Roses Are Red (Alex Cross) [Hardcover]

James Patterson (Author)

Book Description

Series: Alex Cross | Publication Date: November 20, 2000

The Mastermind orchestrates a series of bank robberies that are notable for their precise demandsand their explosive violence when the demands are not met exactly. Detective Alex Cross takes on the case and recognizes that a particular kind of criminal mind is at work. Crosss investigation gets under the Masterminds skin, and he makes it his personal goal to take revenge on Cross and his entire team. Amidst all this, Crosss relationship with his girlfriend Christine is falling apart, and his beloved daughter Jannie is hospitalized with unexplained seizures. The pressure rises on every front, culminating in a shocking and explosive climax. Roses are Red is a Main Selection of The Literary Guild. Pop Goes the Weasel has more than 900,000 copies in print and was a #1 bestseller nationwide. The fan base of the Alex Cross series continues to grow with each book. Along Came a Spider is scheduled for release in October from Paramount with Morgan Freeman signed on to portray Alex Cross as he did in Kiss the Girls.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Roses Are Red, James Patterson's sixth Alex Cross thriller, opens with the District of Columbia detective attempting to mend his nearly unraveled family. The year-long kidnapping of one's intended (1999's Pop Goes the Weasel) will do that to a relationship. Christine, the kidnappee, is amenable with one reasonable condition: that her family's horizon remain uncluttered by homicidal maniacs. How unfortunate, then, that the joyous christening of their newborn son is rudely interrupted by the FBI bearing news of several heinous murders requiring the attention of detective (and doctor of psychology) Cross.

"Three-year-old boy, the father, a nanny," Kyle said one more time before he left the party. He was about to go through the door in the sun porch when he turned to me and said, "You're the right person for this. They murdered a family, Alex."

As soon as Kyle was gone, I went looking for Christine. My heart sank. She had taken Alex and left without saying good-bye, without a single word.

Which leaves Cross free to hunt the Mastermind, the barbarous brains behind a widening series of bank robberies in which employees or their family members are held hostage and, when instructions aren't followed to the finest iota, slaughtered. Given the cases' glaring and unfathomable inhumanity, Cross's long- time DCPD partner (the wonderful giant, John Sampson) gives way to the warm, attractive, and fiercely intelligent FBI Agent Betsey Cavalierre.

The longer and harder Cross and Cavalierre remain on his trail, the bolder and more brutal--and shiveringly close to home--the Mastermind's strikes become. And, thanks mostly to lightning-short paragraphs and a point of view that rappels from the first-person Cross to the third-person Mastermind, the tale progresses at hot-trot speed to a bona fide doozy of a denouement. It'll be over before you know it, so sit back, hold your breath, and enjoy the show. And stay tuned for the next one. --Michael Hudson

From Publishers Weekly

Alex Cross is backAand that alone will have this novel crowning bestseller lists, a feat Patterson's books have achieved often of late, both his Cross (Pop Goes the Weasel) and non-Cross (Cradle and All) thrillers. Patterson won an Edgar for his first novel, The Thomas Berryman Number, but he hasn't won one since. One reason is that his prose, though sturdy as a trusted rowboat, is just as wooden; another is that his plottingAhere detailing Washington, D.C., homicide detective Cross's pursuit of a crazed but crafty homicidal criminal known as the MastermindAis about as sophisticated as that of a Frank and Joe Hardy tale. So why are the Cross novels so popular? In part because Patterson constructs them out of short, simple sentences, paragraphs and chapters that practically define the brisk, fun, E-Z read, and in part because, here and elsewhere, he engages in the smart and unusual tactic of alternating third- and first-person (from Cross's POV) narrative. Mostly, though, readers adore them because Cross is such a lovable hero, a family-oriented African-American whose compassion warmly balances the icy cruelty of Patterson's villains and their sometimes graphically depicted crimes (as is the case here). In the new novel, Cross suffers lady problems as his old love, who's in terror of Cross's job, leaves him, and he fumbles toward a new romance with an FBI agent; he also suffers personal trauma as his beloved daughter develops a brain tumor. That's back-burner action, though. The main focus here is, first, on a series of shocking Mastermind-engineered bank robbery/kidnappings involving wanton killings and, second, on the hunt to ID the MastermindAa hunt both absorbing and annoying for its several (rather smelly) red herrings, and concluding with a revelation that screams sequel. While there's nothing subtle in this novel, every blatant element is packaged for maximum effect: roses may be red, but Patterson's newest is green all the way. U.K. and translation rights, Arthur Pine Associates. 1.25 million first printing; Literary Guild and Doubleday Direct main selections; simultaneous Random House large-print edition and Time Warner Audio. (Nov.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Little Brown and Company; 1 edition (November 20, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1876590386
• ISBN-13: 978-1876590383
• ASIN: 0316693251
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (471 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #592,223 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

58 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Patterson back in top form, October 19, 2000

By 

Headbanger "Alexander" (Dortmund) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Roses Are Red (Alex Cross) (Hardcover)

After the disappointing "Cradle and All" Patterson is back in the vein of his sensational bestsellers "Along came a Spider", "Kiss the Girls" or "Cat and Mouse". This may be his best novel with his most evil villain yet. The Mastermind even tops Gary Soneji, Casanova or the Weasel. The end will simply blow you out of your shoes.

48 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good, Exciting Read!, October 21, 2000

By 

"Nuff Said (Arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Roses Are Red (Alex Cross) (Hardcover)

I like Alex Cross books and this one is one of the better ones that James Patterson has written. The ending is sure to keep readers waiting for the next one as it even surprised me. I read this book on a 10 hour plane flight and completed it so it is a fast read. Here I had planned on sleeping on the flight and ended up not sleeping a wink because I couldn't keep my head out of this book!

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Alex Cross v. the Mastermind, December 1, 2000

By 

Frank J. Konopka (Shamokin, PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Roses Are Red (Alex Cross) (Hardcover)

Let me begin by saying that I like Patterson's books, and have read, and enjoyed, all of the Alex Cross novels. They are fast-paced, filled with events and action, and hold my interest. With the short chapters and lack of a lot of description, they are easy to read in only a few hours. That having been said, I must admit, to my chagrin, that I did not like this work as much as I had expected, and it's all due to the ending. I never spend time while reading trying to "guess" who the killer or such is; I know the author will let us know in the end. In most books, there are subtle clues that, ocasionally, point to the correct person, and astute readers may be able to discern his or her identity. In this book, I really believe that the author pulled the villain out of thin air, for there is nothing anywhere in my reading of the book that even remotely connected this person to the action and crimes involved. I was greatly disappointed, for I expected more from Mr. Patterson. My rating should be lower, I know, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt, for it's possible I missed something along the way while I was reading. Don't get me wrong; you'll enjoy this book, and it will keep you turning the pages quickly. It's the ending, though, that may give you pause. (I'm holding up the ballot to my forehead, looking for the dimpled chad, and discern..... a sequel!)