Double Cross by James Patterson

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Alex Cross knows that many serial killers crave attention, but even among this group of aberrants, the new D.C. murderer is exceptional. With the entire East Coast in a panic, Cross and detective Brianna Stone, his new honey, have to find to unmask and catch the new wannabe celebrity slayer. Double cross, double excitement from the most popular crime sleuth in the business.

From the Publisher

Alex Cross rejoins the police force to face the most diabolical villain he's ever encountered-a serial killer with a hunger for mega-celebrity.

Just when detective Alex Cross thought his life was calming down, 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. has the whole East Coast on edge. It is like nothing Alex Cross and his new girlfriend, Detective Brianna Stone, have ever seen. With each murder, the case becomes increasingly complex. There's only one thing Alex knows: this killer adores an audience.

As victims are made into gruesome spectacles citywide, inducing media hysteria, it becomes clear to Alex that the man he's after is a genius of terror-and he's after fame. The killer has the whole city on a string, and he'll stop at nothing to become the most terrifying star that Washington D.C. has ever seen.

The Alex Cross series is the #1 bestselling detective series, with more than 50 million books sold.

Publishers Weekly

Bestseller Patterson's 13th Alex Cross thriller (after 2006's Cross) pits the legendary profiler, now retired from law enforcement and working as a psychiatrist in private practice, against two serial killers. Kyle Craig, Cross's former colleague in the FBI (who was revealed to be the Mastermind, a particularly vicious and resourceful murderer, in 2001's Violets Are Blue), has managed to escape from a Colorado maximum-security prison and is steadily working his way through his list of those he holds responsible for his capture and incarceration. Cross, who heads the list, is drawn back into police work by his love interest, Maryland homicide detective Brianna Stone, who's been assigned to the task force focusing on the D.C. Audience Killer (or DCAK), who stages high-profile and sadistic murders to get the most public attention possible. Even newcomers will find themselves turning the pages to see how everything turns out, but significant plot holes and implausibilities make this a far cry from the similar, but far more suspenseful, two-front war waged by Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

It was smart to hire two talented and very different readers for Patterson's latest blockbuster about now retired FBI psychiatrist and former ace profiler Alex Cross. Fernandez catches Alex's raspy wisdom with instant credibility (he's done Cross before, in London Bridgesand Cross), and Stuhlbarg is full of lighter charm as the narrator and one of the two serial killers who are trying to spoil Cross's return to private practice. Stuhlbarg makes Alex's former FBI colleague Kyle Craig, who turned out to be a mass murderer nicknamed the Mastermind, as charismatic as he is deadly. Cross's other burden comes from a more conventional serial killer terrorizing the Washington area where Alex's lady is on the case. Simultaneous release with the Little, Brown hardcover (Reviews, Oct. 22). (Nov.)

School Library Journal

Bestseller Patterson's 13th Alex Cross thriller (after 2006's Cross) pits the legendary profiler, now retired from law enforcement and working as a psychiatrist in private practice, against two serial killers. Kyle Craig, Cross's former colleague in the FBI (who was revealed to be the Mastermind, a particularly vicious and resourceful murderer, in 2001's Violets Are Blue), has managed to escape from a Colorado maximum-security prison and is steadily working his way through his list of those he holds responsible for his capture and incarceration. Cross, who heads the list, is drawn back into police work by his love interest, Maryland homicide detective Brianna Stone, who's been assigned to the task force focusing on the D.C. Audience Killer (or DCAK), who stages high-profile and sadistic murders to get the most public attention possible. Even newcomers will find themselves turning the pages to see how everything turns out, but significant plot holes and implausibilities make this a far cry from the similar, but far more suspenseful, two-front war waged by Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs. (Nov.)

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