Cross, by James Patterson

I finished reading Cross this past week. In true Patterson form, he reeled me into the story and kept me captive until the very end. I love all the books in the Alex Cross series. Patterson doesn't just write a thriller, he writes a "romantic" thriller. No, not the fall in love and fall in bed kind of romance, but his characters are so vivid, so real, and so compassionate. Alex Cross is a family man, who has been disappointed in love several times since his wife died in his arms. But he deeply loves his grandmother, who has cared for him and the children since Maria's death. He loves his children, and the bonds of this family reach out and grab the reader by the heart. In this latest book, Alex is chasing a man known as "the butcher", for fairly obvious reasons. He's a hit man who "butchers" the people he kills. In fact, he killed his own father and cut him into little pieces and took him out on a boat and fed him to the fish. Alex has reason to believe this man is the one who murdered his wife. It's a riveting story, and has a surprise ending...although the book is open for another sequel. I'm glad, for I've really come to like Alex Cross and I would be disappointed if I couldn't read more of his adventures.