Four Blind Mice

James Patterson

Average Rating 8/10 (1 Review)

Alex Cross is preparing to resign from the Washington Police Force. He's enjoying the feeling; not least, because the Mastermind, Kyle Craig, is now in prison. And, finally, Alex has met a woman, Jamilla Hughes. With Nana and the kids, he is talking about the future.

Then John Sampson shows up at the house, desperate for Alex's help. Three young military wives have been savagely killed during a 'girls' night out and Sampson's friend, a master sergeant at the army base, stands accused: his knife was the murder weapon; his fingerprints were on the blade; and DNA at the crime scene has been matched with his hair and skin. Despite the evidence, Alex can't shake the feeling that this man is innocent - or a very good liar. And if the sergeant is telling the truth, a violent and cold-blooded killer remains at large.

Uncovering evidence of a series of suspicious murder convictions, Alex and Sampson are determined to infiltrate the closed world of the military. But what is the ' army trying to hide? And do the mysterious symbols daubed on the homes of the accused mean that there are more sinister forces at work?

With his trademark razor-sharp plotting and adrenaline filled action, James Patterson takes us on a sensational rollercoaster tale of suspense, politics, and intrigue that proves once again that he Is, quite simply, in a class of his own.

Review by Chrissi (011102) Rating (8/10)

Review by Chrissi
Rating 8/10
With the incarceration of Kyle Craig, the Mastermind, Alex Cross is preparing to leave the Police department. He and Jamilla Hughes are about to embark on a relationship and he has high hopes that they can look forward to a future together. This is the situation at the opening of the book, when John Sampson asks him to investigate the case of a man he knew in Vietnam. This man, a sergeant, who is still in the army, is on death row accused of the murder of three women on the base where he is stationed. They were brutally killed and daubed with blue paint; the murder weapon is identified as belonging to the sergeant and has been found in his home. Things are looking pretty dire.

Cross and Sampson try to unravel what proves to be a mess of incomplete investigations and red tape, with problems caused by their not being in the military. Cross's connections with the FBI prove very useful, because they are hoping that he will go to work for them.

This story is really a page turner, the plot just gets more and more strange, and it is not until the end when you find out what is really happening that it all makes sense, so you can appreciate the confusion experienced by Cross and Sampson as they try to solve what proves to be a series of gruesome crimes committed by people who have always maintained their innocence, but where the evidence has been overwhelming. Cross and Sampson end up looking at the atrocities that are purported to have happened in Vietnam, but the events way in the past seem to have determined the present.

This for me is how James Patterson should write, my complaint about his collaborations and how they seem like fleshed out short stories makes me appreciate his proper books so much more. This is one that is in a different league to some of the recent stuff, and I did so enjoy it. This is the kind of writing that shows the talent of James Patterson to be the amazing thing that it really is. I am hoping that he is busy writing another one, all on his own.

There is only one thing that has escaped me, though. I may have missed this particular point, but how do you get someone's fingerprints on murder instruments? Surely if you had the fingerprints on it from the person handling it, then that is understandable, but if you wrap a handle in something then surely it would smudge the prints, so they would be useless. It is just a small niggle.
Chrissi (1st November 2002)