Part of Alex Cross, book 21
First published 2013
Detective Alex Cross has built his life around protecting others, but his greatest strength becomes his fatal weakness when a brilliant criminal fixates on him. This adversary understands that Cross draws his power from his deep love for his children, his grandmother, and his wife Bree. The villain crafts an impossible trap: Cross must choose between saving his family and destroying them. Every move Cross makes to protect the people he loves pushes them closer to death. The detective finds himself caught in a psychological maze designed by someone who claims to be the greatest criminal mind in history. As the stakes climb higher than ever before, Cross discovers that his family bonds, which have always anchored him through darkness, now threaten to pull them all under. The case forces Cross into territory he has never faced, where his instincts as both a detective and a father work against each other.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, detective, action, psychological-thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, psychological-cat-and-mouse, unreliable-narrator
Setting: United States
Period: Contemporary
419 pages · Hardcover · Little, Brown and Company
Content warnings: anxiety, depression, murder