Cross by James Patterson

Yes, this one was better than the last Cross I read: London Bridges. But only a little better. The story and plot is weak and I am losing more and more patience with the lack of character development. Nana Mama is still bossy yet loveable, Alex is still struggling with family, the past, his job/jobs, the kids are still just soooo good and John Sampson, old partner from DCPD, still calls Alex Sugar. All that said, I was still entertained in a mild way, but the story did not grab me much. Alex has 'retired' from police and murder business, and has begun practicing as a psychiatrist, having his own business now, after Nana put her foot down, and told him to spend more time with family. However, when it turns out that a series of rapes and murders in the DC area may be connected to Alex' wife Maria's death 10 years ago, he finds himself drawn into the police-work yet again. The villain in this book is mob-hitman Michael Sullivan, aka The Butcher. We know this from the beginning, where we are presented with some of The Butcher's specialties re. his nick name. Sullivan likes to take pictures of his victims and showing them to other victims, to ensure that they do not go to the police. I am not completely sure how and why it happened, but something goes wrong, and Sullivan is suddenly hunted by the mob, all the while Alex and John somehow makes a connection between Sullivan and the murder of Maria. How they did that, I never really found out either. There are some minor twists and turns making it a little harder to guess the ending and making this Cross readable. But it is still not nearly good enough.