Review: Kill Alex Cross by James Patterson

First line: It began with President Coyle’s children, Ethan and Zoe, both high-profile personalities since they had arrived in Washington, and probably even before that.

From the inside cover: THE ONLY WAY

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 him too close.

TO STOP ALEX CROSS

A deadly contagion in the DC water supply endangers the capital, and Alex sees the looming threat of the most devastating attack the United Stated has even experienced. He is already working flat out on the abduction, and this massive assault pushed him completely over the edge.

IS TO KILL HIM

With each hour that passes, the chances of finding the children alive diminishes. In an emotional private meeting, the First Lady asks Alex to please save her kids. 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. A full-throttle thriller with unstoppable action, unrestrained emotion, and relentless suspense, Kill Alex Cross is the most gripping Alex Cross novel James Patterson has ever written.

My thoughts: As many of my readers know, I am a huge James Patterson book and I especially love the Alex Cross series. This is one author that I definitely make sure to buy the hardcover version of his books to add to my collection. Except for the Maximum Ride series, the Witch and Wizard series, and the Daniel X series, I tend to read everything by James Patterson.

In this latest Alex Cross saga, the 18th in the series, we are once again confronted with non-stop action that starts right from the beginning. There are old characters who return and new ones are introduced, and as the story is told from many points of view rather than just from Alex’s this time it gives a bigger picture of this exciting tale as it unfolds.

The basic premise is that Alex Cross is called upon by the President of the United States to locate his kids who were abducted. Like many other books in the thriller genre, Cross encounters barriers from within and not everyone you think is helping to find the kids really is. Meanwhile, as he looks for these famous kids, someone is wreaking havoc with the city through the main water supply of Washington, D.C. As you might imagine with two big cases, Cross is super busy trying to save the country from imminent disaster while also trying to prevent the President’s children from certain death. The ending is a typically great, surprising Patterson ending that you’ll want to read more than once to make sure you really got it.

I look forward to the next installment of Alex Cross, but am wondering if there really will be a cross-over between Alex Cross and the Women’s Murder Club as was hinted in the previous Alex Cross book, Cross Fire? Maybe it will happen in the next Women’s Murder Club book – 11th Hour – due out in May of 2012. Who knows if it will ever happen, but regardless of the answer, I plan on continuing to read both series!

(I purchased this book.)