Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
Alex Cross, a man of many talents, brought to literary life by a writer with fingers in many pies. This is the life of one of the most open detectives on record, almost perfect in every detail, a loving home, a family who are the joy of his life, colleagues who respect him, a nation that seems to hold him in high esteem, heard of by all, and who will go to the ends of the Earth to bring murderers to justice, to account for their sins.
Even when things go wrong, they seem to go right, and whilst Alex Cross is one of the finest detectives currently being read today, it is with assured reluctance that it might be time to finally admit the unthinkable, that James Patterson has lost his charm, just as much as Alex Cross has lost his purpose.
A writer is bound and tethered by their creation, and none more so in recent years than James Patterson. Even the Queen herself, Agatha Christie grew tired of her sleuth, Sherlock Holmes was killed off with the passion of a desperate man before being revived due to public outcry, and yet the Washington D.C. FBI agent, detective, psychologist, family man, loyal friend, and scourge of modern America’s fight against dark forces keeps going; despite not being the same draw as he was in his early outings, and certainly not since the days when he portrayed with precision and insight by Morgan Freeman on film.
Triple Cross wants you to be enthralled, the sense of the web being wove by the writer is without equal, or at least that is what is suggested, however it is unfortunate that what is a good idea often does not find its way into reality, and in this case the sense of stretching the point does not do the character any justice, nor does the swift conclusion, and whilst the devilish Maestro from the previous novels make an appearance, and the generosity of the narrative does provide more time for Cross’ wife Bree Stone, and one of the more colourful interesting characters to inhabit the pages in recent times, the fashion designer Luster, to shine, it is with a certain amount of regret that the books no longer hold the same dynamic as they once superbly attuned to providing.
Triple Cross has the feel of a filler, too many avenues unnecessarily approached, leaving the reader dazed and spun out rather than enjoying, and actively being the armchair detective, they imagine themselves to be. There is nothing wrong with literary ambition, nor with pouring out books with a quick period of time, but when you start to use your greatest creation as a commodity, when the passion itself is missing from the writing, then perhaps it is time to take a leaf from the greatest of them all and find a way, a novel approach to solving a problem like Alex Cross.
Ian D. Hall