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Cross is James Patterson's 12th novel featuring his most famous character, Alex Cross. It was released in 2006. This novel was also released in some markets under the title Alex Cross. This book is followed by Double Cross.
Alex Cross's former partner, John Sampson, asks him to investigate the case of a serial rapist in Georgetown with similarities to a case they worked on together before. The case ends up having a connection to the death of Cross's wife, Maria. [1]
Patterson portrays him as a lonely person but also as a model father who tries to spend as much time as possible with his family.
Her real name is Regina Hope Cross and she’s Alex’s grandmother who looked after him when he grew up. She’s 81 years old and still lives with Alex and his three children in Washington DC. Nana used to work as an English teacher and as an assistant principal at Garfield North Junior High School in Washington. She’s quite severe and manners are very important for her. She helped take care of Alex and his kids after Maria died.
Alex's deceased wife, whom we briefly meet in the opening chapters of the story. She is shown in a flashback in the very beginning of the story and also in another mini-flashback in the middle of the story. Maria was a kind, gentle, and loving woman. She is the mother of Janelle and Damon, who she loved with all of her heart. She was even pregnant with her and Alex's third child. She loved Alex very much, even telling him this just before she died.
In the novel, it is revealed that John killed Maria's real murderer, Jimmy "Hats" Galati, along with the help of a fellow detective named Rakeem Powell, in New York City. John and Rakeem covered up the murder, so that no one would find out. When John reveals this to Alex, it helps strengthens their friendship and the two decide to keep the truth buried.
Kayla is a resident physician at a local hospital in Southeast Washington, D.C., and also Alex's girlfriend in the novel. She was introduced in Four Blind Mice and appears all the way to Cross, during which, she and Alex form an attraction to each other and later start dating in Mary Mary . Kayla has romantic feelings for Alex and enjoys being with him.
During the story, she is stabbed by a junkie and is taken to the hospital, where Alex comforts her. While visiting her parents in her hometown of North Carolina, Kayla decides to move back there, finding that she can do more good there and later tells Alex, who is sadden by this but supports her. By the end of the novel, Kayla tries to convince Alex to move with her, showing that she still wants a relationship with him, but Alex refuses, believing that he can never leave Washington behind. Kayla and Alex decide to end their relationship, which saddens them both, and they go their separate ways.
Michael Sullivan grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He had no good childhood and often had problems with his father, who bullied him. So at the age of eighteen, he killed him before dismembering him using a scalpel and feeding him to the fish in the bay. Some time later he got connections to Mafia, especially the Maggione family, for which he worked as a killer. After one of his jobs, he got the nickname “the Butcher” due to his cruelness and often killing his victims in a brutal way. After killing his victims he would cut up their faces with a scalpel to make a point and take pictures to use a threatening devise so his next victims would keep quiet. Somewhere along the line, Michael started raping young, attractive women and would often leave them alive, showing them the same pictures to keep them quiet. He is believed to be the one who killed Maria, but is proven innocent as it was his former partner Jimmy "Hats" Galati who killed her. By the end of the novel, Michael is killed by Alex. He has a wife and three sons, and also has a home in Maryland.
Jimmy is The Butcher's partner in crime and turns out to be the killer of Maria. He is killed by Sampson and another detective named Rakeem Powell, years ago. It was never revealed to Alex that Jimmy had murdered his wife until the end of the novel, where John comes clean after they kill Michael "The Butcher" Sullivan, Jimmy's old partner. "Jimmy was known as "Jimmy the Protector" because he had the Butcher's back. Always." The beginning flashback was the only appearance throughout the series that Jimmy ever made, but he is mentioned dozens of times. Originally, The Butcher thinks one of his mob bosses killed Hats, but it is later revealed that Sampson killed him.
A film adaptation of the novel, titled Alex Cross , was released on October 19, 2012. The film stars Tyler Perry as the title character and Matthew Fox as The Butcher/Picasso.
The novel and the movie don't have much relation to each other, and the screenplay borrows elements from other parts of the Alex Cross stories, blending them together out-of-sequence, and making up other sections completely. For instance, Cross and his family lived in the Southeast section of Washington DC, not Detroit. Damon is the eldest child, not Janelle who was still a baby when Maria was killed in a drive-by (not by a sniper). Alex's partner and best friend is John Sampson, a black man bigger even than Cross.
Patterson implies in the on-disc interviews that this Alex Cross movie should be considered as a reboot of the franchise and is meant to continue through to the current novels. He also said that, although he loved Morgan Freeman in the first two movies, Along Came a Spider and Kiss the Girls , Tyler Perry is closer, physically and artistically, to his own internal conception of what Dr. Cross is like.
Kiss the Girls is a 1997 American neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by Gary Fleder and starring Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, and Cary Elwes. The screenplay by David Klass is based on James Patterson's best-selling 1995 novel of the same name. A sequel titled Along Came a Spider was released in 2001.
