DOUBLE CROSS
James Patterson
Little, Brown and Company
Thriller
ISBN: 9780316015059

• Read an Excerpt

While James Patterson has several different and very successful series going, his Alex Cross books are arguably his best known. Some fans became slightly distressed when Cross’s friend and colleague Kyle Craig did a heel turn and was revealed as The Mastermind. If you are one of those readers who perhaps jumped off the Cross train at that point, then DOUBLE CROSS, Patterson’s latest installment in the series, provides ample reason to hop back on.

Patterson is not a detail guy; he is not going to give you a blow-by-blow account of how a certain frammistat works, or how someone gets from point A to point B. What he does do, and with great success, is keep his story moving. Let me tell you here and now that DOUBLE CROSS moves at breakneck speed. It begins with a flashback to the trial of Kyle Cross before segueing into the introduction of the Audience Killer, one of the more interesting villains Cross has ever encountered. The Audience Killer loves to perform. His penchant is to commit murders --- and we are talking grisly acts of violence here, my friends --- before as many spectators as possible. Theaters, parkway overpasses, condominium balconies --- there is no stage or audience too large for the Audience Killer.

Cross, retired from law enforcement and attempting to focus entirely on his counseling practice, is quickly drawn back into the world of crime investigation when the Audience Killer makes it clear that he is gunning for, and taunting, Cross. Apparently able to appear and vanish at will, he seems to have the Washington, D.C. police force stymied at every turn. To make matters worse, Craig --- The Mastermind --- is executing an escape from the Colorado maximum security prison where he has been ensconced, quietly plotting his revenge against Cross.

And if that isn’t enough, there is a link between the Audience Killer and Craig. As Cross and Washington police detective Bree Stone --- Cross’s partner on and off duty --- attempt to ascertain the Audience Killer’s identity and stop his homicidal spree, Craig slowly but surely implements his plan to join him in a final, and deadly, confrontation with Cross.

DOUBLE CROSS is one of Patterson’s best works to date, full of action and excitement. It also advances a plot line that Patterson has been reeling out over his last several Cross novels, which has the potential to sustain the Cross mythos for as long as he is willing to write them. One cannot read DOUBLE CROSS without feeling as if there are even bigger things yet to come from Cross and his creator.

   --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub



















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