Alex Cross

Alex Cross is a black man who grew up in one of the poorer sections of Washington, D.C. after the deaths of his parents and continues to live there with his two children and his grandmother. Cross is a widow whose wife was murdered in a drive-by shooting three years before the novel opened. Cross is also a psychologist who found it difficult to maintain a private practice due to his racial background and decided to join the police force instead. All of these details are important aspects to Cross's personality because each one has shaped him in one way or another, creating a talented detective with special knowledge of a criminal's thought process, and a man who has compassion for a group of people who are often overlooked by the Washington D.C. police force.

Alex Cross begins this novel by investigating the murder of...