"Four Blind Mice" by James Patterson (Thriller, spoilers)

This is another James Patterson thriller featuring detective Alex Cross.

Heh, I'm getting close to having read all of the Alex Cross books. There are thirteen of them so far published, with a fourteenth to come out some time next year. I've read ten of them now.

There are some things I noticed about this novel that are different, compared to the other Cross novels. It is typical for a Cross novel to be told from two points of view. Chapters told from the point of view of Cross are told in the first person. Other chapters are told in the third person, from the viewpoint of the villain.

In this novel, that is still the case, although there are some chapters told in the third person from John Sampson's point of view. Sampson is Cross's best friend, who he's known since they were both little kids.

Sampson asks for Cross's help in a case involving Ellis Cooper, who Sampson knew in the army. Cooper is a good friend of Sampson's, and is soon to be executed for a horrific triple murder he insists he didn't commit.

Cross and Sampson meet Cooper, and start looking into the case. They soon realize that there might be a lot more to the story than anyone's realized at first.

The trail leads them to clues, including a witness who saw three people outside the house where the murders took place, on the night of the killings.

Other clues they find come from a mysterious source, someone who goes by the name "Foot Soldier," and starts sending Cross mysterious e-mails dropping hints about possible leads.

Meanwhile, three men, all veterans of Vietnam, commit murders for fun and sport, and other times do it for big money. But there's one thing they don't know, and that's the identity of their employer. Whoever's paying them always works through intermediaries and remains anonymous.

The villains Patterson creates in this one are as nasty as any he's dreamed up. These people consider killing a kind of game, something that gives them excitement and an adrenaline rush. It's a real pleasure to them.

This novel has the typical marks of an Alex Cross novel - lots of action, plot twists, and no dull moments.

There were a few things I would have preferred Patterson handled differently. There were a few parts where Cross makes a lucky guess based on kind of vague information, and happens to get on the right track. I would have preferred more detail about clever police work being used to solve the problems.

On the positive side, though, there are some real surprises here. One scene early in the novel was a real shocker to me, and made me realize this book wouldn't follow the more predictable plot that I would have expected.

Obviously, I keep reading this Alex Cross novels, and I like them. Mainly because Patterson's writing style is so lucid, and exciting, they're very addictive. I'm sure I'll be reading more of his stuff. I need to read "Roses Are Red," then I'll have read all of the old ones, with just "Cross" and "Double Cross" yet to read, which came out within the past year. And the new novel won't be out until some time next year. I'll look forward to it.

"Lord of Light" by Roger Zelazny (Science Fiction, spoilers)

This novel won the 1968 Hugo award for best novel. Actually, even though it is science fiction, it is heavily influenced by religion, and many religious ideas are fundamental to the setting.

But it's still science fiction, and actually takes place in a future on a world in which technology has made certain religious ideas possible to apply in a more direct, observable fashion. Minds can be transferred to new bodies, and a system of reincarnation is in place. Depending on the life you've led, you can be reincarnated into a lesser body or even an animal, or you can aspire to becoming a god and joining the gods in heaven. Heaven is an actual, physical place on this world, reachable only by air.

The main character in the novel goes by the name "Sam," although he has other names at different times and in different contexts. Sam has some ideas that go against tradition. On this world, technology is not used beyond a medieval level by ordinary people, although clearly some forms of advanced technology make the reincarnation process possible.

Sam wants to change this, wants to make it easier for people to attain godhood and for people to develop more advanced technology. This leads him into conflict with the gods.

The whole idea of religion and tradition in conflict with technology is nothing new. What Zelazny does here, though, is something we haven't always seen in science fiction. Much of science fiction fandom, and writers, aren't as big on discussing religion in depth as they are technology and science. This novel does a very neat job of combining these. Like the presence of demons in the story, which are really natives of the world, composed of energy. Sam imprisoned them a long time ago, as humans wanted to claim the world for their own. This description is something that would be plausible in a religious context, but has enough science fictional resonance to suit the genre.

The plot is very sophisticated, a lot happens, with a fairly large cast of characters. I won't try to discuss them all in depth here.

One thing that's neat about the ending is the fact that the "winners" only win victory at a severe price. In the long term, it might be the losers who ultimately win.

This isn't exactly what I'd call light, easy reading - Zelazny crams a lot of ideas and plot into a relatively short novel, so you have to pay close attention to what's going on and remember who all the characters are, even though they have exotic names and some of them go by more than one name, at least Sam does. This is more of a book that you should be prepared to work at to follow and appreciate, not something to read as a mere entertaining distraction.

Some neat ideas, though, and certainly different from a lot of the science fiction I've read.

"Violets Are Blue" by James Patterson (Thriller, Spoiler Warning)

It's probably unfortunate that I'm reading this novels out of order, because in this case the story makes references to things that happened in the previous novel, "Roses Are Red." But, it's not too bad, this novel stands on its own well enough.

