Product Description

A controversial U.S. Senator is found murdered in his Georgetown bed. On the other side of town, a beautiful little girl is found dead, savagely beaten. Washington, D.C. homicide detective Alex Cross is brought in to try to find a connection between the two murders--even as the killer strikes again. No one in Washington is safe--not children, not politicians, not even the President of the United States. Cross has impressive skills and the courage to match, but can he discover the truth in time?.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8025 in Books
• Published on: 1997-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 480 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780446604802
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review
A child killer is stalking the inner city of Washington, D.C., his latest victim Shanelle Green, an adorable first grader from Sojourner Truth School. This killing is especially unsettling to Detective Alex Cross. Sojourner Truth is the school his son Damon attends, just four blocks from his home.

While the death of an inner-city black child doesn't garner much media attention, another murder is making big headlines. The same day that Shanelle was beaten to death, Senator Daniel Fitzpatrick was found handcuffed to a bed and shot execution style. The only clue the police have to go on is a bizarre rhyme, signed "Jack and Jill," promising more high-profile executions, ultimately targeting the president of the United States. When Cross is called in to help protect the president, he begins to suspect that the two cases are somehow related. As he races to put all the pieces together, the killers continue their bloody rampage, paralyzing the city.

Like Along Came a Spider and Cat & Mouse, Jack & Jill is a rapid-fire thriller from start to finish, with enough plot twists to satisfy even the most jaded mystery fan.

From Publishers Weekly
Patterson's most recent thriller, Hide and Seek, lacked his customary hero, Alex Cross, and didn't catch fire with readers. Here, Patterson brings back the black psychiatrist and Washington, D.C., homicide cop (Kiss the Girls, etc.) for a gripping game of death that will have fans flocking. Two simultaneous investigations bear down on Cross: the first concerns the killings perpetrated by a duo known as "Jack and Jill," who are murdering famous people (beginning with a U.S. senator) in Washington, taunting the police and "practicing for the big one"; the second involves the brutal slayings of young black children in Cross's own Southeast D.C. neighborhood. The Washington P.D. makes Cross its liaison with a frantic Secret Service, FBI and CIA while he sets up his own off-duty team to track the child-killer. Through crisp cross-cutting of multiple points of view, first-person and third, Patterson grabs readers right from the beginning and sweeps them along toward riveting dual climaxes. He adds texture by devoting space to Cross's concern about his own motherless son and daughter (the first murdered child attended the same grammar school as Alex's boy), his growing interest in the school's attractive principal, his dealings with his octogenarian grandmother, Nana Mama (think of an acerbic Dilsey from The Sound and the Fury) and life in the largely black Southeast district. It's fine, full-blooded entertainment from start to finish, with a last-page surprise from an earlier Cross nemesis promising at least one more Cross installment to come. Literary Guild main selection; simultaneous Time Warner AudioBook.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Patterson is back with another winner featuring black Washington, D.C. detective/ psychologist Alex Cross, who is hot on the trail of yet another serial killer. This time out, however, he's faced with double trouble in the form of a killing duo calling themselves Jack and Jill, who threaten to kill politicians and celebrities until they finally reach the president. After several spectacular murders, the police and the White House start to take them seriously. At the same time, yet another psychopath is brutally murdering black schoolchildren. Whew! All of this mayhem keeps Alex jumping and the pages turning. This entry follows Patterson's usual formula of very short chapters, breakneck pacing, and grisly murders followed by a truly surprising ending, complete with an appearance of Gary Soneji, the serial killer from Along Came a Spider (LJ 12/92). Highly recommended for all public libraries.
-?Rebecca House Stankowski, Purdue Univ. Calumet Lib., Hammond, Ind.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

MADNESS TIMES TWO
James Patterson continues to amaze me. Having recently began reading his material, I am enthralled with his story telling. Jack and Jill is a masterpiece thriller worthy of every suspense fan's attention. Not one, but two storylines will leave you flipping from chapter to chapter in no time.

Someone is visciously mudering young black children in the neighborhood of detective Alex Cross. There are no leads but Alex is determined to find the killer. At the same time a pair of stalker-serial killers known as Jack and Jill are preying on the powerful and famous in Washington D.C. When it becomes apparent that the killers have their sights set on the president, Cross is aked to help. He becomes determined to not only find Jack and Jill but to find the child murderer on whatever spare time he can afford. Cross is burning the candle at both ends and he doesnt have much time to save the president and capture the killers. Both plots progress at a fast pace. Cross' determination and excellent detective work shine and he in time finds the killers, but is he too late. As with ALONG CAME A SPIDER Patterson keeps you guessing until the very end and there is no shortage of surprises.

Both of the story lines could have a been books unto themselves. The fact that Patterson weaves them into a single novel is a testament to his craft. A stunning ending clinches JACK AND JILL as a five star thriller. The ending will keep you guessing which is nice for a change. Patterson seems to realize that a real thriller, like real life, doesnt have an ending with no loose strings. This book will keep you wanting more James Patterson and More of his heroe Alex Cross.

Left Me Breathless
If you like fast-paced, nonstop thrills in your mysteries, this is the book for you. I felt like I had to stop and breathe every now and then; the plot twists, suspense, surprises, and sheer horror of the plot had me so mesmerized, I almost forgot to do so!

Like other Patterson novels, this one, the third in the Alex Cross series, features two parallel horrors, both of which involve the detective in a very personal way. First, a crazed killer is murdering young black children in Cross's own neighborhood, children from his own son's school. The sheer brutality of the murders bespeaks a rage that strikes terror in Cross's heart. But the Washington, D.C. powers that be don't seem to be overly concerned with the horrible happenings in the black neighborhood--they're much more involved with the high-profile, equally mysterious Jack and Jill murders that have captured all the headlines.

Jack and Jill are assassins. We're in on their nefarious doings from the beginning, but we don't know who they really are. And neither does the FBI, the CIA, the Secret Service, or the police. They are on a murderous timetable, assassinating increasingly well-known people as part of a single-minded, and seemingly unstoppable, track that leads to the assassination of the President of the United States. Can Cross et al. catch these fiends in time? And what of the child killer? He's got Cross's own children in his crosshairs. Will he strike at Cross's very heart and soul?

The sheer humanity and decency of Alex Cross--his intelligence, his love of his family and friends, the piano he plays on the porch to soothe his soul, the grief he still feels for his dead wife--all serve as a counterpoint to the inhumanity of the killers. Cross despairs of the human race as he encounters the horribly murdered bodies of the killers--but any world with Alex Cross in it can't be all bad. Cross sardonically refers to himself as "The Dragon Killer," and indeed he is. But this time, he just may be up against a force more evil than anything or anyone he has ever encountered before.

As I stated in a previous review, I am new to the Patterson bandwagon, and now I have no intention of getting off! On to the next book in the Cross series. Can it be as good as "Jack and Jill?" It boggles the mind.

This book is killer!
This was my second James Patterson book (1st was "Kiss the Girls") and I am hooked. It took me only 1 and 1/2 days to read the 466 page book. I couldn't put it down!

Detective Alex Cross is back and he is stuck between two investigations: someone is killng high profile celebrities in Washington DC and someone is killing young children in the streets of Cross' neighborhood. Are these crimes connected somehow? How does Cross choose between the loyalty to his community and his civic duty to the President of the United States? With two different plots and many twists and turns and suspects to choose from, "Jack and Jill" is sure to please anyone who loves to dive into psychological thrillers. I also recommend Thomas Harris' Hannibal Lector series: Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal (to be read in that order!)