a good job of dealing with the subject matter. A discussion of religion would have been nice in a book about morality. I guess we have to leave that debate up to Jim Wallis and Billy Graham?

If you thought a book with a foreword by John Kenneth Galbraith would be a tax-and-spend, big-government screed ... well, in this case you would be right. The authors are probably too oblivious to even be embarrassed by the wrong-headed interpretations they put on such matters as productivity and the expected unending upward slope of interest rates to favor "the lenders." This is ham-handed analysis, often shockingly simplistic and tendentious, and now getting dated of course. But I give the book one star for at least touching on some interesting subjects and being reasonably readable, even if one must be cautious about its interpretations. I bought my copy remaindered for about three bucks -- about the right price.

If you are an economist you might find this book readable. If you are not trained in the dismal science you might just find this book to be dismal itself.

Far too often the author asserts points and then asks the reader to take his assumptions on faith while he builds up to his grand conculsions. This can serious hamper the lay reader in being able to follow the arguments made. Those with a more in depth understanding of fiscal policy might just find the conclusions themselves to be faulty and un practicle.

Written in 1996 this book is already out of date and rapidly becoming more of a hostorical document than a current events book.

Innacurate maps, poor accomodation listings and a lack of any addresses or directions makes this guide a nightmare. We threw it away a week into our trip!

I'm interested in checking out RVing for my family and me. I bought this book because of the title and description on Amazon (no reviews had been posted at that time).

All I can say is this IS the worst how-to book I've ever read. It contains about 80 pages of info that is relevant to the title of the book and even that is repetitive. The rest is travel routes for NASCAR and Casino touring, some dealer listings, and miscellaneous other peripherally related material.

What was this guy thinking? I wanted to know about RV pros and cons for Class C RV layouts. Issues with satellite dishes. Detailed maintenance issues. How vehicle maintenance might be different than a van? What accessories might be useful? What can I expect at an RV park? Few of these questions were even remotely answered.

I can't believe this book is the "ultimate" guide to anything. This book is just plain bad news. Stay away.

A budget would not have helped this book. But a low budgeted; awfully directed, insanely acted movie is the closest thing this "book" can be compared to. The book starts out with a cast of character list and a dedication to all the liberals who "dare to read on". Andrew James also believes that every US citizen must read this book, along with every politician. I believe that the only people who should read this book are the ones who want to see "Roadhouse" with a crossed-eyed, insane, five year old Patrick Swayze playing every part.

I suppose that a budget would have helped this book. Like if Andrew James had paid someone to spell check his work. If he had simply run the grammar check on Microsoft Office I would have given him an extra star.

Because I am the last person who will read this book, ever. I suppose I should give a little plot summary. The book is about a diary. Wait no that's not it. Every chapter starts out with an italicized "thought provoking" quotation from his diary. But at the same time the book is suppose to be his diary, yet those quotes are only at the beginning of the chapters. They are not in the actual diary. I haven't found out the relationship between the two.

Well Andrew James is sick of taxes; he barley has enough money to buy coffee once a week. He went to college but it's this unfair greedy government taking everything he earns. He lives in New York. He works as a paper salesman. He "conquers a mountain of paperwork" daily and calls clients in the afternoon. "Calling on two phones at the same time, that way he can talk to one client while calling the next." Andrew hates school taxes and anyone who works for the government because they make more than him, like teachers. No really like elementary school teachers! His entire family besides his wife works for the government. To make a needlessly long story short, he meets a militia. He doesn't join (the book is full of surprises!). The United States gets bombed by all the foreign governments who have ever in the last 100 years had any reason to hate us. Including France and Italy. They drop H-bombs on all major cities and military depots. Andrew joins up with the militia. He's ignorant to military time. He shoots a guy. His family is killed. He gets killed.

Then the book is over, but not before the best ending of any book ever. (This is the big spoiler!) Because the book is a "diary" his last entry is about the soldier who comes in to kill him, written after he was shot. The zinger is that following the last words in the book are three little periods. Cause he's dead, get it?

Finally, I failed to mention that when Andrew James gets mad in this book IT IS SHOWN TO US ALL IN CAPSLOCK! AND SOMETIMES WITH MULTIPLE EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!! Furthermore every character has the same voice. No matter if it is his wife, daughter, boss, friends, or malitia members. They all talk the same way. Correction, THEY ALL SOUND THE SAME!!!

The end...