This is another one in the Alex Cross series, which I'm finding very addictive reading. All the usual elements are here, Cross gets involved in a tough case, trying to track down murderers. In this case, the murders seem highly ritualized, the victims found drained of blood and left hanging from the ceiling or whatever else is handy.

Cross investigates the case with help from some associates, Jamilla Hughes and Kyle Craig of the FBI.

The trail leads to a kind of cult of vampires. At least, these people believe they are vampires. They have get-togethers in which they dress up and play at being vampires, some of them even wear fake fangs in their mouths.

Some of the murders that have been committed are horrid, very violent. In one case, the victim appears to have been mauled by an animal, a tiger.

While Cross is investigating this case, he receives several call on his cellphone, from the Mastermind, a villain he knows from a previous encounter. The Mastermind keeps taunting and threatening Cross, and Cross's family and friends. He also seems to know a lot about where Cross is and what Cross is doing at any particular time.

As the book proceeds, the vampire murders lead Cross into this cult-like world, and he meets some very unusual and kind of scary characters.

There is actually a significant difference between this and a lot of the other Alex Cross novels. It still follows the same basic structure, with some chapters told in the first person point of view as seen by Cross, and others told from the point of view of the villains, in the third person. But it's not the main villain. It turns out that when the main villain is revealed, it's neither one of the characters we'd been following all along.

I did find myself wishing that we'd learned more about that character, and that character's motivations as a result. It actually seemed as if that part of the story ended up getting resolved rather abruptly, and then there are several chapters at the end of the book that resolve the other major plot line involving the Mastermind.

I must admit, I did suspect who the Mastermind might be, so it wasn't a complete surprise. It still made for some exciting scenes, though.

The only trouble here, though, is that by having both of these plot lines in the story, it seemed like Patterson needed to wrap up the first one quickly, and then the Mastermind's plot line wasn't as intertwined with the main plot as I would have liked. I think this part of the story is more of a continuation of what was set up in "Roses Are Red."

There's still lots of action and excitement, you won't be bored. Sometimes, Patterson does seem to portray Cross as being rather larger-than-life, and he also has a few lucky "hunches" in this one. I like it better when clever police work solves a case.

Anyway, I'll have to go back and read "Roses Are Red" to see if both novels work well as a complete story, although I may have spoiled it for myself by reading the later novel first!

"Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang" by Kate Wilhelm (Science Fiction, minor spoilers)

This novel won the best novel Hugo award in 1977. It is a story that is post-apocalyptic, in which a lot of humanity has been wiped out, due to pollution and disease.

The novel follows what happens to a small group of people living in a valley, and their struggle to survive. This community, deliberately set up for such a purpose, encounters a number of problems, and have to resort to cloning to produce enough people to continue as a viable civilization.

But these clones aren't perfect. Each group of clones feels a strong attachment to his 'brothers' or 'sisters.' This connection is difficult for them to live without. Being separated from their group for any significant amount of time results in emotional trauma, and it proves difficult to undo the damage in some cases.

A lot of these cloned people have an incredible capacity to learn and remember information. But, this ability to absorb and recall information as given isn't all they might need. They have a marked lack of ability to be creative, or improvise when the unexpected occurs.

The society that develops shows a strong bias towards group thinking, and members of the community view individuals as less important than society as a whole.

But, it turns out that one boy, born and raised outside the mainstream of this society, may be the one person who can save this civilization. Mark is, in fact, an individual, and he does have creativity, and can do things like survive on his own outside of the valley.

Attempts to make Mark a part of the community prove troublesome, he plays pranks that cause a lot of consternation. But he proves to be very valuable, because the people need resources they know they'll only find outside the valley. To explore, they'll need Mark's abilities.

This illustrates what seemed, to me, an important theme in this novel. It seemed as if the author was commenting on the conflict between society versus the individual. I also find it curious that these clones, who you could regard as 'mass produced' humans, lack creativity. This is true of other things, like art. 'Mass produced' art is easier to produce than something new and fresh - how many movies are remakes? How much music is repackaging of the same old hits by established bands? But a unique individual can bring creativity and rejuvenate people's thinking in a certain area. Mass production only produces sameness and a kind of by-rote repetition.

Despite Mark's problems, and the conflicts he has with other characters, the novel does end on a note of hope. I don't want to give away too much about the ending, though, because I don't want to spoil it for anyone else.

Some readers have criticized this novel for some scientific implausibility. Wilhelm's description of what happens outside the valley makes it seem unlikely that it would develop as depicted, since she says so much animal life supposedly died out. If that were the case, whole ecosystems including plant life would die out, because of the interdependence of living things. While some of these comments may be true, I don't think they're a serious problem here. The main characters and themes are still well written.

The tone of the book is at times gentle, but often rather sharp; a number of characters go through emotionally difficult events. It's a good read, and a nice example of a book with a strong theme that succeeds in showing it, without ever becoming preachy. The action and dialogue all flow well, and as theme-driven as much of the story is, it never seems intrusive in the narrative.