After my rant about Private, you might think I wouldn't go back to James Patterson. My interest after reading titles by two of his co-authors was to see the appeal of Alex Cross, Patterson's own detective hero. There are 20 Alex Cross books and the character has been played twice in the movies, by Morgan Freeman and Tyler Perry. I thought I should see why they are so popular, and had a copy of Cross Fire at hand.
Cross Fire has the Patterson style of short, fast chapters, most about two pages long. I could only picture Alex as Tyler Perry, since he is in the latest movie, and that was a good fit. This is number seventeen in the series and so characters are already established and villains of the past have returned. It was preceded by the very popular I, Alex Cross and followed by Kill Alex Cross.
Alex is a psychologist who joined the police force. He is planning to marry his fiancé, Detective Bree Stone, but they put their wedding plans on hold when a sniper begins targeting officials in DC. Another thread is the return of Kyle Craig, a former partner of Alex who turned into a psychopathic killer nick-named The Mastermind. In the past Alex had put his arch nemesis in federal prison, but he has broken out and returns to destroy Alex and his family. He kills an FBI agent and has his face surgically altered to resemble him so he can slip into the investigation. This requires a healthy suspension of disbelief from the reader, pretty outlandish, but it's an exciting read so I went with it. Kyle weasels his way into working closely with Alex, who does not know who he really is.
I found the characters were strong and appealing, especially Alex's grandmother whom everyone calls Nana Mama. She is sassy and wise, and has some great scenes. She lives with Alex, Bree, and his 3 kids. His partner John Sampson is also well drawn, though I have to read the older books to know why he constantly refers to Alex as "Sugar".
When Alex and Bree eventually get married, they decide to go to the One And Only Ocean Club in Nassau, which they fell in love with watching the Bond movie Casino Royale. I had just read Casino and it's fun when one book has threads to another.
This has the same short chapters and style as all the James Patterson novels, but it is well above the books he co-authors. Intriguing plots, great characters you want to return to, and a solid thriller read. I can see the appeal of Alex Cross. The explosive finale in Nassau was satisfying and made me want to read more in the series. I followed it by reading the novel the latest movie was based on Alex Cross.
2010 / Paperback / 384 pages
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