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Big bad wolves have a long literary history. James Patterson's newest Alex Cross novel has a human wolf that is more cunning, dangerous and lethal than any of his namesakes. "An improbable murder story told about the Wolf … had made its way into police lore and then spread quickly from Washington to New York to London and to Moscow." While no one knew if the tale was true, "it was consistent with other outrageous incidents in the Russian gangster's life." He was linked to one particularly gruesome murder that took place after he visited an Italian don in "the high-security supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. The next morning Augusto Palumbo was found dead in his cell. Nearly every bone in his body had been broken … a method used in the Moscow underworld … known as zamochit …[that] signified complete and total dominance of the attacker. The Wolf was boldly stating that he was now the godfather."
He rises on the horizon about the same time Detective Cross has turned in his Washington, D.C. shield, to enroll in the New Agent Training program "at the FBI Academy in Quantico. Sometimes called 'Club Fed' … [it] was turning out to be a challenging, arduous, and tense program … [that he] liked." At forty-two, Cross was the oldest trainee. The new director, Ron Burns, who was thought to be a rebel by the old guard, was willing to bend a few rules because he wanted Alex on his watch; thus, he made an offer Cross couldn't resist.
His first assignment is to solve the mystery behind the disappearances of white, blonde, attractive upper-middle class women. They had begun to disappear in alarming numbers, never to be seen or heard from again. The women have vanished with no clues left behind and no witnesses to their abductions. The first bit of information presented to Cross is in a seminar focused on psychopaths. "Even though [he] was familiar with some of the material [learned when he earned his Ph.D. in psychology, he] found himself jotting down [many] of the forty 'characteristics' of psychopathic personality and behavior." As one of the leading investigators assigned to the case, he felt an adrenalin rush as heady as any he has experienced as a detective.
But things are not as smooth as Alex had hoped. His immediate superior is resentful and angry about Cross's reputation and status above the other rookies. And on the home front, Christine, his former lover and mother of his son, decides to reappear. She had abandoned them all a year before, so Alex knows his family may be threatened. As she tries to ingratiate herself into the Cross clan, she makes it clear that she wants custody of the little boy --- and she is willing to do anything to get it. Alex, his children and his mother are devastated at the possibility of losing the wonderful child who had become part of their family.
At times THE BIG BAD WOLF seems a bit of a stretch for the reader. The cutouts between worldwide law enforcement agencies and the Wolf defuse the suspense when they laughingly admit they are not who they pretended to be. The abductions, carried out in broad daylight, mostly in shopping malls, will send a chill through every woman who has ever walked to her car without thinking who may be following her. The notion of a white slavery ring, which is the basic premise upon which the plot rests, sounds far-fetched but overall it works and at least makes for an interesting read. After all, how many readers think about suburbia as the showcase for crazy men who are willing to pay millions to fulfill their fantasies with stolen women?
James Patterson is such a prolific writer, and Alex Cross is such a familiar character, that fans, and those new to this series, are bound to enjoy the latest addition to the Alex Cross/Will Lee novels. Enjoy!
--- Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum
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