Double Cross, the 13th in James Patterson's Alex Cross series, finds former police profiler Cross newly retired from the Washington DC police force and creating a new life for himself and his three kids, working as a psychologist. Life is good. He has a growing, loving relationship with an intelligent--and gorgeous--police detective, he is building a growing practice, and he gets to spend more time (and at regular hours) with his children. If he doesn't think about it too much, he doesn't even miss the excitement of working on the force.
The Audience Killer
While Cross and Brianna Stone, his police detective girlfriend, are together, she is called to the scene of a gruesome murder. A popular novelist has been tortured and then thrown off of their 13th floor balcony in front of a street full of on-lookers. Cross, waiting in the car, can't resist the opportunity to visit the crime scene. Soon the pair finds that the killer has left the police a video of the crime. When the film mentions Cross by name, he knows that he won't be able to stay out of the investigation--nor does he want to.
Enter Kyle Craig
As Cross and Stone struggle to make sense of the increasing number of "audience" murders, one of Cross' nemeses stages an incredible escape from a maximum security prison. Kyle Craig, Cross' former friend and colleague at the FBI, was serving a life sentence for a series of clever, but brutal murders. Craig has vowed to seek vengeance on Cross, who was instrumental in convicting him. Now clues linking Craig to the Audience killer are discovered. Could they possibly be connected?
Double Cross begins with the promise of a familiar and well-liked character and an interesting plot. However, disappointment soon sets in as the reader meets one-dimensional characters, plot strings that leave more questions than answers, and what ends up being a "one note" plot. Patterson's style of writing short chapters with lots of blank space is vaguely insulting to readers, but this style also leaves less than 200 pages of content in a 300-page novel--not enough words to adequately tell an engrossing tale.
About James Patterson
James Patterson is the author of over 40 novels. He is best known for his Alex Cross Series and his Women's Murder Club Series, which was recently made into a TV series. Mr. Patterson has also recently branched out into young adult fiction with Maximum Ride, published in 2006. He has won numerous writing awards. In addition to the Edgar, he has won the BCA Mystery Guild's "Thriller of the Year" award and is the 2007 recipient of the "Thrillermaster" Award.
Related Articles
 |
