Nightstrike's Reviews: Deadly Cross

I am . . . embarrassed at how long it's taken me to get to reading this, but in my defense, my library only just got it back in recently, so I finally got the chance. Now I probably don't need to reiterate this again, but I LOVE James Patterson's writing. While there are plenty of authors I appreciate, there's only a handful that I think are amazing (and coincidentally Transformers writers):

• James Patterson (Author of Alex Cross series, along with many others)

• Mairghread Scott (Author of Transformers: Windblade)

• James Roberts (Long-time contributer to IDW's formerly ongoing comic series, and author of Eugenesis which is next on my reading list once I finish this queue)

• Nate Schoonover (Talented artist, author of many Transformers fanfics, and author of Ophelia Was Murdered, another book on my reading list)

• Robin Cook (Author of a whole lot of medical thrillers, and a lot of world-building like "JRo" and Nate)

Likewise, there's a whole list of artists that I LOVE, but that's for another time!

Deadly Cross, by James Patterson is the second latest book in the Alex Cross series, with Fear No Evil soon to follow, slated for a November release. While this isn't so much an over-arcing conspiracy like a few of the books in the series, it still has a similar feel to it. The story starts off with . . . Whoops, I forgot!

Warning: Spoiler-Heavy Ahead!

Where was I? Ah, yes. The story starts off with three unrelated crimes. A string of "non-lethal" shootings of wealthy people, the murder of a famous socialite and her would-be lover, and the ongoing investigation into a string of kidnapping-turned-murders. The first set of crimes is quickly solved, as the shootings are traced to a student who has convinced himself and others that that the only way to enact change is for the wealthy to share pain, particularly of the posterior variety. The humorous end to that case then gives way to the latter two, which Cross and his friends soon determine are related in a very peculiar way. A resourceful man had been carrying out abductions and murders, but was not counting on the President's ex-wife and school staff member being personally acquainted with many of the victims. As such, he personally saw to it that they were killed. With Alex Cross and his wife hot on his trail, he's forced into a worse position, and eventually one slip-up leads to his death, and the recovery of his three latest captives.

An interesting side-story with the death of a significant character at the forefront, I highly recommend this, and I am (im)patiently awaiting the next installment in the series. The only wrinkle was the drastic changes to the the characters' current situations, but I suspect that will lead into the next book.

Overall Rating: 9.5/10