The People vs. Alex Cross
""For me, the court case was the strongest part of this book." "
Synopsis:
Detective Alex Cross has never been on the wrong side of the law. Until now. Charged with murdering followers of his old nemesis Gary Soneji, Alex Cross becomes the poster child for trigger-happy cops.
He knows it was self-defence. Will the jury agree? Suspended from the police and fighting for his freedom, even Cross's own family begin to doubt his innocence as shocking evidence mounts.
With everything on the line, Cross must go it alone. He's the only one who knows that there's a real murderer watching from the shadows, one Cross must stop – even if it means he can't save himself…
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Review:
Before I say anything about this book, read the Alex Cross Book Shot, 'Cross Kill' beforehand as this has a huge bearing on what happens in 'The People vs. Alex Cross'. As with most Patterson books, there are two strands here. One is Cross' court case/appearance – the other is about someone kidnapping blonde women and filming them being hunted down and killed, the footage being put up on a site on the dark web. For me, the court case was the strongest part of this book. It questioned Cross' use of a firearm and how many times he had shot at suspects. The total was quite alarming, especially as many officers in the line of duty do not release their firearm once throughout their entire career. This questioning of Cross' motives was very interesting. Is he a police officer, or is he simply a vigilante? Despite the intriguing evidence of the prosecution, it will come as no surprise that our man Cross gets off (it would not be a good end to such a successful series if our man got sent to jail for the rest of his days!). Plus, he has to go and sort out this other case with the kidnapped blondes. Although the 'Blonde case' is intriguing, unfortunately the book dives rapidly in to a thriller chase with helicopters, armed police, the army, explosions and anything else Patterson could throw at it. Also, it appears that despite his close call with the law, Cross has learnt nothing and appears to release the same amount of bullets in one afternoon than in his entire career thus far. Plus, as expected his body count also rises, so no lessons learned by Mr. Cross. Despite the hectic and messy finale, I enjoyed this book with the court case which Patterson brought to vivid life. I would have preferred it if Patterson had taken it down a notch or two and kept within the courtroom, rather than have Cross on a snow bike shooting off enough rounds for the whole of D.C.P.D. Cross is Patterson's most iconic character out of all the series he overviews, so he needs to look after Alex Cross and give him a few more decent storylines.