Jack & Jill (Alex Cross) (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

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.

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!)