Saturday, September 09, 2006

Pop Goes The Weasel, James Patterson

"Pop Goes the Weasel" is a story with Dr.Alex Cross as the main character. Alex is a detective with the Washington DC police, also a psychologist. There was a rash of brutal murders, Alex was sure they were done by a serial killer. Alex's commanding chief, Pittman, did not want Alex looking for a serial killer and told him not to. Pittman even had another detective watching Alex to make sure he did not look into that option. The detective, Patsy Hampton, was a loner in her operations, that is the way she worked. Alex uncovered some crucial evidence in the case with pictures of his family in a closet.

Alex and his family take a few days off to celebrate the "yes" answer that Christine said to the question of them getting married. They all went to the Bahamas for some rest and relaxing and plan for the up coming wedding. They were having a good time swimming and snorkeling in the ocean. On the last day of the stay, Christine gets kidnapped! There was no word and Alex was beside himself.

Geof Shafer, known as the weasel by Alex, was an agent for the British embassy, he seemed like a family man but he was a manic or bi-polar person. He was addicted to pharmaceutical drugs, he was out of his mind. Shafer was a player in the 4 Horsemen, a role playing game on the internet. He was death and all the murders in DC were his fantasy, but he took it a step further. He loved to kill!

Patsy Hampton was able to identify Shafer from a young hacker who read some of his fantasies on the net and hacked into his profile getting his identity and location of work. After receiving this information, she gets in touch with Alex to discuss the case. They put Shafer under surveillance. This leads to a large court battle and Patterson takes the reader to the truth of the justice system. If one is wealthy, the verdict bends in their direction, like O.J. Simpson. Patterson creates a grand finale to this story with the FBI and Interpol from Britain working together to keep things in wrap. Many surprises are in the ending and that only makes me want to read more of Patterson's novels.

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