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Cross Country
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Cross Country
Unavailable
Cross Country
Audiobook (abridged)5 hours

Cross Country

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

When the home of Alex Cross's oldest friend, Ellie Cox, is turned into the worst murder scene Alex has ever seen, the destruction leads him to believe that he's chasing a horrible new breed of killer. As Alex and his girlfriend, Brianna Stone, become entangled in the deadly Nigerian underworld of Washington D.C., what they discover is shocking: a stunningly organized gang of lethal teenagers headed by a powerful, diabolical man--the African warlord known as the Tiger. Just when the detectives think they're closing in on the elusive murderer, the Tiger disappears into thin air. Tracking him to Africa, Alex knows that he must follow. Alone.

From the author Time magazine has called "the man who can't miss," CROSS COUNTRY is the most heart-stopping, speed-charged, electrifying Alex Cross thriller yet.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateNov 17, 2008
ISBN9781600243868
Unavailable
Cross Country
Author

James Patterson

James Patterson is the CEO of J. Walter Thompson, an advertising agency in New York. He has written several successful fiction and nonfiction books, including The New York Times best seller The Day America Told the Truth.

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Reviews for Cross Country

Rating: 3.5561224061224492 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

588 ratings47 reviews

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  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The last couple of Alex Cross books were verging on a two star rating, but this one finally reached it. While acknowledging for some time that Patterson books are not great literature, I have still enjoyed flying through his books because the pages turn quickly and I have invested in his characters.

    This story has Alex Cross leaving America and going to Africa to chase a brutal killer who has murdered entire families in Washington. He leaves his girlfriend and family for this, for reasons passing understanding. When in Africa, he is kidnapped and tortured many times. Somehow he always manages to escape. At one point, Patterson ran out of interesting ways to have Cross escape and when being attacked by a militia, simply says that Cross was able to fight a few off before the militia left. When Cross finally returns to America, he, wait for it, is kidnapped and tortured again. Another problem I had was that after spending the last book having Cross and Detective Bree display an almost puppy love, this book he leaves her to travel to Africa and flirt with a beautiful woman who he sleeps with, twice, but not sexually. Just really odd.

