History Literature / AlexCross

* DarkerAndEdgier: Although the series is already dark on its own, *Cross Country* is noticeably more emotionally charged and [[BloodierAndGorier violent]] compared to earlier entries. Not to mention the antagonist using ChildSoldiers and the third part of the book dealing with the War in Darfur.

* DanBrowned: Cross's encounters with role-playing gamers and vampires/goths. Might be a case of Did Not Do the Research.

** In ''Cat and Mouse'', [[spoiler:when Thomas Pierce is exposed as Mr. Smith, he starts repeating: I MURDERED ISABELLA CALAIS AND I CAN'T STOP THE KILLING. The first sentence is spelled out in his victims' initials. The second would have been.]]

** The Regulators are a military trained group that targets drug and human trafficking, but later goes after the government. They are lead by a man known as "John Brown" who turns out to be [[spoiler:Naval Academy Instructor Jeb Whittaker]].

* CrusadingWidower: Cross lost his wife Maria before the series began, a death that is finally solved in ''Cross''. He gets married again to Bree Stone near the end of ''Cross Fire''.

** Roosevelt sends the white hero, Ben Corbett to his hometown of Eudora, Mississippi and report on lynchings and Klan activities. The modern version of the Klan was not founded till 1915, in Georgia, and wasn't any kind of a really big deal until after World War I. The Reconstruction Klan was dissolved after ca. 1877. (Patterson admits that it had been disbanded officially, but maintains that it existed at the time of the story (possible) and that its impact was so great as to merit Presidential investigation (not supported by historical record)).

%%* ADeadlyAffair: In ''Cross the Line'' one of the plots involves the murder of police captain Tom [=McGrath=] and his girlfriend Edita. [[spoiler: The culprit was Alexander Gordon, the lover of [=McGrath=]'s estranged wife Vivian, who kept their relationship secret because he was her divorce attorney. Due to losing money to a bad investment, Gordon planned to set up a memorial charity with Tom [=McGrath's=] life insurance policy, and steal from it. When exposed Gordon kills Vivian, holds Detective Bree Stone hostage, and is shot by the her partner Mueller]].

* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: In ''Cat and Mouse'' Alex Cross gets attacked and taken to the hospital in serious condition. The next chapter starts with Thomas Pierce a brand new narrator, who was introduced earlier, while we're still reeling from the removal of Cross. [[spoiler:He turns out to be Mr. Smith, the second serial killer of the book, the same one he was investigating.]]

* ColdBloodedTorture: In ''London Bridges'' The Wolf and his men kidnap Geoffery Schafer and torture him by dangling him from the ceiling and shaking his head repeatedly to slam his brain against his skull. The Wolf did this because he wanted to establish his dominance before making Scafer [[VillainTeamUp work for him]].

%%* ADeadlyAffair: In ''Cross the Line'' one of the plots involves the murder of police captain Tom [=McGrath=] and his girlfriend Edita. [[spoiler: The culprit was Alexander Gordon, the lover of [=McGrath=]'s estranged wife Vivian, who kept their relationship secret because he was her divorce attorney. Due to losing money to a bad investment, Gordon planned to set up a memorial charity with Tom [=McGrath's=] life insurance policy, and steal from a it. When exposed Gordon kills Vivian, holds Dectective Bree Stone hostage, and is shot by the her partner Mueller]].

** In ''Along Came A Spider'' [[spoiler: Mike Devine and Charley Chakely, the Secret Service agents in charge of protecting Maggie Rose and Michael, and Jezzie Flannagan, the head of the children's Secret Service detail; actually arranged the kidnapping to take the ransom money for themselves]].

* TheDogWasTheMastermind: In ''Cross the Line'' [[spoiler:Jeb Whittaker the Naval Academy Instructor Cross and Samson meet while visiting the academy turns out to be both motorcycle vigilante Mercury and Regulators leader John Brown]].
* DotingParent: In ''Cross Justice'' "the grandfather" despite being vaguely creepy, is shown to be loving and caring to his granddaughter. [[spoiler:Which makes it more disturbing when we find out he brutally killed his grandson for being part black]].

* FacialHorror: The female victims from ''Mary, Mary'' had there faces skinned off.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: In ''Cross the Line'' [[spoiler:Both Mercury and John Brown are both introduced noting that they take up an identity to go to war, because they are the same person]].

** FBI Agent Kyle Craig acts as Cross's connection to the Bureau. Subverted in ''Roses Are Red'' [[spoiler:were he turns out to be the criminal known as the Mastermind]].
** In ''Cross'', when Cross leaves the FBI, he helps the investigation as a civilian consultant, with his former partner Sampson acting at this.

* ThePlan: ''Four Blind Mice'' is so strange that [[spoiler:Neither Alex nor the contract killers figure out what the guy hiring them is doing.]]

''Alex Cross'' is a fictional character and the protagonist of a series of books by Creator/JamesPatterson. He is a detective that lives in UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC.

%%* ADeadlyAffair: In ''Cross the Line'' one of the plots involves the murder of police captain Tom [=McGrath=] and his girlfriend Edita. [[spoiler: The culprit was Alexander Gordon, the lover of [=McGrath=]'s estranged wife Vivian, who kept their relationship secret because he was her divorce attorney. Due to losing money to a bad investment, Gordon planned to set up a memorial charity with Tom [=McGrath's=] life insurance policy, and steal from a it. When exposed Gordon kills Vivian, holds Dectective Bree Stone hostage, and is shot by the her partner Mueller]].

** In the beginning ''London Bridges'', The Wolf and his men do this to young streetwalker named Marie after she helps them draw out Geoffrey Shafer.

* CombatPragmatist: ''Kiss the Girls'' has a woman who takes self-defense classes, with the GroinAttack recommended. [[spoiler:When Casanova abducts her, she kicks him in the nuts. Unfortunately, Casanova was wearing protection because he had been watching her go to her self-defense classes.]]

** The killer in ''Cross My Heart'' [[spoiler:Kenneth Carney's younger siblings where killed by his mom who was killed by his dad. This caused him to snap, form split personalities, and force prostitutes to drown children the way his mother killed his siblings]].