Product Description

Just when Alex Cross's life is calming down, he is drawn back into the game to confront a criminal mastermind like no other. The elaborate murders that have stunned Washington, DC, are the wildest that Alex Cross and his new girlfriend, Detective Brianna Stone, have ever seen. This maniac adores an audience, and stages his killings as spectacles in public settings. Alex is pursuing a genius of terror who has the whole city on edge as it waits for his next move. And the killer loves the attention, no doubt-he even sets up his own Web site and live video feed to trumpet his madness.

And in Colorado, another criminal mastermind is planning a triumphant return. From his supermaximum-security prison cell, Kyle Craig has plotted for years to have one chance at an impossible escape. If he has to join forces with DC's Audience Killer to get back at the man who put him in that cell--Alex Cross--all the better.

From the author Time magazine has called "the man who can't miss,"Double Cross has the pulse-racing momentum and electrifying thrills that have made James Patterson a #1 bestselling storyteller all over the world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #67410 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-13
• Released on: 2007-11-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 400 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Bestseller Patterson's 13th Alex Cross thriller (after 2006's Cross) pits the legendary profiler, now retired from law enforcement and working as a psychiatrist in private practice, against two serial killers. Kyle Craig, Cross's former colleague in the FBI (who was revealed to be the Mastermind, a particularly vicious and resourceful murderer, in 2001's Violets Are Blue), has managed to escape from a Colorado maximum-security prison and is steadily working his way through his list of those he holds responsible for his capture and incarceration. Cross, who heads the list, is drawn back into police work by his love interest, Maryland homicide detective Brianna Stone, who's been assigned to the task force focusing on the D.C. Audience Killer (or DCAK), who stages high-profile and sadistic murders to get the most public attention possible. Even newcomers will find themselves turning the pages to see how everything turns out, but significant plot holes and implausibilities make this a far cry from the similar, but far more suspenseful, two-front war waged by Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs.
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Review
"This novel gives the reader double excitement with not one but two maniacs after Alex Cross...Even if you are not an Alex Cross fan, you will enjoy this thriller by James Patterson. Be sure to add Double Cross to your reading list." (BestsellersWorld.com )

"Double Cross is a strong, addictive page turner. It is definitely worth the trip to the book store." (TheMysterySite.com )

"DOUBLE CROSS is one of Patterson's best works to date, full of action and excitement. One cannot read DOUBLE CROSS without feeling as if there are even bigger things yet to come from Cross and his creator." (Bookreporter.com )

"If, like me, you are an Alex Cross fan, run, don't walk, to your favorite book store and get up to date on the life of Alex Cross. If you enjoy fast paced, well written intrigue, you'll devour Double Cross, just as I did." (AllThingsGirl.net )

"Double Cross is vintage Patterson. It is fast moving and suspenseful and takes the occasional surprise twist. Life for a Patterson fans doesn't get much better than this." (1340MagBooks.com )

About the Author
James Patterson's most recent major bestseller is JUDGE AND JURY. He is one of the world's most popular and successful authors and lives in Florida.

Customer Reviews

Another Patterson to speed through
The usual good, fast, reliably fun read from Mr. Patterson. "Double Cross" loses a few points compared to the last couple of Alex Cross thrillers ("Mary, Mary" and "Cross") due to its shifting back a little to the unrealistically relentless "Big Bad Wolf"/"London Bridges" days of a major disaster every chapter, endless running around, and over-the-top action taking precedence over genuine character moments. But at least "Double Cross" is about Alex Cross chasing serial killers, not James Bond-style villains, and there's still a fair amount of Alex's family and personal life on tap, if less than the last two books.

The book also pulls off an effective balancing act: it leaves a few plot elements unresolved to make you want to pick up the next book, but gives you enough satisfying resolution so that those as-yet-unresolved elements will tantalize instead of frustrate you.

Quibbles aside, I got my money's worth from "Double Cross"

Impossibly Improbable!
I have read so many JP books, so I come in expecting a vacation from reality. But this book? Come on...

How can Alex and his partner be thinking about making love (like two immature teenagers) every 15 minutes when there are two crazy killers out there WHO HAVE BOTH THREATENED HIM, HIS FAMILY AND HER??! They travel to Montana and are upset they don't have time to "do it", while back in DC there are TWO killers wreaking havoc?

How was big tough Samson "kidnapped"?

As soon as this guy escaped prison, (which in itself was so impossible...) why weren't the judge and Alex's family relocated? The judge is home sleeping -- with her family -- peacefully, while this mad man lurks the streets? (And tell me, please, how was he able to go to Paris? He had passports made prior to his conviction, just incase?)

And because Nana wouldn't WANT to leave the house Alex just leaves his whole family there unprotected?

The end, while in the alleyway with both of them, is so dumb!

I could go on for hours like this, but suffice it to say, you cannot/will not get scared, be in suspense or care about all the grisly deaths in this book! In fact, you will laugh at the absurdity of it!

Boring again!
An Alex Cross mystery used to be something to look forward to, but suddenly the last two ("Cross") both miss by too much.

This one starts off like gangbusters and then crashes and burns too soon. Too many plot devices are overused and underdeveloped and stale characters - besides Alex - just didn't work.

A Jail break just too ludicrous to be believable, and disguises that ae just pulled out of nowhere just to get from one scene to another all add to a sad effort in the end.

I've said it before about Patterson's books, but it bares repeating - there are just too many too fast to be well thought out and well written to the standards that the first dozen or more were.

Sorry, but even though it can be read in a single sitting, it just may not be worth the time.