I, Alex Cross

February 22, 2010
Death's shadow passes close to home in this latest installment of Patterson's long-running Det. Alex Cross series. When the remains of Alex's estranged niece are discovered in the trunk of a car, his investigation takes him into the powerful, protected, and very decadent world of the Washington elite. Tim Cain and Michael Cerveris deliver top-notch performances as they expertly bring Patterson's signature roller-coaster plotting and diverse cast of characters to life. Though the actual resolution to the story may stretch the realm of believability, Cain and Cerveris bring the listener along for the ride with strong conviction in their reading. A perfect book for a long drive. A Little, Brown hardcover (Reviews, Dec. 7).

November 16, 2009
Bestseller Patterson offers nothing new on a theme he himself has already done to death in his 16th novel featuring detective Alex Cross (after Cross Country), in which Cross takes on yet another barbaric serial killer, this one known as Zeus. Word that an estranged 24-year-old niece, Caroline Cross, has been murdered disturbs Cross's birthday party. To make that horror even worse, the killer fed Caroline's body through a wood chipper. Cross soon discovers that Caroline supported herself as a high-price escort for Washington, D.C.'s elite, and that other women who served similar clients have turned up missing. Cross's investigation soon attracts the attention of the feds, and he concludes that Zeus is better connected than most of the psychopaths he's brought to justice. A subplot centering on a health threat to another member of Cross's family adds padding. Readers expecting the killer to be identified through insightful profiling will be disappointed.