Jack and Jill [Paperback]

James Patterson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1998

Alex Cross, the detective hero of Along Came a Spider, Kiss the Girls, Cat and Mouse and Pop Goes the Weasel, makes his third appearance in the explosive international bestseller from one of the world's most popular thriller writers -- now reissued in striking new cover style. On home territory once more after the horrors of the Kiss the Girls case, detective Alex Cross faces his most harrowing challenge: a pair of ice-cold killers who are picking off Washington's rich and famous one by one with chilling professional efficiency. As the whole country awaits the identity of the next celebrity victim, only Alex Cross, with his proven ability to get into the minds of the most deranged killers, has the skills and the courage to crack the case -- but will he discover the truth before 'Jack and Jill' set their sights on Washington's ultimate celebrity target?

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A child killer is stalking the inner city of Washington, D.C., his latest victim Shanelle Green, an adorable first grader from Sojourner Truth School. This killing is especially unsettling to Detective Alex Cross. Sojourner Truth is the school his son Damon attends, just four blocks from his home.

While the death of an inner-city black child doesn't garner much media attention, another murder is making big headlines. The same day that Shanelle was beaten to death, Senator Daniel Fitzpatrick was found handcuffed to a bed and shot execution style. The only clue the police have to go on is a bizarre rhyme, signed "Jack and Jill," promising more high-profile executions, ultimately targeting the president of the United States. When Cross is called in to help protect the president, he begins to suspect that the two cases are somehow related. As he races to put all the pieces together, the killers continue their bloody rampage, paralyzing the city.

Like Along Came a Spider and Cat & Mouse, Jack & Jill is a rapid-fire thriller from start to finish, with enough plot twists to satisfy even the most jaded mystery fan. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Patterson's most recent thriller, Hide and Seek, lacked his customary hero, Alex Cross, and didn't catch fire with readers. Here, Patterson brings back the black psychiatrist and Washington, D.C., homicide cop (Kiss the Girls, etc.) for a gripping game of death that will have fans flocking. Two simultaneous investigations bear down on Cross: the first concerns the killings perpetrated by a duo known as "Jack and Jill," who are murdering famous people (beginning with a U.S. senator) in Washington, taunting the police and "practicing for the big one"; the second involves the brutal slayings of young black children in Cross's own Southeast D.C. neighborhood. The Washington P.D. makes Cross its liaison with a frantic Secret Service, FBI and CIA while he sets up his own off-duty team to track the child-killer. Through crisp cross-cutting of multiple points of view, first-person and third, Patterson grabs readers right from the beginning and sweeps them along toward riveting dual climaxes. He adds texture by devoting space to Cross's concern about his own motherless son and daughter (the first murdered child attended the same grammar school as Alex's boy), his growing interest in the school's attractive principal, his dealings with his octogenarian grandmother, Nana Mama (think of an acerbic Dilsey from The Sound and the Fury) and life in the largely black Southeast district. It's fine, full-blooded entertainment from start to finish, with a last-page surprise from an earlier Cross nemesis promising at least one more Cross installment to come. Literary Guild main selection; simultaneous Time Warner AudioBook.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 537 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Pr (April 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786209399
• ISBN-13: 978-0786209392
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (287 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,572,405 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

From my publisher:

James Patterson...


* James Patterson holds the New York Times bestsellers list record with 63 New York Times bestselling titles.

* JP has sold more than 220 million books worldwide. And considering pass-along and libraries, it's safe to say many more people than that have read a Patterson!

* In 2010, JP was named by kids everywhere the Children's Book Councils' Children's Choice Book Awards "Author of the Year" in 2010. More than 15,000 kid and teen readers voted for JP in a category he shared with Suzanne Collins, Carl Hiaasen, Jeff Kinney, and Rick Riordan. His Witch and Wizard series saw the biggest launch of a series for young readers ever, surpassing sales of first installments of Twilight, Diary of A Wimpy Kid, and Percy Jackson & The Olympians.

* JP has grossed over 3 billion dollars in worldwide sales. This is larger than the worldwide theatrical gross of Avatar, the highest grossing film of all time.

* JP has had 43 New York Times hardcover #1 bestselling novels, also a publishing industry record.

* Last year, JP has sold more books than John Grisham, Dan Brown, Tom Clancy, and Stephen King combined (source: Nielsen BookScan).

* JP properties are gaining wide interest amongst film and TV producers. JP's award-winning series for young readers, Maximum Ride, is currently with Avi Arad (Spiderman, Iron Man) and Universal Pictures. Lloyd Levin (Green Zone, Watchmen) is attached to produce a feature film adaptation of JP's newest young readers series, Witch and Wizard, and James Patterson Entertainment is set to produce the next Alex Cross film, I, Alex Cross which will feature Idris Elba (The Wire, The Losers) as Alex Cross. And, a television adaptation of JP's 2007 love story Sundays At Tiffanys aired in December 2010 starring Alyssa Milano and Eric Winter.