    I will probably still continue the series, but my expectations are pretty low at this point.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    It was OK but not great. Other than the main character of Alex Cross, the characters were all new as the majority of the story takes place in Africa. This story just did not grab me the way others have.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I am usually an avid reader of Patterson's book, particularly the Alex Cross ones, but this book was a huge disappointment. So much so, I'm not sure I'll be picking up any more Cross books to read. Apart from being unable to get past the ridiculous set up of Cross going to Africa on his own with little information to guide him there were too many situations where I'm surprised he survived and carried on. I spent the whole book desperate to get to the end just so I could finish it and be free of it. This was not true to the Cross character I have grown to love reading about.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Thin, thin, thin. I gave it two stars because I did, actually, finish it, but I'm not entirely sure why. It seemed more like a passion project about the atrocities in various African nations rather than an actual plot-driven book. And although the descriptions of what is going on in other parts of the world was sobering, it was hard to care enough about the characters to be affected in the way that I should have.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Alex Cross chased a mass killer known as the Tiger to Africa. Alex found about the dangers and horrible things that goes on in Africa. Alex was first through in jail and beaten. Then thangs get wrose. He didn't know who to trust. I couldn't put the book down after I started it. Lot of twist and a lot of graphic violence.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This time Alex goes to Africa chasing a murderer. He is caught, tortured, and beaten several times, but as always, comes out a winner. An easy read, fast moving.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This book was just OK. While I usually like the Alex Cross series this particular book did not at all live up to expectations. Alex Cross going to Africa to find a killer involved in a DC murder was too much of a stretch.I was also put off by his 'anti-American' proselytizing toward the end.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Absolute crap don't bother reading it or waste any mine buying this book. He has written such excellent books i wonder what made him publish crap like this.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    "....the Tiger disappears into thin air. Tracking him to Africa, Alex knows that he must follow. Alone. "Huh? Why would Alex Cross, a really smart guy up to now, go to Africa, where he has absolutely no jurisdiction and no support, to track a killer? Alone! Puhleese!What a disappointment this book was! It was just too far-fetched, beyond belief. Alex Cross was beaten up so many times, it was a surprise he was still alive at the end. I think that Patterson has run out of things for Alex Cross to do. Maybe the next one will be better..............but I sure won't be paying full price for it like I did for this one!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Most of the reviews I've read on this are negative, but I actually liked this novel. Once again, I felt the characters were sometimes overshadowed by the grand plot, but kudos to Patterson for shedding light on some of the horrors taking place in Africa. Anytime an author can work real world issues into their writing while still keeping the readers entertained, is a success in my eyes.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I love Alex Cross and this is one of the best that I've read. Love the short chapters, you read and read without realizing. Highly recommended for Cross lovers.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    despite knowing exactly what to expect from Alex Cross, I did not like the fact he was taken out of familiar territory & thrown into Africa. We're to believe that he did this for a friend (who he hasn't seen or spoken to in years), in addition, had this be anywhere close to real life, he would have died several times over. I felt that this book, particularly the ending was very rushed. Shame on you Mr Patterson.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I REALLY liked this. More than any Patterson/Cross book in a long time. The ending felt a little rushed (SK disease) but I was more than a little creeped out. It has more of the psychological aspects that have been missing in recet books and I felt pulled to the gm to finish reading. I'm very glad I read it once there were new books out so that I knew the path he was taking it wouldn't be true. Somehow I don't think we've seen the last of Tiger - there seemed to be more woven into this. Substitiute Libya for Nigeria and the book was also remarkably current. My one complaint? Some of the characters were a little too thin on the ground. I want to know more - and maybe we'll learn more?
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This did not seem to be one of James Pattersons best 'Cross' books at first but the pace picked up and just got faster and faster. The final chapters were excellent.Alex has followed a killer to Nigeria after he has murdered an old friend of Alex and her family. He suffers horrendous treatment while there and makes and loses a trusted friend. The country is corrupt and Alex can do little to change that. The killer recruites gangs of boys from the camps holding poor refuges from the the violent areas of the country and trains them to be killers. Alex discovers that the CIA agent who has been 'helping' him is not all he seems and neither is the CIA network back home. Alex and his families lives are placed in terrible danger in this eventually exciting and fast-paced novel.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Not my favorite of the Cross series, but not a bad book. Took me a bit to get into this one, more than usual. Cross comes across a murder case in DC - an entire family butchered. Then Cross learns the woman was one he went to college with and dated years ago. Soon, 2-3 more fmailes are killed around DC, and the trail leads to someone known olnly as the Tiger, and now he is in Arica. Against everyones wishes, Cross goes after the killer there, and find himself into such turmoil and upheaval that he barely survives. After many misadventures, and witnessing several more murders, Cross is shipped back to the USA - by the CIA in Africa. when he gets back, he finds his family kidnapped, and them himself, tortuted for 3 days or more to find out what he knows about Africa, and what he knows.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was my first encounter with an Alex Cross novel and it was sure action packed and fast paced. Although there are several novels preceding this one in the series, I feel that Patterson did a good job of bringing the reader up to speed with Alex's current situation. When Alex arrives at a murder scene he is shocked to find the first woman that he fell in love with, along with her entire family, has been brutally killed. He knows the responsible party must be stopped and as he follows leads he stumbles upon eerily similar murder scenes, which eventually take him to all corners of Africa. Cross finds himself experiencing many dangers in Africa from the activities in the diamond mines to the atrocities taking place in Darfur.Finding himself alone in a crime-ridden country he learns that he needs to put his trust in a few key people. Hopefully he has selected the right people to confide in, but only time will tell. As Alex continues his investigation it is evident that the individual responsible for the brutal murders is a thug that is known as Tiger. He becomes confident with this new lead only to be let down when he learns that many of the most violent criminals from Africa take the name Tiger. I'm not going to give any more away about this book as it is from the suspense/thriller genre. It was a great book to bring along on our road trip as my husband enjoyed it too. And it was even his second time listening to it! Although I don't think I would enjoy reading this type of book, this is the second audiobook that I have listened to by Patterson and I'm sure I will be listening to more in the future.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    How does James Patterson continually get paid to crank out this drivel? James Patterson has taken to lately writing novels with other, lesser known authors, and those novels (in my opinion) are pretty heavily written by the other author. The James Patterson I know and love just does not come through and it is the same with this novel. It reads like a novel ghost written by someone else with an axe to grind, a political agenda and no concept nor care for the Alex Cross character or family of characters. This novel is not only poorly written, by page 25 I'm drowning in exclamation points that do not abate for the entire length of the novel, it is poorly chopped into sometimes half-page long "chapters" that are just a joke. This book seriously reads like a bad entry for a high-school fiction contest. The only reason why I'm so scathing here is because of the bitter, bitter disappointment I felt after plunking down my $10 only to be stuck on a 6 hour airplane ride with no other reading material. Had I not already finished the Sky Mall catalog, I would have gladly thrown this book in the trash and read that instead. I will think long and hard before I buy another James Patterson Alex Cross novel, that's for sure, and from now on, I will spend a bit of time in the bookstore reading well into the beginning ofany other James Patterson offerings before I shell out my money.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another Alex Cross novel. The only different thing about this installment of the popular Cross series was the setting. Nothing new, but still a fun quick read!
