When ending year 2024, and jumping into 2025, I wanted to take a look at things I enjoyed and wanted to continue doing and making time for. So that lead me to reading. I want to read more. I know that last year I read 14 books. This year I do not have a set goal… but I just want to spend my time reading instead of doomscrolling.

Which leads me to James Patterson. I know that there is a new tv show out… Starring Aldis Hodge. (It sparked me to getting the first couple books of the Alex Cross series.) I had always seen the name James Patterson on the shelves… But I hadn’t been driven to read him until now. A story about a Black Psychologist… catching creeps and weirdos… I am down for that.

Alex Cross is a crime, mystery, and thriller novel series written by James Patterson. The protagonist of the series is Alex Cross, a Black Metropolitan Police Department detective and father who counters threats to his family and to the city of Washington, D.C. I found that the series began in 1993 and is ongoing. Nearly all the stories have made bestsellers lists and garnered favorable reviews, especially Double Cross; Cross Fire; I, Alex Cross; and Alex Cross, Run. So far I have noticed that there are 33 books so I need to keep on trucking.

Along Came A Spider is the first installment in a series of books written by James Patterson, about a Black forensic psychologist Alex Cross. It was adapted into a movie of the same name in 2001, starring Morgan Freeman as Cross. The first season of the Prime Video series Cross is loosely based on events of the novel starring Aldis Hodge. I don’t think I have ever watched the movies with Morgan Freeman although I had heard of them…

And I would have read them sooner…but I will say casting Tyler Perry to play him in a movie is not the way to get me interested. But oh well.

Anyway… I jumped into the story and I have thoughts and feelings. So let’s get into it. The book came out in 1993… but for those who are sticklers… SPOILERS ahead. I will be talking about MAJOR PLOT POINTS… so brace yourself.

The book opens with a young boy committing the Lindbergh baby kidnapping which is interesting. Is this a dream…? Is this a stream of consciousness??? I need to know. My knowledge of this crime is limited but I think I would have remember if it was committed by a 12 year old. I found out later… in the meantime we are introduced to Alex. He is at home with his two kids… and his grandmother… playing the piano… when he is called to the scene of a murder. Not uncommon in a city like D.C. The crime scene is one where a mother, her daughter and her toddler son were murdered. This family was poor and Black… and the latest in a series of murders that they had not been able to solve. This hits hard as Alex lost his wife in a drive-by shooting a few years ago and is now a single dad to two young children. His wife murder having not been solved. He’s a man that has fallen into his work but doesn’t let himself forget the importance of separating the two. Alex takes in the scene and records his thoughts… They want Alex at the crime scene because not only is he a police officer but a psychologist. This woman was brutalized and mutilated. Does anyone care that these Black people in a poor neighborhood are being killed? Not really. Nothing new there really. The youngest at the crime scene is a boy named Mustafa…probably 3 or 4 years old and Alex makes a promise to find his killer.

Elsewhere at Washington Day School, an exclusive private school, math teacher Gary Soneji kidnaps Maggie Rose Dunne and Michael Goldberg. Soneji is a likeable teacher… and because this school has exclusive, the students who go here, have ties many celebs and politicians. There were many protocols in place on how the children were to be moved and what to do in an emergency… but it doesn’t stop Mr. Soneji from kidnapping Maggie Rose Dunne and Michael Goldberg. Which I found to be interesting… Mr. Soneji comes to into Ms. Kim’s class… spouts some bull about there being an issue and taking the kids out of class. There is no real pushback as he walks out to the car with the two kids… He gets them into his minivan and drives off into the night… Where was all the security all over… I knew the kids had been prepped to deal with emergencies…. However, they followed him with no real issues… The sprays them with chloroform and then gives them a needle. It seems like a lot of time… before he drives off with the kids… And I am just waiting for someone to jump out ask questions and stop him… NOTHING. At an old farmhouse Soneji buries the children alive in special coffins he made for them. He has been planning this a long time. A long long time.

