Double Cross (Alex Cross) Review

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(More customer reviews)(Note: this review contains minor spoilers.)
I received this book by accident from BOMC, as I did not respond in time to my monthly selection. It had been a long time since I read one of James Patterson's novels, so I decided to go ahead and give this one a try. Initially, it was a rapid page-turner, with one dramatic scene following quickly on the heels of another. But about a third of the way through, I just stopped, no longer intrigued, as I discovered that these bite-size chapters - 126 in a 300-page book - were just that, authorial cop-outs which allowed him to spoon-feed drama to the reader without actually earning suspense, intrigue, or suspension of disbelief.
If you ran the text together, removing the half-page graphic that begins, and the empty space that ends, each chapter, this story would take up probably no more than 150 pages. In those few pages, Patterson introduces us to 35 speaking characters identified by their first and last names, three killers and their ten alternate identities, and one copycat killer. Fifteen adults (and one foetus) are killed, their murders described in moderate detail (as much as a one-to-two page chapter allows, anyway). Patterson also follows a number of characters as they fly to such far-flung locations as Washington, DC, Florence, Colorado, Kalispell, Montana, and even Paris, France, traversing the globe as quickly and easily as if they were hopping on BART or the MTA.
What Patterson DOESN'T describe is how his various killers gain access to a number of the victims, some of whom are FBI agents highly trained in the art of self defense. Or how they get away from the scene of such crimes, especially when they are committed for maximum spectatorship. Or how the guards in a maximum-security prison handling a criminal the equivalent of Ted Bundy in notoriety and body count could be fooled by a change of clothing and a latex mask. Or how that same killer, with a nationwide APB warrant out for his arrest, can hop a plane to Europe. Nor does Patterson describe much in the way of character development - the only person in the whole book who seems to grow at all is protagonist Alex Cross' son Damon, an extremely ancillary character who gets all of one and a half chapters in the whole book.
And therein lies the double-edged sword of Double Cross: while the extremely short chapters allow Patterson to move the story quickly, they also act as a crutch, allowing him to cheat the hard stuff (as Misery's Annie Wilkes, who knows all about the miracle rescues and impossible escapes from the black and white serials of the fifties, would say, he's a "dirty bird!"). Don't know how to get a character from A to B believably? Use a chapter break! Don't know how to reconcile known police procedures with letting a criminal escape detection? Use a chapter break! Don't know how to plausibly get a young, virile, Quantico-trained FBI agent into the clutches of a known killer? Use a chapter break! While the format initially adds to the excitement of the read, it ultimately allows Patterson to cheat the reader, diminishing the overall experience.
While this is certainly not the worst book I've read in years, it's one of the weakest, most derivative of the Alex Cross novels, and of Patterson's work in general. The use of two sets of serial killers does not add much in the way of drama - the killer Kyle Craig does not actually target Cross or anyone known to Cross until the very end of the book, and when he finally does, it is not to kill Cross but to warn him. It feels more like a contrivance in order to fit the title than a well-considered plot device. The sudden love affair with new character Detective Bree Stone also seems manufactured and artificial. In fact, her character seems to exist only to get Cross involved in the case; though he describes Stone, a veteran of the MPD, a full detective, and lead on the investigation, as "poised," "competent," "a pro," and "good at [her job]," it is Cross himself who directs the forensics teams, makes most of the connections and breaks, rescues Stone from reporters' questions during a press conference, and ultimately solves the case. And the way Cross just waltzes into the main investigation of the story in the first place, without ever formally being hired, re-inducted, or contracted, never sits right with me - surely you can't just walk into a live, taped-off crime scene as a civilian with no current ties to the police or FBI? Add to that some weak editing ("...photographs...of...Bree, Sampson, and I," "Who was I trying to kid?," "Kyle Craig had hung himself!," etc.), re-hashed and implausible plotting, and unnatural-sounding dialogue towards the end, and you have yourself what appears to be a phoned-in performance by Patterson running on fumes (and perhaps needing to put braces on the grandkids, or the mortgage for a fifth house).
I have definitely enjoyed other, better books by Mr. Patterson, and have read far worse fiction than Double Cross in the recent past, but would advise anyone tempted to pick this one up to borrow it from the library first, or spend the three hours it'll take to read it with a "free" copy in the aisles of Barnes & Noble - it's just not a keeper.

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