A Book A Week

I've long been a fan of James Patterson's Alex Cross series. Each year, my mom gives me the latest novel as a Christmas gift. With the exception of this year's release, I've read each of the 29 novels in the series, or so I thought. I was recently perusing a used book store when I came across an Alex Cross novel that I didn't recall reading. A quick double-check against my reviews on Goodreads confirmed my suspicions. Somewhere over the years, I had missed reading Alex Cross's Trial. This 15th book in the series is a bit of an anomaly in that it is the only novel to be co-authored and to not expressly feature the titular detective. Nevertheless, I was determined to read this book and thus be able to say that I have read every Alex Cross novel. 

Instead of focusing on Alex Cross, this novel imagines the history of his family, taking readers back to the southern states at the beginning of the 20th century. Lawyer Ben Corbett fights against injustice and racism every day. As a white man representing black clients, he works diligently to combat the wrongful convictions of his fellow man. Despite his best efforts, the system is usually stacked against him. When he gets a call from none other than the President of the United States, Ben is eager to answer the call to serve his county. What he isn't prepared for is a return to his hometown of Eudora, Mississippi, a place rife with the KKK, lynchings, corrupt politics, and his father. 

When he arrives home, Ben is greeted by Abraham Cross, the great uncle of the legendary Alex Cross. The elder Cross has lived in the small town for his entire life. He's no stranger to the evil that lurks beneath the surface of his hometown's idyllic facade. In fact, he has been on the receiving end of that evil for the entirety of his life. For his part, Ben is shocked to learn of the racism that seems to permeate every inch of the town he grew up in. The same people he went to school with or saw at church are the very people involved in heinous lynchings. Ben's presence in the town is unwelcome, to say the least. When he finds himself at the center of the very crimes he was sent to investigate, Ben must face his friends and family in the ultimate battle of his career. 

I hesitate to call Alex Cross's Trial a true installment in the series. It is meant to be Alex Cross writing of his family history as passed onto him from his grandmother, but I never bought the connection. As the only installment in the series to be co-authored, the story itself and even the writing style seem completely different from the rest of the books that surround it. The addition of "Alex Cross"  appears as more of a marketing gimmick than a way to flesh out the character's story. As a book within the Alex Cross series, then, this one just doesn't work. 

That being said, don't let that deter you from reading it. At its heart, the story concocted by Patterson and his co-author Richard DiLallo is one that is both cut from the history books and oddly timely. The double standard between white and black citizens is at the forefront of this novel. As the climactic trial played out, I couldn't help but think about the Rittenhouse trial that recently occurred. The present-day history and fiction of the novel mirrored each other, showing the injustice that continues to transpire to this day. I'm always reminded in works like this of both how far we have come and alternatively how little progress seems to have been gained. There are ultimately far better novels that more eloquently illustrate the points that Patterson and DiLallo set out to make, but Alex Cross's Trial is still worth a read, especially for fans of the famed author. 

For more information visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2021, 50)