This is book #30 in the Alex Cross detective series by one of my favorite authors of thrillers/mysteries. I've been reading Alex Cross books since the early 1990s and they all have been excellent stories with gripping plots and characters that go from book to book.
STORY SUMMARY
Alex Cross and his best friend and Washington, D.C. detective John Sampson are chasing a brilliant murderer nicknamed "the Family Man". The killer is precise, never leaves DNA or any identifying markers behind and always moves under cover of darkness in the middle of the night. He never triggers any alarms and leaves absolutely no physical evidence of any kind.
But....Alex and John aren't the only ones doing the investigating. The world's bestselling crime author, Thomas Tull, is also involved in this intriguing case and he often sees patterns that even the FBI misses.
The writer calls the Family Man murders the perfect crime story. He also believes that the murderer might never get caught.
Alex Cross, however, knows there is no perfect crime. And he plans on hunting down the Family Man no matter what it takes.
But....the Family Man decides to flip the story and bring Cross and his family.
Will he be caught?
MY THOUGHTS
This was brilliantly done. There were actually two plots going on side by side. One plot was basically set in NYC with Bree Stone, Alex Cross's wife who is a private investigator for the Bluestone Group. Someone has hired Bree to figure out what is going on in the fashion industry world of NYC. Is there a human trafficking ring going on in the most famous design house in the city? How is the Paladin group from Boston involved? The Family Man murders don't seem to tie in........until the very ending of the book, when they do.
I loved how Patterson, the author, recapped who M/Maestro is. And then the truth about M is revealed which again, is brilliant and I'm happy to say I had guessed who M was in the last Alex Cross book. It's so well written and these characters never get old.
I love how fast-paced this book is and how gripping both plots were. We also see Alex's children in this book a bit more: Damon is still in college, Jannie is in her senior year of high school and Ali is now 11 years old. And of course Nana Mama is still alive and doing fairly well into her 90s.
The characters are very beloved and yet each Alex Cross book introduces new killers and plots. This series just doesn't get old. I love that the author, in this particular series, doesn't use F-bombs or explicit s*x scenes.
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 14 and older.
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 9.
3 comments:
I shall have to look out for this one. I've read quite a few of the Alex Cross series - need to check where I'm up to.
This series does sound good.
I can't get into some of his books for some reason!!!
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