Alex Cross is a crime, mystery, and thriller novel series written by James Patterson. Focusing on protagonist Alex Cross as he fights off against threats to his family and Washington, D.C., Cross is a widowed father and detective; his wife died leaving him with his children, Damon and Janelle as well as his grandmother “Nana Mama”. The series is narrated in first-person perspective by Alex Cross, yet unusually also narrates from the villains’ point of view in third person.
Dr. Alex Cross is a specialist in forensic psychology, originally working for the Washington DC police department and later as an FBI senior agent.
Each book in the series is a whole story with a beginning and an ending, however there are references to prior stories in the series.
He had always wanted to be famous. When he kidnapped two well-known rich kids it was headline news. Then one of them was found – dead. For such a high-profile case, they needed Alex Cross, a psychologist, and Jezzie Flanagan, a Secret Service agent – yet even they were no match for the killer.
As two serial killers terrorize different regions of America, the FBI begins to suspect that the two are competing with each other, and Washington, D.C. police detective Alex Cross embarks on a personal quest to find the perpetrators.
Back on home territory after the “Kiss the Girls” case, Alex Cross faces his most harrowing challenge yet: a pair of ice-cold killers who are picking off the nation’s rich and famous one by one with chilling professional efficiency.
Killer Gary Soneji is back, filled with hatred and gaining revenge on detective Alex Cross. Nothing, not even death itself, is going to stand in his way.
Alex Cross calls them the Jane Doe murders. Each body has been dumped, abandoned without clothes, without ID. There is no set pattern to the killings and officially they are unconnected. But Alex knows that one man is responsible, a man who’s living dangerously a new enemy he’s named Weasel.
The Mastermind is a deadly criminal who orchestrates a series of bank robberies that are notable for their precise demands – and their explosive violence when the demands are not met exactly. Detective Alex Cross takes on the case, promptly getting under The Mastermind’s skin, who makes it his personal goal to take revenge on(…)
Two joggers are found murdered in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, and the killings are bizarrely reminiscent of a Washington, D.C. case that Alex Cross has been unable to solve. He is called to San Francisco, and then learns of similar murders in eight cities from Las Vegas to Charleston. Together with a female San(…)
Alex Cross is preparing to resign from the Washington Police Force. He’s enjoying the feeling, not least because the Mastermind, Kyle Craig, is now in prison. And now, with Nana and the kids, he is talking about the future. Then Sampson shows up at the house needing Alex’s help more than ever.
Alex Cross’ family is in terrible danger–at the same time that his new job with the FBI brings him the scariest case of his career. A team of kidnappers has been snatching successful, upstanding men and women right before their families’ eyes–possibly to sell them into slavery. Alex’s knowledge of the D.C. streets, together with(…)
A bomb goes off in a small town in the west of America and FBI agent Alex Cross is summoned in to help investigate. Calls from an anonymous villain do little to explain the violence as reports come in of similar bombings across the globe.
Alex Cross travels to Los Angeles to hunt for a killer more brutal and ambitious than he’s ever encountered– a woman who has it in for Hollywood’s hottest players. FBI agent Alex Cross is on vacation with his family at Disneyland when he gets a call from the Director. A well-known actress was shot outside(…)
Alex Cross was a rising star in the Washington, DC, Police Department when an unknown shooter gunned down his wife, Maria, in front of him. The killer was never found, and the case turned cold, filed among the unsolved drive-bys in D.C.’s rough neighborhoods. Years later, still haunted by his wife’s death, Cross is making(…)
Just when Alex thought his life was calming down into a routine of patients and therapy sessions, he finds himself back in the game–this time to catch a criminal mastermind like no other. A spate of elaborate murders in Washington D.C. have the whole East Coast on edge. They are like nothing Alex Cross and(…)
When the home of Alex Cross’s oldest friend, Ellie Cox, is turned into the worst murder scene Alex has ever seen, the destruction leads him to believe that he’s chasing a horrible new breed of killer. As Alex and his girlfriend, Brianna Stone, become entangled in the deadly Nigerian underworld of Washington D.C., what they(…)
The year is 1906, and America is segregated. Hatred and discrimination plague the streets, the classroom, and the courts. But in Washington D.C., Ben Corbett, a smart and courageous lawyer, makes it his mission to confront injustice at every turn. He represents those who nobody else dares defend, merely because of the color of their(…)
Alex Cross’s niece is found brutally murdered. Overcome with grief, Alex vows to take down her killer before he strikes again. But shortly after he begins the investigation, Alex discovers that his niece had gotten mixed up with some very important, very dangerous people. And she’s not the only one who has disappeared. The hunt(…)
Detective Alex Cross and Bree’s wedding plans are put on hold when Alex is called to the scene of the perfectly executed assassination of two of Washington D.C.’s most corrupt: a dirty congressmen and an underhanded lobbyist. Next, the elusive gunman begins picking off other crooked politicians, sparking a blaze of theories–is the marksman a(…)
The President’s son and daughter are abducted, and Detective Alex Cross is one of the first on the scene. But someone very high-up is using the FBI, Secret Service, and CIA to keep him off the case and in the dark. A deadly contagion in the water supply cripples half of the capital, and Alex(…)
It’s Christmas Eve and Detective Alex Cross has been called out to catch someone who’s robbing his church’s poor box. That mission behind him, Alex returns home to celebrate with Bree, Nana, and his children. The tree decorating is barely underway before his phone rings again–a horrific hostage situation is quickly spiraling out of control.(…)
Detective Alex Cross arrests renowned plastic surgeon Elijah Creem for sleeping with teenage girls. Now, his life ruined, Creem is out of jail, and he’s made sure that no one will recognize him–by giving himself a new face. A young woman is found hanging from a sixth-floor window, and Alex is called to the scene.(…)
Detective Alex Cross is a family man at heart–nothing matters more to him than his children, his grandmother, and his wife Bree. His love of his family is his anchor, and gives him the strength to confront evil in his work. One man knows this deeply, and uses Alex’s strength as a weapon against him(…)
Detective Alex Cross is being stalked by a psychotic genius, forced to play the deadliest game of his career. Cross’s family – his loving wife Bree, the wise and lively Nana Mama, and his precious children have been ripped away. Terrified and desperate, Cross must give this mad man what he wants if he has(…)