Who would ever think that killers would have their own fan club? That’s the good fortune of Kyle Craig, the serial killer known as Mastermind who was caught by Alex Cross, sentenced to death and sent to the super maximum security prison in Colorado to await his execution.

Although he’s not permitted contact with the outside world except for an hour a week with his attorney, his fans somehow manage contact with him and although it takes him four years, he orchestrates his escape. Now he’s out of prison and begins his tour of payback.

Meanwhile, in Washington DC, another killer is beginning his rampage. This killer seeks the spotlight. He is a consummate actor and master of disguise. His first killing is that of a well-known crime writer, Tess Olsen. His character is that of an Iraqi who kills to avenge Abu Ghraib. He is dubbed the “Audience Killer” by Cross.

His next character is Dr. Xander Swift and his murder victim is a Hollywood actor startting in an off-Broadway play in front of an audience of nearly 1000 at the Kennedy Center. The killer executes his victim and makes a clean get away.

The third killing is over the George Washington Memorial Parkway and is just different enough that everyone is thinking it’s a copycat murder. A fourth scene is set into motion at FedExField at the Washinton Redskins game.

More murders are committed before Alex and Bree Stone, the lead detective on the case get their first break in the form of an image from a cellphone that can be traced back to the sending phone. They trace the phone to the brother of the killer Alex caught in LA a few years back, but the killer is moving in on them as his whole plan is to kill John Sampson, Bree Stone and Alex Cross before it’s all over with.

Meanwhile, Kyle Craig has killed his mother and the judge who sentenced him to death and now makes arrangements to meet up with the Audience Killer.

The climax comes when the Audience Killer kidnaps John Sampson then lures Alex and Bree to his hiding place, planning to kill all three of them at once. HIs plans are foiled but I’ll let you read the book to find out just how. THere’s at least one other key player in all this that haven’t mentioned so you’ll have somthing fresh to discover .

James Patterson has given us yet another glimpse into Alex Cross’ make up. We discover more about him as a father, psychiatrist and person in this book. Mr Patterson is very good at giving his characters, no matter how minor a depth that makes us feel like we know them.

Double Cross by James Patterson
Published 2007 by Little, Brown and Company
ISBN 0-316-01505-9/978-0-316-01505-9

Tags: Alex Cross, Capital punishment, George Washington Memorial Parkway, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Kennedy Center, Murder, Serial killer, Washington DC

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 24th, 2008 at 12:31 pm and is filed under Action Books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.