Violets Are Blue
by James Patterson
★ Top 10 book of 2001 · #10 on Best Books of 2001
Detective Alex Cross faces savage killings of two joggers in a San Francisco park, a case that baffles local police and the FBI. As bodies pile up across the country, a cunning criminal known as the Mastermind taunts him.
Best for: Crime thriller readers who like a fast-moving serial case and a cat-and-mouse villain
Violets Are Blue is #10 on BookWard's Best Books of 2001, out of 35 2001 books that cleared our data bar.
What Violets Are Blue is about
Violets Are Blue is the seventh Alex Cross novel from James Patterson, featuring the Washington, D.C. homicide detective and forensic psychiatrist. It opens in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, where two joggers are killed in a way that looks like the work of savage beasts. Cross teams up with local Inspector Jamilla Hughes, and FBI agent Kyle Craig spots echoes of an earlier murder in Washington.
The trail of bodies stretches on to Savannah, Las Vegas, New Orleans and Los Angeles, while Cross's old enemy, the Mastermind, stalks and taunts him. The case turns steadily darker, touching on vampirism and savagery, and Cross's own family comes under threat. A brisk pace suits readers who like their crime fiction dark and fast.
Violets Are Blue on the Best Books of 2001
Violets Are Blue came out in 2001. Of the 35 books first published in 2001 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #10 on our Best Books of 2001 list.
Why it made the list: 288 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.3 out of 5 (26 ratings). The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 2001 list
- Atonement Ian McEwan, #8
- Baby Einstein Julie Aigner-Clark, #9
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them J. K. Rowling, #11
- No More Mr. Nice Guy Robert A. Glover, #12
See all Best Books of 2001 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2000 Best Books of 2002.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 224 want to read it, 15 are reading it now and 49 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 4.3 out of 5 from 26 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 63 | 55% |
| Reader love | 86 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 63 | 20% |
Questions about Violets Are Blue
When was Violets Are Blue published?
Violets Are Blue by James Patterson was first published in 2001.
Was Violets Are Blue one of the best books of 2001?
Violets Are Blue is #10 on BookWard's Best Books of 2001, out of 35 2001 books that cleared our data bar. 288 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.3 out of 5 (26 ratings).
Why is Violets Are Blue on the Best Books of 2001 list?
288 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.3 out of 5 (26 ratings).
More of the best books of 2001
- American Gods Neil Gaiman, #1
- Eat That Frog! 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time Brian Tracy, #2
- Crucial Conversations Kerry Patterson, #3
- Point Blanc Anthony Horowitz, #4
- Getting Things Done David Allen, #5
- Unbroken Laura Hillenbrand, #6
See the full Best Books of 2001, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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