Cross’ lieutenant pulls him off the murder case to investigate the kidnapping. They want all the big guns on the case and Cross feels his department cares more about two rich White children than two Black prostitutes. (He is not exactly wrong….) Alex and John arrive at the children’s school to discover not only fellow officers from the Washington, D.C., police department, but the Secret Service and the FBI. Annoyed that more attention is being devoted to this high-profile case than to the Sanders-family murders in the poor neighborhood of Washington Southeast, Alex arrives at the crime scene with the intention of getting out of the investigation. However, the mayor insists Alex take the case. It was where we are introduced to Jezzie Flanagan… the head of the children’s Secret Service detail. She gets her ass chewed out as one would expect. We are introduced to different characters by being in their pov… Which is both thrilling and annoying. I read a review a while back that talked about how the story was hard to follow… it isn’t (at least to me.) But it was super annoying because something would happened and the next chapter would be a different POV. BUT I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS OTHER THING…. Were all the POV’s necessary? Yep. So there is that.

Soneji watches the TV coverage of the kidnapping and is angered by FBI agent Roger Graham’s contemptuous comments about him. Soneji later impersonates a reporter and stabs Graham. I was thinking… Goodness gracious. What would make think this man showed up alone to your house to talk about kidnapped kids…? in the middle of the night? Like I felt like he should have been on his guard. I will tell you whatever I thought… I did not think that Soneji was going to slit that man’s throat and leave him in the driveway like that. I was flabbergasted. I had to leave the book behind after that.

When running through the book… I was wondering how long this kidnapping case was lasting. I am used to cop dramas. So I figured they were going to were going to find the kids pretty quickly. No… Maggie is slipping in and out of consciousness and Michael hasn’t moved. Goodness Gracious. Cross, partner John Sampson and the FBI search Soneji’s apartment, discovering his obsession with kidnappings, particularly that of the Lindbergh baby. They find a note taped to a mirror with the phrase, “I want to be somebody!” Soneji later tells the FBI he killed Graham. (So was that opening scene a fantasy, joke or what?)

Over the next few months, Michael Goldberg’s body is discovered. What I didn’t get was if the boy was killed on purpose or not? It didn’t make sense to me to kill the boy… But I felt Alex’s pain when he discovers the body. Michael is just dumped… they find out very little about the kidnapping from his body so they like me are left at square one. Not long afterward, the hostage-rescue team receives a ransom demand from the kidnapper asking for $10 million. The team rushes to Miami Florida to investigate the business where the demand originated from. While there, they receive another demand and decide to follow the instructions in the hopes of saving the other child victim, Maggie Rose Dunne. This demand though is to meet at Disney which I am sure was much different than it is now… but still even in 1993 was no place to do a ransom drop off. And my other thought was… Alex is brought in… and he makes his thoughts on the ransom known. He seems against it. But they do not listen to him… (How the hell do you insist on him being there and then not listening to a word he says… WHAT THE HELL IS THE POINT?) Although, I think they went with it because it is what the parents wanted. The Senator wants his daughter back.

While all this is going on, Jezzie and Alex seem to warm up to one another. I would not date someone in the same field as me… Much less someone in the FBI. There is an even thicker layer of it being an interracial rendezvous. Even more so since it is set 30 years ago. I guess cases like this bring people together and people need a distraction for doing all this work.

Alex is chosen to deliver the ransom… And that blows my mind… His as well. Because how does this man Soneji know him? What is the play here? Alex spends his time mulling over that. Even up to when they arrive at Disney, Alex states he thinks this is a bad idea. But no one listens.  At Disney World a man approaches Cross, saying he will take him to see Maggie. The FBI surrounds them and the man threatens to have Maggie killed unless they release him. He takes Cross on a plane, flying to a small island. At nightfall, the pilot takes off again and lands in South Carolina. As the man leaves the plane with the ransom, Alex frees himself from the armrest he is handcuffed to and chases the man off the plane, only to be hit on the head by an unseen person. (Who is this person? Where is his back up???) By the time Alex’s backup arrives, the ransom is gone, and Maggie remains missing.

No Maggie Rose… lost the money… And in the end, the person holding the bag was the one that told everyone it was a bad idea. Alex is blamed by the press for the loss of ransom. Alex and John Sampson are removed from the case but given promotions. They return their attention to the Sanders family murders. Alex has begun a relationship with Jezzie Flanagan despite his grandmother’s warnings and it is in full swing. It wouldn’t have been so bad but I thought her showing up to his house and introducing herself to his children was ridiculous. (I don’t remember Alex telling Jezzie where he lived and much less telling her she can show up whenever she felt like it.)

