The People vs. Alex Cross

Alex Cross finds himself on the wrong side of the law for the first time in his career, suspended and awaiting trial on a murder charge that he is certain has been manufactured against him. While building his defense, he reconnects with former partner Sampson to investigate a string of disappearances linked to the darkest corners of the internet, a case that runs simultaneously with his own fight to clear his name. James Patterson's twenty-fifth Cross novel puts its hero in genuine institutional jeopardy.

Andre Blake narrates with the combination of authority and vulnerability that the novel's premise requires, capturing Cross's professional confidence coexisting with the fear of a man who understands how justice can fail. The dual structure, the personal legal battle and the external investigation, keeps the pacing vigorous, and Blake's voice shifts register appropriately between the two. Longtime series readers will find the courtroom element a compelling departure from the standard Cross formula.