Triple Cross

3.5★s Triple Cross is the thirtieth book in the popular Alex Cross series by prolific American author, James Patterson. Investigative consultant to DC's metro Police and to the FBI, Dr Alex Cross, and his good friend, Detective John Sampson are trying to solve a series of mass killings in which the perpetrator has been dubbed the Family Man. Over some months, three DC families (so far) have been efficiently executed without a single trace, nor any commonalities between them giving a clue to the killer.

Soon after the third killing, Suzanne Liu contacts Cross to tell him she knows who the killer is. Until recently, Liu was editor for true-crime writer, Thomas Tull and she is convinced, not only that he's the Family Man, but also that he is responsible for the serial murders he has written about in his three previous books. Sampson and Cross are sceptical, but after Cross reads the first of Tull's books, he thinks it's worth a look.

Tull's usual practice has been to stick close to the police investigation and then suggest something that proves instrumental in solving the case. And he tries the same thing again.

Meanwhile, former Police Chief, Bree Stone is investigating a high-profile fashion designer for an anonymous client. A closed file on a withdrawn case alleging the sex trafficking and slavery of aspiring fashion models forms part of the information that Bree has been sent. Why might a fashion icon involve herself in something like that? And who is the anonymous client with deep pockets?

The narrative flips between the entirely separate cases that Cross and Stone are investigating, with occasional contributions from the Family Man and Tull's researcher. Both cases are somewhat intriguing, although the blurb "a serial killer who's murdering entire families—and who will next be coming for Cross" is quite misleading. Targeting of Cross's own family has been done rather too many times already, but not this time.

Quite some suspension of disbelief is required to accept that a professional like Bree Stone would make such a mess of a covert operation, and her cavalier attitude to involving a civilian in a potentially dangerous situation. The resolution of that case comes out of left field and leads right into a teaser for the next book.

There's a fair bit of gunplay amongst rich people in fancy clothes, and the plot has a twisted red herring big enough to serve a crowd. The ARC's anti-theft device is the removal of all ff, ffi and ffl which really interrupts the reading flow: most irritating. Standard Patterson fare that will appeal to avid Alex Cross fans. This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Random House UK Cornerstone