Review of James Patterson’s “Pop Goes the Weasel”

An astounding page-turner leaving you at the edge of your seat filled with a villain no reader will ever forget, a splendid love story, and a plot of relentless suspense and heart-pounding pace.

On the loose in Washington DC is a lunatic called Geoffrey Shafer, a charming 42-year-old British Embassy paper-pusher and war hero with a picture-perfect family by day and a shady past (as an MI-6 secret agent whose role changes as the sun goes down).  Shafer – The Weasel, known as the character ‘death’ of a four-player cyberspace game called ‘The Four Horsemen’ takes the game to a different level. 

 

The other players include:  Oliver Highsmith – Conqueror; the game was originally his idea as he was in charge of the other 3 when they were stationed in Bangkok. George Bayer – Famine.  James Whitehead – War. War recruited Shafer into MI6. Whitehead reported to Highsmith. All four of them killed people in their area, but Shafer was more out of control. In disguise, he picks up his victims, which he takes to a slum where crime is high and bodies are found on a regular basis. He then e-mails the other players boasting of his kill, giving them all the gruesome details. Detective Alex Cross’s newfound romance is put on hold when he is put on the case; he discovers a pattern to the series of brutal murders. As Alex gets closer to Shafer, the killer gives his warning and is ignored... things get even more intense when Shafer makes Cross part of his game and kidnaps Cross’s lover Christine. The story concludes with an astonishing (yet unexpected) end to the Four Horsemen. Trust me. You have to add this one to your collection.