So the idea of digging into the Alex Cross series has been nagging at me for awhile. But it seemed like there were so many, thirty-two at last count. Then I reminded myself I’ve been reading Star Trek books in order for awhile, and there’s a lot more than those. So…

I’d seen the film adaptation, so I remembered, partially who the guilty party was, but diving into the book was a whole different animal. It expanded on what little I remembered of the plot, added in a little but of a romance, and didn’t have it rushing to its conclusion in an hour and a half.

Alex Cross is a psychologist and police detective in D.C. He and his partner Sampson are called in to investigate a brutal murder in the southeast, but that one gets put on hold when there’s a high profile kidnapping of a senator’s son, and a movie star’s daughter.

Kidnapped by a teacher who has laid out a plan and seemingly accounted for everything, Cross begins the exhaustive work of following leads, interviewing witnesses, and trying to juggle his home life. Raising two kids alongside his Nana, Cross is smart, wired, and fixated on the job at hand.

He soon finds himself not only working with a secret service agent, Jezzie Flanagan. Soon a relationship develops even as they capture the kidnapper, Gary Soneji.

Soneji argues that he’s a multiple personality, that Gary Murphy has no knowledge of the kidnapping and murders (tying in with the case Cross and Sampson were working on at the beginning), but is it all an act?

And where are the kidnapped children?

I like that the book takes its time, doling its story out over a couple of years, weaving in life and career with the ongoing investigation, which even after the court closes the case, nags at Cross.

As things come together, Cross begins to realize that as dangerous as Soneji is, there may be someone out there who is so much worse.

I enjoyed this read. And honestly, despite some broad strokes, the move is a completely different animal. It ends up being a fairly run of the mill thriller, but it does have some solid moments, and Cross could be an interesting character to follow on his journey. It’s not the rapid-fire page turner it may have been when it first came out, but it does introduce us to Cross and his world.

I remember seeing the cover for this everywhere when it came out. Heck, it only took me thirty years to finally pick it up. I’ll be curious to see how his other cases play out. I’ve been craving a solid thriller series.

Maybe I could bounce between these and the Reacher novels which I occasionally think about digging into as well. Course I need to get back to the Pendergast novels at some point as well…

Still Cross beckons with his next case, Kiss the Girls.