Cross: 12 (Alex Cross Novels) - Hardcover

Patterson, James

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0316017744 ISBN 13: 9780316017749

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, 2006

Synopsis

Alex Cross was a rising star in the Washington, DC, Police Department when an unknown shooter gunned down his wife, Maria, in front of him. Alex's need for vengeance was placed on hold as he faced another huge challenge-raising his children without their mother.

Years later Alex is making a bold move in his life. He has left the FBI and set up practice as a psychologist once again. His life with Nana Mama, Damon, Jannie, and little Alex finally feels like it's in order. He even has a chance at a new love.

Then Cross's former partner, John Sampson, calls in a favor. He is tracking a serial rapist in Georgetown, one whose brutal modus operandi includes threatening his victims with terrifying photos. Cross and Sampson need the testimonies of these women to stop the predator, but the rape victims refuse to reveal anything about their attacker.

When the case triggers a connection to Maria's death, Alex may have a chance to catch his wife's murderer after all these years. Is this a chance for justice at long last? Or the culminating scene in his own deadly obsession?

About this title

Review:

James Patterson has a position that is unassailable -- as one of America's most reliable crime and thriller writers, his best-selling status is assured. But it has to be said that he has tested the patience of his long-time readers by the series of books written in collaboration with other, lesser-known writers, in which it seemed that his own participation was the least important element. True Patterson fans will always welcome books such as Cross as the real deal: unadulterated James Patterson, sans collaborators.

Here we have Patterson's favourite protagonist, Alex Cross, in the days when he was making his mark in the Washington, DC Police Department. To his horror, he witnesses his wife being murdered in front of him by an unknown killer. Years pass, and Cross has left the FBI for his former profession as a psychologist. He feels he has come to terms with the events of the past, but then receives a call from his ex-partner John Sampson, requesting a favour in tracking down a serial rapist in Georgetown. Soon, the case presents connections to the death of Alex's wife -- is he finally being given the chance to catch her murderer?

This is James Patterson, doing what he does best: delivering a narrative in which there is not an ounce of wasted fat. Alex Cross is always, of course, a strong protagonist, and the personal element here energises an already kinetic storyline. James Patterson, we are reminded, needs no collaborators. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

Ticks like a time bomb - full of threat and terror (Los Angeles Times)

Brilliantly terrifying...so exciting I had to stay up all night to finish it (Daily Mail)

'If there really were human superheroes, Alex Cross would be at the head of the class...and, with each instalment in the series, Patterson makes sure his superhero gets bigger and better while at the same time becomming more vulnerable.' (New York Times)

'James Patterson is back in true form with his latest Alex Cross series thriller... This is his best work yet' (Hobart Mercury)

About this edition

• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0316017744
• ISBN 13: 9780316017749
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 448