by James Patterson and Brendan DuBois

A Mystery/Thriller, 2023 by Little Brown, 464 Pages 

What I Didn’t Like:

• Note: this is the 31st book in a series featuring the same detective pair (Alex Cross and John Sampson). To maximize your enjoyment of the series, I’d start with Along Came a Spider (book 1) to see if you even like the characters before committing to an ongoing series this long. They DO stand alone, sort of, but the characters are repeated. 
• It takes some getting used to when you switch to Sampson’s POV after this many books. You’re in a familiar setting with familiar people but you’re someone else, in a sense. That definitely threw me off in the beginning. You do get used to it.
• There’s a sense of “everything that can go wrong does go wrong” pervading this one. Call that a content warning if you prefer more realistic style detective stories. 

What I Did Like:

• Sampson has LONG been a favorite character so this book was a great chance to really get to know him. He’s a lot like Alex, which we knew, but seeing their differences sort of pop out through this story was refreshing. 
• The story moves fast and brings in a lot of conflict. There’s a lot of action. It’s intense and captivating. There’s no chance you’ll get bored reading a book in this series, that’s for sure.
• The ending works. It’s satisfying and ties up enough loose ends to keep the reader happy while making it clear there’s more to this series.

Who Should Read This One:

• Obviously, fans of the series. Specifically, Sampson fans. This is a glimpse into the big man’s brain and it’s thrilling.
• In general, readers who like huge bad guys on epic scales facing off against good cops will like this one.

My Rating: 4 Stars