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    worst Alex Cross ever. So bad, I've sold all my copies of all Alex Cross novels to a used book store and won't read any more. I actually wanted Cross to die just to be done with it. Alex's ego has become the main character instead of actually Alex. He is no longer an enjoyable protagonist for me.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    interesting.. but not as good as expected.after reading many of the alex cross books this one was more disappointing reallyi like it that cross goes to africa though.. the brutality described really touches the heart.. and its really happening right now..
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    For reasons inexplicable to even to myself, I cannot quit the Alex Cross books. It is probably because I enjoyed the earliest ones, and I keep hoping I'll feel that way again.Alex Goes to Africa in this edition of his tale. It's to investigate a murder in Washington D.C., the victim being one of his old girlfriends and her family. Once there, he is subjected again and again to various forms of brutality. It has already left my mind whether he solves the mystery (I don't consider that a spoiler; you KNOW he's going to save the day) while in Africa, or whether he didn't solve it until he gets back home, but I hope he did it in Africa, otherwise there's absolutely no reason for him to have gone through all of that. I agree wholeheartedly with (and love!) the previous comment about the book spanning two continents, but the plot not spanning the book.As usual, Alex has women falling all over him, and also preternaturally smart children, though through this all, I have developed a fondness for his kids and Nana Mama. At one point, when Alex is subjected to yet more torture, I admit to yelling out loud "Oh come ON." I don't disagree with what Patterson is trying to say, but for crying out loud, a little takes you a long way.I listened to this as an audio book, and while the readers were all right, it's my first audio book ever with sound effects and dramatic music. It was a little unnerving to be driving down the road and hear gunshots go off, but I did eventually get used to it.I would normally implore James Patterson to try to develop his plotlines a little better, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter, I'm going to read them anyway.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Cross Country is a good book for those looking for adventure. However, if you are looking for a believable read, this book is not for you. The book is packed full of adventure (no matter that the adventures/events are totally unbelievable) that keeps the reader interested until the end. I will not give a synopsis of the book here, as I fear I may spoil the plot. You must read to find out more about Alex Cross and the adventures he faces.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Good action scenes but, not very believable. Hard to comprehend how a police psychologist traveling in a foreign country without local law enforcement assistance how Cross could escape as many life and death situations with only bruises and a broken nose (twice). Seemed more like a statement about the horrific acts in Africa rather than a murder mystery. I bought this one in paperback and gave it to the library when I finished.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    One of Patterson's better stories! Fast pace strory that takes Cross to Africa in search of a merciless killer with more political connections than Alex can comprehend. Brutal story of the current political situation in Nigeria and the misery there that most of the world seems to ignore. A good part of this book hopes to enlighten the reader about this... but at the same time a very, very good read.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    OK, this one was over the top. Don't get me wrong, this was a fast-paced action filled dynamo that kept one wondering what's happening next and when does Cross actually get his man. But we have a Washington DC cop who takes it upon himself to chase a well funded hitman across the globe to Nigeria Africa where civil unrest is growing. I got the impression this was really a way to try to showcase the corruption, danger and awful living conditions so many Africans face on a day to day basis. Cross seems to have tunnel vision and can only see the assassin and misses all the clues of something bigger happening. Alex Cross is called to a murder scene where the whole family has been gruesomely murdered, and the mother was a friend of Cross's in college. A couple days later, he's called to another one. Something big is going down, these appear to be hits, but not your normal professional hit. His friend had been working on a book dealing with violence in Africa and had recently been there. The father in the second family had direct ties to Nigeria. When a third family is murdered and they happen to be the Ambassador's from Nigeria it's too much of a coincidence. Cross sets up a meeting with the CIA and learns that his hit man 'The Tiger' has flown back to Nigeria and against all better judgment and reason decides to follow. His trip is nothing like he expected and most of his decisions leave one wondering about his state of mind. Is he the hunter or the hunted? The pressure never lets up in this brutal tale.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It absolutely pains me to give James Patterson "3" stars, but I just could not get with this one. Alex Cross is one of my favorite characters and I've read all the books, but this one irritated the heck out of me. It was as if Alex had a labotomy. I didn't understand his motivation and behavior. I made it through because I just assumed that he must be getting old...Alex, not Mr. Patterson. This book has the classic Patterson action and it's a graphic novel in huge proportions. I just didn't like the story this time.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A horrific murder of a family sets the stage for Cross Country. Alex Cross is shocked to discover his college girlfriend and her family have been savagely murdered by a killer known as Tiger. This killer for hire has ties to the African underworld and this massacre is just the first in a series. Cross journeys to Nigeria to pursue the Tiger and runs into many obstacles...corrupt officials, horrific murders, arrest, etc.I, like many others, am a huge James Patterson fan. I always enjoy his books, some more than others. I love his short chapters that invaribly leave with you with some tidbit that makes you want to read the next one, and the next... I did not really enjoy the Africa storyline, it just didn't make much sense to me. I just can't see the Alex Cross I know doing so many stupid things and he did many throughout this story. The ending, though, was unexpected, and really had me going.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    While I enjoyed parts of the story (mainly the background of the struggles in Africa, which most Americans don't know enough about), I found too many plot holes and implausibilities in the story to really enjoy it. I'm not sure if there were more than in the usual James Patterson story or I've just read enough of his books that I have become jaded, but I just couldn't put aside my disbelief at the outlandish plot twists in this one.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book did not grab my interest. My head was not in this book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Very readable. My first Alex Cross novel.African theme. 3rd book I have read recently about modern Africa. Interesting the brutality as a result of the past.