The 15th book in James Patterson's Alex Cross series takes us back to early-20th-century America, deep into the heart of Mississippi Jim Crow country. A brave young lawyer named Ben Corbett has been summonsed to the White House by President Theodore Roosevelt and given the enviable assignment of investigating reports of lynchings in the Deep South, with the help of a Eudora, Mississippi, man who happens to be Abraham Cross, a great-uncle of Alex. Once on the scene, Ben begins to notice that his every movement is being watched. He has a clear choice: Beat a hasty retreat back to Washington or stay and risk his own violent demise. Torchlit danger and suspense.
Publishers Weekly
Fans of Patterson's serial-killer hunting detective, Alex Cross, expecting another cat-and-mouse thriller based on this book's title, will find Cross's appearance limited to a two-page preface in which the fictional character explains why he's written a book called Trial. Abraham Cross, a relative who lived in Eudora, Miss., at the beginning of the 20th century, helps liberal lawyer Ben Corbett to expose the truth about a wave of lynchings near that town, an assignment undertaken at the request of Corbett's friend, President Theodore Roosevelt. When Corbett arrives in Eudora, where he was born and raised, he receives a frosty reception from many unhappy with his record of representing African-Americans accused of murder, including a cold shoulder from his father, a judge. Soon, Corbett finds evidence that racism is alive and well, and that brutal murders of blacks, often for the most trivial of reasons, are endemic. Some may be disappointed that Abraham plays a relatively minor role, given the jacket line that "the Cross family had more than one hero."
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From the Publisher
"A compelling and unforgettable novel . . . A powerful drama and a gripping thriller - and the story that it tells is an important one."—Nights and Weekends.com
"A little bit of Atticus from To Kill a Mockingbird and a lot of James Patterson heading in a new direction."
—TheReviewBroads.com
"Fans of the Cross novels will find this book equally as enjoyable as any Cross book. IT CONTAINS THE SAME FAST PACE, TRUE-TO-LIFE CHARACTERS, AND GREAT STORYTELLING THAT ARE HALLMARKS OF VIRTUALLY EVERYTHING THAT PATTERSON WRITES."—TMRZoo.com
"A HAUNTING ACCOUNT OF A BLEAK TIME IN AMERICA'S HISTORY . . . A REVELATION."—BookReporter.com
DECEMBER 2009 - AudioFile
James Patterson returns to his most popular character, Detective Alex Cross, in this mysterious new thriller, which has Cross relating the tale of his grandfather's struggle for survival against the KKK in the South to his children in the form of a novel. Narrator Dylan Baker is the optimal choice to bring this story to life and never disappoints. His pitch-perfect dialect is a marvel filled with subtleties and nuances that take the story to a whole new level. Baker has the capacity to speak directly to each individual listener while still managing to appeal to his audience as a whole with a tremendous stage presence that will have listeners enthralled for hours. L.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
