To commit the perfect crime one must be a criminal genius. James Patterson’s “Roses are Red” features the near perfect criminal genius of the Mastermind. Detective Alex Cross has returned in his sixth novel. This time around Cross must face the ultimate bank robber.

The Mastermind recruits a team of thieves and then assigns them one of two locations. One group actually goes in to the bank and takes the money. The other group enters the house of a bank manager and holds his or her family hostage. The robbers tell the bank tellers that if they make a mistake or try to call for help the hostages will die. In this case, the tellers took too long getting the money, and the hostages died.

The FBI calls in Alex Cross to help profile and catch the Mastermind. What no one knows is that this is all in the Mastermind’s plans. He is using the police like pawns in a chess game, and only he knows that the game has begun.

Detective Cross is coming off a very difficult case in which his fiance was abducted by a crazed serial killer (“Pop Goes the Weasel”). With his love life in trouble, his personal life takes another hit when his daughter is admitted to the hospital after having a seizure. Cross, known as the Dragonslayer, must over-come adversity to save innocent lives.

However, the Mastermind has just begun to play with the police. He continually changes the teams he uses in the robberies. By doing this, no crime scene is the same.

The Mastermind also remains hidden from his recruits so even if captured they cannot turn him in. Every detail is accounted for on a scale of 9.9999 out of 10. Perhaps this man is the perfect criminal, but has he underestimated Alex Cross?

Wanting to make his crime spree even more exciting and dangerous, the Mastermind sets out to destroy the FBI and Cross. This may be the mistake that will lead the police to the criminal genius.

In this race against time to find the thief and murderer only one side can come out on top. And the Mastermind has yet to reveal his ultimate weapon.

After eight years and six Alex Cross novels, James Patterson is still outdoing himself story after story. Patterson has turned out many original stories that have roller coaster twists and turns. With the surprise ending of “Roses are Red,” Patterson may have turned out his best book ever. The ending is so shocking that it will leave the reader begging for more. The next installment of Alex Cross will be highly anticipated.

What Patterson has done over the past eight years is make the reader attached to Detective Cross and his family. Patterson lets the reader experience his joys and sorrows to a high degree. While reading the books, one is totally immersed in the mystery and cannot wait to see how it ends. His style is so riveting that the reader will not stop until the book ends.

The Alex Cross series as a whole are some of the most enjoyable books oft today. One cannot help but fall in love with the characters and the stories. “Roses are Red” definitely should be on everyone’s reading list. Look for James Patterson’s next book due in Spring 2001.