ALEX CROSS’S TRIAL
James Patterson and Richard DiLallo
Little, Brown and Company
Historical Fiction
ISBN: 9780316070621
ALEX CROSS’S TRIAL is not, strictly speaking, a part of James Patterson’s Alex Cross canon. Instead, it is presented by Patterson and co-author Richard DiLallo as a memoir written by Cross for his children based upon third-party journals and family oral histories concerning the trials and tribulations of Abraham Cross, a great-uncle of Alex’s, and Ben Corbett. It is an interesting concept and, for those of a certain age, a revelation.
TRIAL is set in the Deep South of the early 1900s. Corbett is a Spanish-American war veteran and an idealistic attorney who has garnered a national reputation for taking on tough cases involving civil rights issues. He is recruited by his former superior officer (and now president) Theodore Roosevelt to undertake what amounts to an undercover mission in Eudora to determine the truth behind race-related hangings throughout the Deep South. In places such as Corbett’s hometown of Eudora, Mississippi, black people are being lynched, and Roosevelt wants Corbett to get to the bottom of it. Corbett’s contact in Eudora is to be Abraham Cross, an elderly and principled resident of The Corners, Eudora’s de facto black section. Cross is a witness to the hangings, and Roosevelt’s actions are in direct response to Cross’s pleas for assistance as well as newspaper accounts of the incidents.
Corbett, notwithstanding the fact that the assignment is putting a strain on his already groaning marital relationship, journeys back to Eudora. His return, so far as anyone knows, is for the purpose of interviewing candidates for a Federal judgeship, and he is initially welcomed by old friends and acquaintances, most notably Elizabeth Begley, Corbett’s first love. But the same cannot be said of Corbett’s father, a cold and distant man whose demeanor belies his powerful position as the town judge. When the real purpose of Corbett’s return home gradually becomes known, however, he is greeted with growing hostility by many of his former friends. And when Corbett confirms for Roosevelt that the rumors of brutal hangings in the area are true, it sets off a firestorm that culminates in a criminal trial, which not only attracts national attention but also serves as a harbinger of things to come.
While TRIAL takes place in a fictitious place (Eudora, Mississippi is just across the Tennessee-Mississippi border from Memphis and not near Louisiana as it is described in the novel), the events are based upon actual occurrences that took place sporadically in the early 1960s. Thankfully, the world has moved on since this dire time; black state highway patrolmen issue speeding tickets on Mississippi highways --- of which I have firsthand knowledge --- and minorities are well represented in local government and the media. TRIAL, however, graphically describes another time, and what might be accurately called another place. Although not a true successor to the series, it is a haunting account of a bleak time in America’s history. And for those who are waiting for a new book featuring Alex Cross rather than one that is ostensibly by him, never fear --- you can embark on the next Cross adventure in November.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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