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Critic's Corner
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I ALEX CROSS Hannah Willis, a second year law student and sometimes Call Girl, is running through a dark wood. Every step is an agony due to a bullet in her back. She stumbles out of the trees onto a gravel road and into the path of an old pickup truck. As she slips into unconsciousness, she tells her rescuer she's running from the men from the White House. Back in Washington, D.C., Alex Cross, America's Sherlock Holmes according to his family, celebrates his birthday with those nearest and dearest to him: Mama Nana, his two children, and fiancé Bree. Reluctantly, Alex answers the telephone, "It's my birthday, who died?" he said to his boss calling from the Metro Police station. Ramon Davies answer chilled Alex's blood. "Caroline Cross," Davies said. Caroline is Alex's niece. The daughter of his long dead brother. Alex learns they've taken Caroline's body to the ME's office in Richmond, Virginia. "Are we talking homicide?" he asks. "I'm afraid so," Davies answered. Alex and Bree, also a detective with the Metro Division, left home immediately for Richmond. At the ME's office Alex asks for the facts. Dr. Amy Carbondale tells him there is a 96 percent morselization of the body. "There's every reason to believe a grinder of some sort was used— likely a wood chipper." Thus, Alex begins one of the most shocking cases of his long career. One that includes not only the death of his niece, but that of other young adult women and men from the D.C. area. Alex and Bree search Caroline's apartment for clues. Her date book offers a series of pages with coded messages. Due to a rift between Caroline's mother and the Cross family the young woman hasn't been close for sometime. However, the search leads Alex to yet another reason the girl kept her distance from the family. She obviously afforded her expensive apartment working as a high class escort where anything goes. Methodically Alex begins working the case looking for a pattern which proves as elusive as the proverbial needle in a hay stack. Thanks to an informant, Marcella Weaver, former Washington Madam, now a syndicated talk show host, Alex gets a tip of whom Caroline might have been working for. Eventually this tip leads to the discovery of a high-resource group of men who are apparently involved in some sort of sex club. What this is about and how it led to Caroline's murder is something Alex intends to find out. As Patterson peels his plot layer by layer you realize Alex is in deep trouble. Even agents from Quantico are involved in the investigation. The reason for their involvement provides more information than even Alex can grasp. This thing involves not only major D.C. lawyers, Senators, and the ultra wealthy, but it has a trail that leads all the way to the West Wing of the White House. Patterson promised his fans a great read and he delivers it in spades. This is one of the author's most convoluted plots yet. It has characters of great interest, and a resolution that leaves your heart pounding. "I Alex Cross," is quite simply a stunning novel. Buy I Alex Cross Patricia Ann Jones is a published writer and has recently retired from her position of 18 years as a reviewer for the Tulsa World newspaper. To comment on this review you may email pattij777@aol.com. |
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from Amazon.com