Life moves on… But Alex Cross does not. He is unable to let go of the kidnapping case, Alex continues to investigate on his own. He wants to find Maggie Rose, even though her Senator father thinks Alex is trash. (But I mean, you wanted him on the case….) I figured no one was going to help him with taking the blame… but it still angered me.

We are shown that Soneji has a wife and child… and that he works for his brother in laws company. He resents his successful brother in law, his boring wife and his daughter. We see in his mind how he plans to kill them… all in good time. Eventually, Ms. Kim, a teacher from the child victims’ school is found murdered in the same manner as the Sanders women, and Maggie’s shoe is left at the crime scene. I AM BLOWN AWAY… WTF… Mostly… because we see it happen and unfold. I don’t open the door for anyone. So she opened the door and eventually let this man in her house. And I knew what was going to happen. I was too sad. Alex and John find an elderly woman who recalls a man driving around the neighborhood and going door to door selling heating systems for Atlantic Heating. She gives both Alex and John their first real clue in 2 different cases. We now know that they are looking for the same man in both instances.

The hostage-rescue team swarms the home of Gary Murphy, a door-to-door salesman, husband, and father of one. However, Gary saw them coming and is able to escape. I was so pissed… I knew what I was getting into with this Cat and Mouse game but I wanted to throw the book at that point. WE MISSED HIM AGAIN… It doesn’t take long to find him though since he is coming undone. Or is this part of his plan? Soneji spends a lot of time telling us how intelligent and superior he is to others. He doubted he would get caught… so the fact that Alex and company ended up at his house was a wrench in the plan. That doesn’t last long though because  several days later, Gary walks into a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania, kills a man, and takes the other patrons hostage. Being inside his mind was hard… he is in such a blind rage at everything and everyone… Alex arrives with John and is able to talk Gary out of the restaurant. They finally arrest the man who they know took the children… But Soneji isn’t done. Gary is taken to a Virginia prison where Alex visits him. The suspect claims to have a dissociative identity disorder, and Alex convinces those in charge to allow him to hypnotize Gary in order to determine if he is telling the truth. Under hypnosis, Gary appears to become his alter-ego, Gary Soneji, and lashes out at Alex. I should have seen that coming. Is it true? Or is this a part of the plan? Soneji was oily enough and smart enough to plan out this whole thing. Cross hypnotizes Soneji several times, learning he has a split personality; Gary Murphy, his everyday persona, is a gentle family man, while Gary Soneji is a vicious sociopath. I got why he was doing it but I doubted that Gary was being genuine. Or that Alex would garner any new information from Soneji.

Gary has no clue where Maggie Rose is… Is he genuine? Is he putting us on… There is a rush to trial (but no one is looking for Maggie Rose anymore. It seemed that everyone determined she was dead and just wanted punishment for his crimes. ) Alex thinks there is still something missing. The trial lasts eleven months. Alex is allowed to hypnotize Gary in the courtroom. Alex does, and Gary appears to remember things Gary Soneji did, including the idea that someone took Maggie from the farm where Gary Soneji hid her.  Despite the defense’s best effort at an insanity plea, Soneji is found guilty of kidnapping and murder and is imprisoned. I wasn’t worried they had gotten it wrong… because I read the sections from his point of view. I was worried that Alex seemed just as much on trial as anyone else. In prison, Gary seemingly becomes Gary Soneji full time. Alex speaks with Gary Soneji and learns details about the kidnapping, including his continued insistence that Maggie was taken without his knowledge. Gary Soneji insists he was being watched before the kidnappings, including the night he murdered the Sanders family, supporting an eyewitness statement. Gary seems annoyed that his planned was ruined… not necessarily that he is in jail. FORESHADOWING.