Along Came a Spider is a crime thriller novel, and the first novel in James Patterson's series about forensic psychologist Alex Cross. First published in 1993, its success has led to twenty six sequels as of 2021. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 2001, starring Morgan Freeman as Cross.
Kiss the Girls is a psychological thriller novel by American writer James Patterson, the second to star his recurring main character Alex Cross, an African-American psychologist and policeman. It was first published in 1995, and was adapted into a film of the same name in 1997.
Mary, Mary is the 11th novel by James Patterson featuring the former Washington, D.C. homicide detective and forensic psychiatrist and current FBI agent Alex Cross.
Pop Goes the Weasel (1999) is the fifth novel in the Alex Cross series written by James Patterson.
Violets Are Blue is the seventh novel by James Patterson to feature the Washington, D.C. homicide detective and forensic psychiatrist Alex Cross.
Four Blind Mice is the eighth novel featuring the Washington, D.C. homicide detective and forensic psychologist Alex Cross written by James Patterson.
Double Cross is the 13th novel in the Alex Cross series featuring Detective Alex Cross by James Patterson. It was released on November 13, 2007.
Cross Country is the 14th novel in the Alex Cross series by James Patterson. According to the Library Journal it was the second most borrowed fiction book in United States libraries in 2009.
Kyle Craig is a fictional character and antagonist in James Patterson's series of novels featuring Washington, D.C. detective Alex Cross. Craig, a Special Agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is initially a close friend of Cross and assists the detective in his high-profile investigations, and also occasionally asks Cross for help with his own cases. However, in the 2000 novel Roses Are Red, Craig is revealed to be a criminal who calls himself "The Mastermind", having organized a series of brutal bank robberies and murders. He is eventually brought to justice by Cross. From Violets Are Blue onwards, Craig is one of Cross' most formidable adversaries. In the film adaptations of Patterson's novels Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider, Craig is played by Jay O. Sanders.
I, Alex Cross is the 16th novel in the Alex Cross series by James Patterson. It was released on Hardcover and Paperback on November 16, 2009 to positive reviews and positive reception. It is preceded by Alex Cross's Trial. Its success led to 5 sequel novels, Cross Fire, Kill Alex Cross, Merry Christmas, Alex Cross, Alex Cross, Run and Cross My Heart.
Alex Cross is a 2012 American action thriller film directed by Rob Cohen and starring Tyler Perry as the title character and Matthew Fox as the villain Picasso. The adapted screenplay was written by Marc Moss and Kerry Williamson. It is based on the 2006 novel Cross by James Patterson and is the third installment of the Alex Cross film series, which was considered as a reboot of the series. The title character was previously portrayed by Morgan Freeman in Kiss the Girls (1997) and Along Came a Spider (2001).
Cross Fire is the 17th book of James Patterson's Alex Cross series. In the novel, Kyle Craig has come back for one final scare to finally kill Alex Cross, but Alex has a special day ahead of him, one that concerns Bree and his relationship. The novel was released in hardcover, paperback, and audio book on November 15, 2010. It was preceded by I, Alex Cross and was followed by Kill Alex Cross. The book sees Alex marrying Bree after proposing to her in the previous book; the book also sees the final appearance of Kyle Craig, who dies by shooting an oxygen tank, killing him and two cops before he can be sent to prison again by Alex.
Merry Christmas, Alex Cross is the 19th novel in the Alex Cross series. Detective Alex Cross is called out on Christmas Eve to deal with a hostage situation that has spiraled out of control. Released on November 12, 2012, the novel was well received by fans and critics alike. However, its commercial success was somewhat lukewarm in comparison to past installments, peaking at #2 and #3 on the New York Times and USA Today bestsellers lists, respectively.
Kill Alex Cross is the 18th novel in the Alex Cross series by James Patterson, following fictional detective Alex Cross as he tries to solve two crimes – one involving the president's kidnapped children and the other a case of someone poisoning the water supply.
Alex Cross is a crime, mystery, and thriller novel series written by James Patterson. The series focuses on Metropolitan Police Department detective and father Alex Cross as he faces threats to his family and the city of Washington, D.C. Supporting characters include two of Cross's children, Damon, and Janelle, as well as his grandmother Nana Mama. The series is usually narrated in first-person perspective by Alex Cross, and occasionally from the villains' point of view in third-person.
John Sampson is a fictional character in the mystery novel series Alex Cross and is one of the main characters.
Alex Cross, Run is the 20th novel in the Alex Cross series written by American author James Patterson. The novel focuses on the protagonist, detective Alex Cross, who must solve three cases at once with the whole city in a frenzy.
Cross My Heart is the 21st novel in the Alex Cross series written by author James Patterson. The novel takes place after Alex Cross, Run, in which Alex tries contemplating a life outside the Metro Police after the apparent death of Ava, an orphan girl they took in. It was initially not planned by Patterson, but was later confirmed to be in the works. The novel once again features Metro Police detective Alex Cross. Cross My Heart was released 20 years after the original novel, Along Came a Spider. The novel's events, having ended on a cliffhanger, were continued in the next novel, Hope to Die.