Part of Alex Cross, book 35
First published 2026
Detective John Sampson stands in a blast crater on a Washington DC street, radioing for the bomb squad and federal backup after what appears to be a terrorist attack. Meanwhile, his longtime partner Alex Cross travels to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, searching through the apartment of a missing psychology graduate student who happens to be his own son Damon. The two detectives must work their cases from different cities, tracking crimes separated by hundreds of miles. Cross worries that Damon's connection to his famous FBI profiler father may have put the young man in danger. From federal headquarters to local police stations, from crime scenes to airports, the partners pursue their investigations across state lines. The physical distance tests their partnership as they race to solve both cases. The bond between Cross and Sampson faces its greatest challenge when they cannot work side by side.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, thriller, detective, action
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: partners, race-against-time
Setting: Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Washington DC
Period: Contemporary
362 pages · Kindle Edition · Little, Brown and Company