In the time that Soneji is locked up… Alex and Jezzie grow closer and closer. She shows up to his house and has taken him to her lake house. He starts wondering what a future with her will be like. Even though his grandmother is totally against the idea. I was warming up to the idea right up until sis started trying to talk Alex out of looking for Maggie Rose. Something about that never sat right with me. And Alex and I were gut punched when we figure out why… but alas… Nana Mama knows best. Alex connects Gary Soneji’s story of being watched to the Secret Service agents assigned to Michael Goldberg and goes to the FBI with his theory. The FBI confirms Alex’s suspicions and believes that Jezzie Flanagan, the Secret Service supervisor, was involved due to her sexual relationship with one of the agents.The FBI believes Mike Devine and Charley Chakely took the ransom money, hiring and later murdering the pilot from Florida. They were supposed to protect the kids but stood by as their lives were put into jeopardy. Michael was killed and needlessly so. Like WTF. Alex is devastated by the news but agrees to help get the proof needed to arrest those involved. The fact that he was told not to let on that the FBI was onto Jezzie. That is crazy.

Jezzie is shown checking on Devine with whom it is revealed she has a relationship with. There is a bit of jealousy from Devine as he thinks she is falling for Alex which she doesn’t answer. Is she falling for Alex? Or is it all just a game? Nothing is as it seems. No one can be trusted. On some level, you have a better chance with Soneji.

Alex decides to get the information from Jezzie, straight from the horse’s mouth. In the meantime, Soneji strikes a deal with the prison warden to help him break out. Now… I am wondering what is the reason that you would see the circus this man caused… know that he kidnapped and killed a child… pretended to be a teacher just so he could terrorize people and then say.. you know what… Let me help this man escape. Not all money is good money. And like even if he promised you money, did you think that he would actually keep his promise to you? Apparently he (the warden) did… and ended up dead for his trouble. Soneji then takes his tour on the road. He goes to Washington where tortures Devine to find out that the money is still there. After retrieving the money Soneji kills Devine.

Alex takes Jezzie to the Caribbean. It is here he slowly begins to question her… She explains that Michael Goldberg’s father was threatened by a Colombian cartel and demanded protection for his family. (I wonder what was the process to get these clowns to watch over his son.) Devine and Chakely noticed Soneji driving by the Goldberg house, and proceeded to follow him. The ransom was her idea, and they removed Maggie after the Goldberg boy died. However when asked where Maggie is… or what they did with her… Jezzie doesn’t answer… I have a few choice words for her… and on that note… we are moving on. She is arrested based on a recording Sampson made of the conversation, and eventually Maggie Rose is found with a native Bolivian family near the Andes Mountains, where she had been living for the past two years. The thing about Maggie Rose is throughout the book, we get bits and pieces of her so we know she is alive. Like none of them were ever going to mention what happened to the girl or let the parents know that she was even alive. That is pure evil; I know that Soneji is a deranged Killer but Jezzie is on another level… But I guess… if she could identify you… I would guess you wouldn’t want that.

One would think that the book would be over here. But nope… We see Soneji at the Alex Cross’s house. He has a plan to kidnap Alex’s kids and kill his grandmother. I read this section with my mouth open because if this happened… I wasn’t sure that I would muster the strength or care to read the next books. The fight tears through the house and the grandmother and the kids make it out alive. Thank God. But Alex is slightly injured and Soneji goes on the run. Police surround him around the White House as he attempts to kidnap more kids. As Alex attempts to coax Gary Soneji out, Gary decides to shoot Alex, but he doesn’t count on Sampson. It is Sampson who shoots Soneji and is then returned to prison.

A few years later, Alex is show attending Jezzie’s execution by Lethal Injection… and if you had given me 3 million guess. I would not have seen that coming. Period. Six weeks earlier Charlie Chakely was executed. Alex watches as she takes her last breath. I was blown away but in the end… so many people were outraged that I guess that was always going to be her ending. (There are many drastic changes made in the Morgan Freeman movie. Especially since Alex’s character is the one that shoots her.) He heads out to his car only to find a note there from Soneji. Revealing that yet another worker has been bribed or bullied by him. Disturbed but unwilling to let Soneji disrupt his life any further, Cross returns home to spend time with his family.

In the end, this story has too many ups and downs. This had me on the edge of my seat. I will be jumping into book two right away.. and eventually checking out the Prime series with Aldis Hodge. I loved everything about this book. Hopefully, we do not see Soneji reemerge later in the series. But I won’t hold my breath.