Snipers, Killers, and the Cop stuck in the middle
Detective Alex Cross is planning his wedding to the woman he loves, Brianna Stone. But this blissful existence begins to unravel when Cross is called to the scene of the perfectly executed assassination of two of Washington DC’s most corrupt and publically hated political figures. As more crooked politicians are picked off with similar long-range shots, public opinion is divided – is the marksman a vigilante or a hero?
Media coverage of the case explodes, and the FBI assigns agent Max Siegel to the investigation. As Cross and Siegel battle over jurisdiction, Alex receives a call from his deadliest adversary, Kyle Craig. The Mastermind is in DC and will not stop until he has eliminated Cross, and his family, for good.
James Patterson’s Violets Are Blue was the first thriller I read and devoured. I was living in Japan at the time, so getting more of his novels was a little difficult, but I managed to find a couple of them. In some ways, Patterson deserves the blame for getting me back into reading in a big way (him and Bernard Cornwell, actually, as I was also working through all the Sharpe book at the time). After getting back to the UK, I read everything by Patterson that was available at the time, and for the most part loved them (there were a couple of duffs). Then he started farming titles out to other authors, and the quality took a dive. The main Alex Cross series, however, remains his and his alone and is still his best. There have been wobbles along the way, and not every instalment has gripped me, but they all – Cross Fire included – give me exactly what I’m expecting and want: a quick, entertaining thriller fix.
