The Big Bad Wolf, James Patterson

The Big Bad Wolf
James Patterson
Hardcover 390 pgs
Little Brown












Amazon Blurb -
In a recent column in Entertainment Weekly, Stephen King cited Patterson's thrillers as the example of "dopey" bestsellers. We hope that doesn't mean that those who enjoy them are dopes, because this new one is vastly entertaining. Alex Cross, Patterson's black lawman hero, has left the D.C. police force for the FBI. But Cross was a star cop, so when the Bureau becomes aware that attractive white women are disappearing at an unusually high rate in the nation's capital, Cross, despite still being in training at Quantico, is brought onto the case and is personally mentored by the Bureau's director, earning the ire of some Feds but the support of others. Behind the disappearances is a sexual slavery operation run as a sideline by one of the more believable and most compellingly evil villains in the Patterson universe, the Wolf, a mysterious former KGB man who's now the world's top mobster. The narrative throughout is swift and varied, as Patterson cuts among the diabolical schemes of a Russian magnate who may be the Wolf, the plight of several kidnap victims, the dogged pursuit by Cross and company of the Wolf, and the hideous designs of the members of an encrypted computer chat room who pay the Wolf fortunes to snatch women who fit their fantasies. And there's domestic drama, too, as the mother of Cross's young son, Alex, decides that she wants her boy back. Full of plot surprises and featuring a balanced mix of intrigue, hard action and angst, the novel, on which Patterson notably does not share cover credit, grips from start to finish. The Alex Cross series remains Patterson's finest, and this is the finest Cross in years. Maybe we're dopes, but we're smiling ones.
*****

This is what I'm talking about!!!  Patterson grabs you right outta the gate and doesn't let you go till the last page!!!  I haven't read Patterson in several years and I was not disappointed.

Alex Cross is now joining the F.B.I. and he is being dumped smack dab in the middle of a kidnapping ring that is praying on white upscale woman, for the most part.  The Russian Mafya and a ruthless psychopath know as the Wolf is behind it.

The suspense is non stop as Alex is trying to race against the clock and find these victims as well as give his family the time they deserve.  His youngest child, Alex has been living with him and his older children exclusively for a year now.  "Lil" Alex's mother Christine has come back into the picture after giving him up and not showing any interest in him at all, and now she wants her boy back.

Alex is being twisted by what's happening at home as well as the case dominating his time.  He's the new kid on the block and he doesn't want any resentment formed.  The F.B.I. doesn't work in the same way that the P.D. does and he has to get used to this.  What happens is a major shocker!!!!

Spoiler:

When Alex has to return his son to Christine, my husband walked in just as I read this part, and I almost wailed at him it tore me up so!!

This book rocked!! 5 cannolis