Adam Colclough lives and works in the West Midlands, he writes regularly for a number of websites, one day he will get round to writing a book for someone else to review.
Alex Cross is in the fight of his life; on trial for gunning down four followers of his nemesis Gary Soneji. The evidence against him looks damning and some of his superiors seem intent on turning him into a scapegoat for police shootings nationwide.
As he fights for his freedom Cross is drawn into the hunt for six missing girls by former partner John Sampson. Their abductors have released several internet videos of them being tortured and maybe killed. The resulting investigation will take him into the very darkest regions of web.
Prolific writers are often described as being part of a ‘cottage industry’, which must make James Patterson the General Motors of crime thrillers (as this his twenty fifth Alex Cross novel and the list of his other publications takes up four pages at the end of this hardback edition).
Despite the longevity of the series there is no sign of either Patterson or Cross running out of steam, as this latest thriller sees the detective asking himself some searching questions about his motivations, and his future direction. It also puts him at the centre of a plot that is at the same time brilliantly inventive (with holograms and mind- altering substances used to devastating effect). The book also touches on some of the more troubling aspects of the internet, a medium that offers everyone a platform so inevitably invites onstage some truly troubled souls.
The action sequences are first rate and however unlikely some of the plot twists might be, they always stay within the realms of possibility. Cross, his family and colleagues make for a likeable reparatory company with whom the reader wants to spend time with.
Love him or loathe him, James Patterson shows a genuine understanding of the power and importance of storytelling. Long may he and Cross continue to go down the mean streets of DC and anywhere else trouble is to be found.
