Showing posts with label Kidnapping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kidnapping. Show all posts

Monday, March 05, 2012

“Kill Alex Cross”, James Patterson (Grand Central/Century)

Patterson-KillAlexCross

A terrorist threat, and the President’s children have been kidnapped

Detective Alex Cross is one of the first on the scene of the biggest case he’s ever been part of. The President’s son and daughter have been abducted from their school - an impossible crime, but somehow the kidnapper has done it. Alex does everything he can but is shunted to the fringes of the investigation. Someone powerful doesn’t want Cross too close.

A deadly contagion in the DC water supply threatens to cripple the capital, and Alex sees the looming shape of the most devastating attack the United States has ever experienced. He is already working flat-out on the abduction, and this massive assault pushes Cross completely over the edge.

With each hour that passes, the chance of finding the children alive diminishes. In an emotional private meeting, the First Lady asks Alex to please save her kids. But even the highest security clearance doesn't get him any closer to the kidnapper – and Alex makes a desperate decision that goes against everything he believes in.

I’ve read all of Patterson’s Alex Cross novels, and I’d been a little disappointed with some of the later instalments of the series. However, much to my pleasant surprise, Kill Alex Cross turned out to be a stand-out novel, and perhaps the best since Four Blind Mice (which is the point after which I think they started to lose quality). If you’re a fan of the series, and like me haven’t loved the more recent instalments, this should help you reacquire your faith in Patterson as a writer. It’s not as good as the first eight novels, but it shows some of the qualities that made his earlier novels so good and addictive.