Product Description

The latest powerful thriller about the FBI agent Alex Cross. Alex has quit his job with the

FBI but can’t seem to stay away. When a series of brutal rapes are committed across
Washington and none of the victims will talk, Sampson calls on Alex for help. Alex uses all his skills as a psychologist to persuade one of the women to tell how the attacker scared her into silence. Cross’s hunt for the rapist leads him to ‘the Irishman’ Michael Sullivan, the deadly hitman from his past, who’s returned to Washington planning to kill the new mob Don, John Maggione. How many people will meet a gruesome end while the Irishman evades the FBI, the mob hit team and Alex - still haunted by the loss of his first wife and the unsolved mystery of who killed her?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #75743 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Amazon.co.uk
James Patterson has a position that is unassailable -- as one of America's most reliable crime and thriller writers, his best-selling status is assured. But it has to be said that he has tested the patience of his long-time readers by the series of books written in collaboration with other, lesser-known writers, in which it seemed that his own participation was the least important element. True Patterson fans will always welcome books such as Cross as the real deal: unadulterated James Patterson, sans collaborators.

Here we have Patterson's favourite protagonist, Alex Cross, in the days when he was making his mark in the Washington, DC Police Department. To his horror, he witnesses his wife being murdered in front of him by an unknown killer. Years pass, and Cross has left the FBI for his former profession as a psychologist. He feels he has come to terms with the events of the past, but then receives a call from his ex-partner John Sampson, requesting a favour in tracking down a serial rapist in Georgetown. Soon, the case presents connections to the death of Alex's wife -- is he finally being given the chance to catch her murderer?

This is James Patterson, doing what he does best: delivering a narrative in which there is not an ounce of wasted fat. Alex Cross is always, of course, a strong protagonist, and the personal element here energises an already kinetic storyline. James Patterson, we are reminded, needs no collaborators. --Barry Forshaw

About the Author
James Patterson is one of the best-known and bestselling writers in the world. He is the author of the two top-selling detective series of the past decade: the Alex Cross novels, including most recently MARY, MARY and LONDON BRIDGES and the Women’s Murder Club series, including most recently THE 5TH HORSEMAN as well as many other No. 1 bestsellers. He lives in Florida.

Customer Reviews

Didn't hang together for me at all......
I normally love the Alex Cross books by James Patterson, however this one really didn't rock my boat.

I just can't see how it would be possible to be intimately involved in the investigation of a series of rapes that very well may involve the same person you believe may have killed your wife and at the same time continue to run your own professional practice and operate as a single father of three children. Really there just aren't that many hours in the day. It really just didn't ring true for me at all.

The symbolism, rituals and trademarks explored in some of the other killers that JP has written about were'nt really present with The Butcher and I thought that was a shame. He really just seemed to shoot a lot of people and then use his butchery skills post mortem.

For me this book lacked the real psychotic element and page turning urgency that JP does so well and the story seemed almost to exist as an explanation for Maria's shooting and as an enabler for JP to move Alex Cross on - perhaps to some kind of new serious relationship.

The final pages clearly are there to set up the next installment and I'll buy it. I love Alex Cross, Sampson, Nana and the whole cast of regular characters but I do hope I get something more akin to Cat and Mouse, Roses are Red or Four Blind Mice next time around

Far from his best

I read this book in a couple of days, which is fast for me, basically because I've come to love Dr Cross over the course of his books but otherwise i might have struggled. The story IS very messy and there's not the usual depth there. As a previous reviewer stated it's as if he is trying to cram far too much into the story and yet it can drag in parts too. Perhaps James Patterson is spreading himself too thin at the moment with all the co-writing efforts too. Still have high hopes for the next one though..... 'double cross'

Good but not great
Like many I have followed the Alex Cross novels with enjoyment and interest. He is one of the top charactor creations in this genre in my opinion.

However James Patterson, I believe, needs to spend a little more time on the Alex Cross novels. He is an undoubtedly hot author but this book compares unfavourably against the initial books in the series.

A lot of readers were looking forward to this book, one of the key enjoyments of previous novels was the relationship content between Alex and his family and with Sampson which allowed the reader to get a greater profile of Alex Cross through this plot dynamic.

These relationships are underutilised in Cross and also the Butcher as a charictor is under drawn.

It is a good and enjoyable read and I would recommend it, just not as good as I was hoping for.