Cross & Sampson [text (large print)] / James Patterson and Brian Sitts.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Instant New York Times Bestseller!



In latest thriller from the world's most popular storyteller, detective partners Alex Cross and John Sampson are called to separate locations to investigate a pair of serious crimes.



Stream Season 2 of the #1-rated Cross in February 2026!



In Washington, DC ...



Metro PD detective John Sampson stands in a crater in the middle of a DC street, calling in the bomb squad. "Dispatch, this is Sampson. Contact the FBI and the ATF. We've got a suspected terrorist attack here."



In Chapel Hill, NC ...



Alex Cross searches the apartment of a missing psychology grad student--his own son Damon. Has following in his famous father's footsteps made Damon a target?



From FBI headquarters, in police stations, on airplanes, and at murder scenes, the detectives track crimes committed hundreds of miles apart. It will take more than distance to weaken the partnership of Sampson & Cross.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Patterson's 35th Alex Cross thriller (following Return of the Spider), cowritten with Sitts (Holmes, Marple & Poe), finds longtime friends detective John Sampson and forensic psychologist Alex Cross working on separate cases in different cities. Damon, Alex's oldest son, who is at the University of North Carolina, is missing. His academic advisor reports that Damon has not attended class for three days. Damon's girlfriend, Melissa, has not seen him since he rode off on his bike three days earlier, and he has not been answering his cellphone. Alex and his wife, Bree, immediately fly to North Carolina to begin their own search, since campus security has no jurisdiction over his disappearance, and local police are uncooperative. John cannot join Alex and Bree in the search because a bomb has just detonated in downtown Washington, DC, and he's on the task force tracking the bomber. The bomb contains fragments of military-grade C-4 plastic explosives, pointing to a military veteran as culprit. Mustafa and Graham's excellent narration of the alternating chapters brings the tension to life. VERDICT Patterson and Sitts keep this popular series running strong. Fans won't want to miss this fast-paced, punchy entry.--Ilka Gordon

Kirkus Book Review

Consulting psychologist Alex Cross and his best bud, D.C. Metro Det. John Sampson, work on totally unrelated cases in alternating chapters. As Sampson reflects in a pardonable understatement, "Bad things have happened to the Cross family before." So what's left to suffer now that Sampson has rescued Cross from a near-fatal bullet wound? Glad you asked. When his son Damon's academic advisor phones from Chapel Hill to report that nobody's seen Damon for three days, Cross instantly arranges to fly to North Carolina with his wife, investigator Bree Stone. But she's called back to Washington almost immediately to work on a series of bombings that's already prevented Sampson from joining Cross in the search for his son. Both investigations are thoroughly routine--that is, spiked with menace and violence and cast with characters you wouldn't look at twice in a police lineup--but Patterson's fondness for bite-sized chapters suits the structure of Cross' latest adventure to a T, since there's an opportunity for a cliffhanger of greater or lesser proportions every five pages or so, when the collaborating authors cut away to the other story. Although many of the resulting jolts come across as synthetic, some are rooted in current events. The prime suspect in the bombings is an ex--Special Forces officer who served as an explosives expert in Afghanistan, and the kidnapping of Damon is racially motivated. There's no escaping today's headlines, not even if you're riding along with Alex Cross. Want to see Cross and Sampson actually work together, as this title promises they will? Wait till next year, or next month. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.