Cross Justice

Cross Justice, James Patterson, author; Ruben Santiago-Hudson, narrator
At first, when the narrator starts reading, it is a bit off-putting. His voice almost lulls the reader into a trance, but then, as the story develops, it picks up a cadence and tone that keeps the reader enthralled and wide awake. Each character has a distinct voice and personality. This book has a similar plot line to the recent book by Michael Connelly, which also has a similar title, “The Crossing”. There is a criminal who insists he is falsely accused and law enforcement is corrupt; drugs, rape and murder are afoot. Then the storyline veers in an entirely different direction. If you liked “The Crossing”, you will probably also like this book and vice show more versa.
When the book opens, there is a beautiful woman named Coco in a Palm Beach mansion. She is selecting clothes and jewelry from the closet of the woman she has just murdered. She shows no remorse for the crime, but rather thinks she was justified in performing her heinous act. Coco is a cross dresser, a man, who in that moment of time truly believes he is a woman.
At the same time as this occurs, Dr. Alex Cross, his wife Bree, their son and daughter are in a car on their way to Starksville, North Carolina. Alex has not returned to see his family there in decades. He has few memories of his life there, and some of those that he has are distorted. Alex and Bree are both detectives with the Washington DC metro police. Recently, they have suffered through some trying times, and this trip, taking Alex back to his roots, is supposed to help them recover from that stress. Making matters a bit more complicated for them is the fact that their cousin Stefan has recently been arrested. He has been accused of drugging and raping a young female high school student and of an even more serious crime, the horribly brutal rape and murder of a young male high school student. Both victims were students in the school in which he was a teacher, and the evidence has mounted up against him. Stefan insists he has been framed. Alex and Bree agree to keep an open mind and work together with Naomi, their niece, who is the lawyer defending Stefan, to see if they can find out if he is telling the truth about his innocence. Starksville’s history is not unblemished. There is racial tension and a questionable justice system.
During their stay in Starksville attempts are made on their lives, attempts are made to frame their daughter and Alex learns devastating secrets about his family that turn his life upside down, drastically altering all of the ideas he had previously held about his mother and father. When Alex learns that his father did not die in North Carolina, but actually, unknown to all but an uncle, had moved to a town in Florida where he eventually killed himself, Alex decided to travel there to see what he could discover about that part of his father’s life. He flew into Palm Beach and opportunely became involved in, and assisted in, the investigation of the murders committed by Coco, the above cross dresser. Meeting the detectives in charge of that case, as he pursued information on his father’s last days, eventually proved invaluable to him in his investigation into the crimes committed in Starksville.
As this story proceeds, the reader will no doubt wonder how both of these cases are related, if they are at all. The many sub plots in this well constructed mystery are knitted together so logically that the narrative does not get confusing, but rather it gets more and more suspenseful. Slowly, the hidden lives and secrets of many of the characters come to light, and the connections between Palm Beach and Starksville will shock the reader as the crimes are solved.
Take this book on an airplane, to the beach, to a bench in the park; listen to it in the car as you drive. Allow yourself to be swept away into the world of a really creative mystery with a conclusion you will never guess! show less

Excellent book! Alex Cross, with his wife, Bree, Nana Mama, and his kids, decides to take a long overdue trip back to his roots. Visiting Starksville, North Carolina was supposed to be a vacation after their narrowly escaped death at the hands of a demented madman named Thierry Mulch months before. Still, Alex also wants to help his cousin, Stefan Tate, who is on trial for his life. The story takes us back to Alex's roots, where we glimpse his childhood and Nana Mama's tumultuous background. The plot is gripping as the author alternates between the murder trial and another Palm Beach, Florida, case. Just as you're beginning to wonder how these two cases relate to the Cross family, there's a huge surprise twist you will not see coming. show more This edition of the Alex Cross series is packed with action, suspense, and emotion—another winner from Mr. Patterson. show less

Alex Cross is my new favorite detective! I think Cross is the only detective I know who has a happily-married-with-kids background. Wife, Bree, and his two kids, Jannie and Ali, and the amazing Nana Mama, his grandmother, all trek down to North Carolina where Cross must try to get his cousin off the hook for a grisly murder. I have missed a few installments and will have to go back and find them: because I like Cross and Bree so much, but it was just fine to read this out of order.

And... This is a two-for-one mystery, well, actually a three-for-one mystery! This book reveals deep, dark secrets from Cross' childhood. And while digging deeper into his past, Cross travels to Florida where he stumbles upon a mysterious ring of socialite show more murders. That's three mysteries! Humorous, intriguing, fast-paced with several close calls as people try to get rid of Cross and avoid getting caught. Totally recommended. show less

James Patterson cannot write a bad book! The storyline of this book was different than the rest of the Alex Cross series but I actually enjoyed it more. I loved finding out part of the back story of Alex and seeing the rest of his family in it rather than simply focusing solely on him. I hope this series never ends

The best Alex Cross book in many, many years. He and his family travel back to the town in which he was raised by his parents, who met with untimely ends, resulting in Alex and his brothers being adopted by Nana Mama and moving north. Alex is asked to assist his niece in defending his cousin, who is accused of rape and murder of a young boy. Meanwhile, there is a second storyline about a series of robbery/murders in Florida, where Alex goes to learn what really happened to his long dead father. Things in Starksville, North Carolina are very unstable, corruption abounds, and someone does not want Alex and Bree investigating the town's many secrets. Lots of suspense and surprises.

One little thing that annoyed me was how often a military show more trained sniper, who shot someone from a moving car at distance, could miss Alex and others. Guess that's why it's called fiction... show less

I have a bone to pick with the person who decided that it was alright to begin the first CD with a long preview of an upcoming book. With CDs, it is impossible to skip ahead to where the real book starts so I listened for a while and then it run until it got to Cross Justice by James Patterson. At the end of the story, most of the last CD covered another long preview! I don't mind the one at the end so much as the preview at the beginning. Because of that I have decided to never listen to another book on CD by James Patterson.

At the beginning of the story, Alex Cross, his wife, Bree, Nana Mama and his two children are with him on a trip to his hometown, Starkesville, North Carolina. His cousin, a gym teacher has been of torturing and show more killing one of his students. He wants to get at the truth and also find out the full story of what really happened to his parents and led to his adoption by Nana Mama.

I have read books from this series before but not lately so I wasn't familiar with any of his family members. At the beginning there were quite a few characters introduces and I got confused with the characters in the preview in the other book. Also the reader laid on the Southern accent so thickly that it came off as false in the beginning. I did enjoy learning about Alex Cross's childhood and the mystery that connected with his cousin. Later the confusion seemed to calm down and I enjoyed the courtroom scenes.

To me, as soon as the author stopped introducing new characters, the story got better. I also enjoyed the sound effects. The pace picked up and the story got more enthralling on the last CD. show less

I really enjoyed this Alex Cross book. Alex heads off to his birth town to help out his cousin who is accused of horrendous crimes. While he is there, some information about his parents deaths comes to light. In the previous books, his parents are not really mentioned so this story was very interesting to me and gave some dimension to Alex and Nanna. Jannie is training with some University students and suddenly is accused of using drugs. While all this is going on there is another spate of murders happening in Palm Beach Florida that Alex gets mixed up in when he searches for information about his father. These multiple story lines all fit together extremely well in the conclusion of this book. I enjoyed it very much.