Book Review: Pop Goes The Weasel

Author:James Patterson
Title: Pop Goes The Weasal
Publisher: Grand Central Pubishing
Publish Date: Jan 2006
Rating: 3 Stars
Book Blurb: Alex Cross's pursuit of a killer has quickly produced a suspect--a British diplomat named Geoffrey Shaffer. However proving that Shaffer is the murder ...more Alex Cross's pursuit of a killer has quickly produced a suspect--a British diplomat named Geoffrey Shaffer. However proving that Shaffer is the murderer is a difficult challenge. The diplomat engages in a brilliant series of surprising countermoves, in court and out, and Cross and his fiance soon become the targets of a deadly cabal of killers.

Review: I don't usually read books in a series out of order, but a friend gave me a copy of Pop Goes The Weasel and once I started it I couldn't put it down. Usually a book that is around 400 pages takes me a few days to read, I read this one in one. I'm not sure why.

Geoffrey Shafer certainly wasn't a terrifying character and Alex Cross seemed a bit larger than life, but something about the story made me not want to put the book down until I turned the last page.

The idea of the RPG going horribly wrong was very real. Anyone that knows a real gamer knows how easily they can become lost in the game, and in this case Geoffery took his fantasy and made it his reality.

I just wish I could have understood his motive for killing, other than he liked it. It seemed so pointless, just as Christine's kidnapping, which got wrapped up at the end almost like an afterthought.

Overall the book was a fast read, I did read it in one day. I think it was the pacing of the story that really pulled me in. You had to keep going. You couldn't just put the book down and come back later. So for that it gets the 3 stars. I just wish it didn't leave me with more questions then answers...and the ending? ARGH! That's all I can say.