I, Alex Cross. Book Review.

I, Alex Cross

By James Paterson

Power and greed are never a good combination and that is surely the case in this James Patterson book. This book is the 16th in the 30-book series by Patterson featuring his character Dr. Alex Cross, DC Metro Police Homicide Detective and FBI profiler.

Alex Cross is living with his children, his grandmother (Nana Momma) who raised him and is now helping him raise his three children, and Bree, his girlfriend, fellow detective, and soon-to-be-fiancé. Cross gets a call from work that there has been a murder and the victim is Caroline Cross, Alex’s niece, his brother’s daughter. Her remains were found in Virginia and Alex travels to the medical examiner’s office to make the identification. Alex gets pulled into the case along with the FBI and the Secret Service! Alex soon finds out that Caroline had been a high-priced escort working at a private and very exclusive club set in the hills of Virginia called Blacksmith Farms. FBI surveillance determined that many heavy-hitters from Washington as well as foreign dignitaries were regulars at the club where anything goes and your fantasies are realized – for a price. Amongst the many high-end customers was a particular individual named Zeus. The girls involved with Zeus did not know his real name and he wore a mask during their interludes. The one problem with Zeus was that he had homicidal tendencies and girls who serviced him were dying and their remains were being discovered across the area. Who was Zeus and who were the people helping him to cover up his propensity for murder? The FBI, DC Metro, and the Secret Service were all baffled and for some reason the President (a woman) wants to be updated on the search for Zeus. How did all the pieces of this puzzle fit together? Alex, the ever diligent detective, embarks on this investigation to find out what happened to his niece and all the other young woman who died at the hands of Zeus.

I really enjoy the Alex Cross character. He is a family man – a single father with three children, and a hard-working detective. He is relentless in his search for the truth. This particular story, as most of Patterson’s books about Alex, intertwined Alex’s drive to do his job at all hours of the day and night with his desire to be with his family and care for his children. It is an ongoing battle throughout the Cross series of books. I truly enjoyed the storyline in this book but the way Patterson organizes his writing can be a bit confusing. Some chapters flow from the others – meaning that they continue the storyline and the same characters, while other chapters cut into different aspects of the story and incorporate different characters. It took a bit of time and some rereading to learn who the characters were so that I could smoothly read the book and understand who was who. Notwithstanding Patterson’s writing style, it was a very interesting story – with many twists and turns – and I would recommend this book for those, like me, who enjoy the whodunnit stories.!