James Patterson once more hits the bestseller list with his newest release, Alex Cross's Trial. The shock of the book is that it is not truly about Alex Cross, a recurring character in James Patterson’s books, but is instead about his ancestor, Abraham Cross, and the trials that he endured back in 1906 when racial strife was going strong in the Deep South.

In the opening, Theodore Roosevelt has received word that there have been many horrifying lynchings of Negroes in the small town of Eudora, Mississippi. Roosevelt had served during the Spanish American War with a young man named Benjamin Corbett who was from Eudora and had gone on to become a well known lawyer in Washington DC.

Benjamin has not returned to Eudora many years. His father is a judge there and feels that Benjamin is a bleeding heart liberal because he often represents Negroes for free.

President Roosevelt sends Benjamin to Eudora to check out the lynchings, using the undercover story of interviewing people to become Federal Judges. He has him get in touch with a well known black man named Abraham Cross.

After a short time Benjamin discovers that there are indeed horrific lynchings happening and that there is a local chapter of the KKK, even though they have been outlawed for 40 years.

I know that many people were disappointed when this book was not an Alex Cross book. I myself always enjoy the James Patterson books and this one was no exception. The chapters are short and the book moves quickly. The setting and the characters are well fleshed out and give the reader a clear picture of what the book is all about.

The book was very different from James Patterson's other work but I don't want to read the same story over and over again anyway.

Reviews of other titles in this series

Along Came a Spider #1 [audio]
Kiss the Girls #2  [audio]
Jack and Jill #3  [audio]
Pop Goes the Weasel #5  [book] [audio]
Violets are Blue #7  [book]
Four Blind Mice #8  [book] [audio]
Big Bad Wolf #9  [book]
London Bridges #10  [audio]
Mary Mary #11  [audio]
Cross # 12  [audio]
Double Cross #13  [book] [audio]
Cross Country # 14  [book]
Alex Cross Trial #13  [book] [audio]
I, Alex Cross #16  [book] [audio]
Cross Fire #17  [audio]
Kill Alex Cross #18  [audio]
Merry Christmas, Alex Cross #19 
Alex Cross, Run #20  [audio]
Cross My Heart #21  [audio]
Hope to Die   #22  [audio]
Cross Justice #23 [audio]
Cross Kill #23.1 [audio] - short story