* JP's books are licensed in 43 countries worldwide, and are in print and actively sold in 100 countries.

* According to a 2010 Bowker Sisters in Crime Survey, JP is the favorite mystery writer amongst readers under 50...AND over 50! Survey respondents comprised American men, women and teens who bought at least one mystery fiction title in 2009 and/or 2010.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Left Me Breathless, September 20, 2002

By 

Wendy Kaplan (Houston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jack & Jill (Alex Cross) (Mass Market Paperback)

If you like fast-paced, nonstop thrills in your mysteries, this is the book for you. I felt like I had to stop and breathe every now and then; the plot twists, suspense, surprises, and sheer horror of the plot had me so mesmerized, I almost forgot to do so!

Like other Patterson novels, this one, the third in the Alex Cross series, features two parallel horrors, both of which involve the detective in a very personal way. First, a crazed killer is murdering young black children in Cross's own neighborhood, children from his own son's school. The sheer brutality of the murders bespeaks a rage that strikes terror in Cross's heart. But the Washington, D.C. powers that be don't seem to be overly concerned with the horrible happenings in the black neighborhood--they're much more involved with the high-profile, equally mysterious Jack and Jill murders that have captured all the headlines.

Jack and Jill are assassins. We're in on their nefarious doings from the beginning, but we don't know who they really are. And neither does the FBI, the CIA, the Secret Service, or the police. They are on a murderous timetable, assassinating increasingly well-known people as part of a single-minded, and seemingly unstoppable, track that leads to the assassination of the President of the United States. Can Cross et al. catch these fiends in time? And what of the child killer? He's got Cross's own children in his crosshairs. Will he strike at Cross's very heart and soul?

The sheer humanity and decency of Alex Cross--his intelligence, his love of his family and friends, the piano he plays on the porch to soothe his soul, the grief he still feels for his dead wife--all serve as a counterpoint to the inhumanity of the killers. Cross despairs of the human race as he encounters the horribly murdered bodies of the killers--but any world with Alex Cross in it can't be all bad. Cross sardonically refers to himself as "The Dragon Killer," and indeed he is. But this time, he just may be up against a force more evil than anything or anyone he has ever encountered before.

As I stated in a previous review, I am new to the Patterson bandwagon, and now I have no intention of getting off! On to the next book in the Cross series. Can it be as good as "Jack and Jill?" It boggles the mind.

29 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MADNESS TIMES TWO, November 9, 2000

By 

Gerard T. McGuire - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jack & Jill (Alex Cross) (Mass Market Paperback)

James Patterson continues to amaze me. Having recently began reading his material, I am enthralled with his story telling. Jack and Jill is a masterpiece thriller worthy of every suspense fan's attention. Not one, but two storylines will leave you flipping from chapter to chapter in no time.

Someone is visciously mudering young black children in the neighborhood of detective Alex Cross. There are no leads but Alex is determined to find the killer. At the same time a pair of stalker-serial killers known as Jack and Jill are preying on the powerful and famous in Washington D.C. When it becomes apparent that the killers have their sights set on the president, Cross is aked to help. He becomes determined to not only find Jack and Jill but to find the child murderer on whatever spare time he can afford. Cross is burning the candle at both ends and he doesnt have much time to save the president and capture the killers. Both plots progress at a fast pace. Cross' determination and excellent detective work shine and he in time finds the killers, but is he too late. As with ALONG CAME A SPIDER Patterson keeps you guessing until the very end and there is no shortage of surprises.

Both of the story lines could have a been books unto themselves. The fact that Patterson weaves them into a single novel is a testament to his craft. A stunning ending clinches JACK AND JILL as a five star thriller. The ending will keep you guessing which is nice for a change. Patterson seems to realize that a real thriller, like real life, doesnt have an ending with no loose strings. This book will keep you wanting more James Patterson and More of his heroe Alex Cross.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is killer!, January 29, 2001

By 

Heather Peterson (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jack & Jill (Alex Cross) (Mass Market Paperback)

This was my second James Patterson book (1st was "Kiss the Girls") and I am hooked. It took me only 1 and 1/2 days to read the 466 page book. I couldn't put it down!

Detective Alex Cross is back and he is stuck between two investigations: someone is killng high profile celebrities in Washington DC and someone is killing young children in the streets of Cross' neighborhood. Are these crimes connected somehow? How does Cross choose between the loyalty to his community and his civic duty to the President of the United States? With two different plots and many twists and turns and suspects to choose from, "Jack and Jill" is sure to please anyone who loves to dive into psychological thrillers. I also recommend Thomas Harris' Hannibal Lector series: Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal (to be read in that order!)