This is another Alex Cross novel. Actually, according to the back cover, this is the first Alex Cross novel. So I guess this is the one that started the now-famous, bestselling series.
Like the other Alex Cross novels I've read, this one was highly addictive once I started. There's a very high "unputdownable" level here.
This time around, Cross is trying to solve a kidnapping case and a homicide, which turn out to be connected.
The novel introduces Gary Soneji, a villain who will haunt cross in some of the other novels in the series.
The kidnapping that occurs is a high-profile case, involving a couple of children whose parents are very well-off, important people. There's a lot of publicity, and the case necessitates some co-operation between various law enforcement agencies. Cross, a police detective, ends up working with Jezzie Flanagan of the Secret Service. Flanagan is brilliant at her job and an intensely driven over-achiever.
Alex and Jezzie end up in a relationship. One that gets quite steamy, quite fast. Maybe it's the tension of working on such a tough case, making emotions run high.
Cross and his associates frantically try to find the kidnapper, with the hope that they'll find the victims still alive. But there are some problems along the way that take up time while they still don't solve the case.
Eventually, a suspect is found, taken into custody and charged. The story of the trial is, of course, a media circus. But it turns out that the person on trial might not have been the kidnapper. This person has all the signs of a multiple personality. Cross, upon interviewing the suspect, even goes as far as employing hypnosis to try to see into the mind of the criminal, and comes away with two possible conclusions. Either this really is a case of multiple personality(or dissociative personality disorder, as some psychologists prefer to call it) or this criminal is a superb actor, manipulating everyone masterfully into believing mpd is to blame here.
And that would mean that sending the accused to prison might be punishing the guilty personality, as well as the innocent one. That could be a tough problem for a jury to grapple with.
But there's another consideration. One of the kidnapping victims still hasn't been found, and for all anyone knows, might still be alive.
Cross finds out later that the suspect they have in custody might not be the only person who was involved in the kidnapping. And the evidence he finds turns out to be very ugly. Someone - possibly more than just one person - from within law enforcement itself might have turned dirty and had a hand in the crimes.
As per usual with Alex Cross novels, there's an intense, fast-paced plot. There are also some nice character developments. I thought one of the supporting characters had a very intriguing character arc. Jezzie has to struggle with some personal problems, when her frustration with the case makes her start to doubt herself. As a constant over-achiever, it's hard for her to accept failure.
I don't want to give away the ending, so I'll say no more about the plot.
This novel does raise some interesting thematic questions about justice. In cases of severe mental disorders, what should be done with accused persons? Is it right to punish them the same way a demonstrably sane person would be? I guess you could argue that it's best that such a person at least be kept somewhere where they can be closely supervised, if they've done something harmful and dangerous to others. But maybe such people should be studied closely. If, some day, somebody can find a definitive cause for such mental disorders, it would be a first step towards being able to prevent them.
It's worth trying, isn't it?
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