November, 2012

When the children of the President of the United States are kidnapped, the investigation immediately becomes the highest-priority case in Washington. Simultaneously, a lethal contagion is spreading through the capital, and the two crises may be connected. Detective Alex Cross is drawn into the most politically dangerous investigation of his career, working against both a ticking clock and forces within the system that may not want the case solved.

Andre Braugher and Zach Grenier share the narration with a complementary tension that suits Patterson's rapid-fire chapter structure. Braugher brings the gravity that Cross's perspective demands, and Grenier handles the supporting ensemble with precision. At just under seven hours, this eighteenth Alex Cross entry is tightly constructed around a premise that puts the stakes at the highest possible level from the first chapter.