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Cross Country

James Patterson
Little, Brown and Company (2008)
ISBN 9780316018722
Reviewed by Narayan Radhakrishnan for RebeccasReads (10/08)

In the early nineties James Patterson created a furor in the thriller-writing world with two novels: “Kiss the Girls,” and “Along Came a Spider”. The two blockbuster movies that followed, starring Morgan Freeman as detective Alex Cross of the LAPD, were also blockbusters. A cult was born, and the Alex Cross thrillers became a favorite of many a psychological thriller fan.

I am a diehard thriller lover. For the last two weeks I was deeply engrossed in reading “The World Without End,” a thirteen-hundred-page novel of epic proportions by famed British novelist Ken Follett. A deeply researched and gripping work, “The World Without End” left a lasting impression on me, and I really needed something to cool off with. I needed a light read, a powerful read, one which could be easily read finish off within two to three hours. In comes “Cross Country,” the perfect, easy delight for a thriller lover.
           
It seems Alex Cross’s fame as an ace detective has crossed borders. The terror now striking LAPD is not local; terror has now an international figure, and this time round the terror figure is a man who goes by the name Tiger. Tiger is ruthless; he has no deep-set psychological motive per se to commit murders, it’s just that murder is an obsession for him. He gets the job done for whomever who pays him. A cool assassin for hire, he crosses hands with Alex Cross in Los Angels. Cross’s college sweetheart Ellie Cox has been brutally murdered, and his initial investigation reveals that the person behind the murders is from Africa. Cross goes to Africa, and the pitiful picture of political turmoil and starvation, in particular in Nigeria, Sudan and Sierra Leone, is brought to light by James Patterson. Cross is tortured, and almost anyone who comes close to Cross is murdered or bumped off in any other manner.

Though the Cross thrillers are know for their gruesome violence, I think this 15th thriller might be the most gruesome of all. Almost all characters featured in the book, including Alex Cross’s family and friends are kidnapped, murdered, or even kidnapped and murdered. To say more on the plot would mean my being a spoilsport, and I refrain.

Alex Cross is now a staple of my psychological thriller diet, and I wonder why more movies featuring Morgan Freeman as Alex Cross are no longer being made?  This is a good read and, for the James Patterson fan, a must buy.

    

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