Short & Sweet Review: Ali Cross by James Patterson

Title: Ali Cross

Author: James Patterson

Series: Ali Cross, #1

Published: November 2019, jimmy patterson

Format: Hardcover, 320 pages

Source: Personal copy

Summary: 

Alex’s son Ali is
eager to follow in his father’s footsteps as a detective, but when his
best friend goes missing, what price will he have to pay to solve the
mystery?

Ali Cross has always looked up to his father, former
detective and FBI agent Alex Cross. While solving some of the nation’s
most challenging crimes, his father always kept his head and did the
right thing. Can Ali have the same strength and resolve?

When
Ali’s best friend Abraham is reported missing, Ali is desperate to find
him. At the same time, a string of burglaries targets his
neighborhood—and even his own house. With his father on trial for a
crime he didn’t commit, it’s up to Ali to search for clues and find his
friend. But being a kid sleuth isn’t easy—especially when your father
warns you not to get involved!—and Ali soon learns that clues aren’t
always what they seem. Will his detective work lead to a break in
Abraham’s case or cause even more trouble for the Cross family?

***Short & Sweet Reviews are
short, quick reviews. These will mainly be used for series books where I
have already done full reviews on some of the earlier books or for
books that I feel will suffice with a quick review. These will not be
used for review requests or blog tours.

My thoughts: While I don’t typically read Middle Grade/YA books, this is a new series featuring the son of a beloved character in one of my favorite series and I just had to give it a try. How could I not? And I have to say…it was pretty good! In the most recent Alex Cross books, young Ali Cross has gotten pretty involved in the cases his father, former detective and FBI agent Alex Cross has been involved in, so it is no surprise that young Ali Cross would do everything and anything to find his friend when he goes missing.

I liked that we get both Ali’s point of view as well as Alex’s point of view. One thing that I did notice is that this book does follow events that occur in line with what is going on in the Alex Cross series. If you read that series, it is probably best to be caught up, if you don’t no worries. But I think moving forward, for me, I will have to make sure that I keep up-to-date on both so that there aren’t any spoilers.

I thought this was a great start to what I hope is going to be a new series and one that I will most likely continue to read. What is really cool is that my nephew got a copy of this book and read it – so this is a series that we can both read and discuss!