(Book-Spoilers)Along Came a Spider - James Patterson

[Ivy]

(Spoilers - 1st in the Alex Cross Series)Summary: The book begins with the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby, by a 12-year-old boy near Princeton, New Jersey, in March, 1932. When it moves to present time, in a theme that will run through all the books, of Alex Cross playing his piano from his Washington, D.C. home. The phone rings and it's his partner John Sampson, who informs him that there is another murder at Langley Terrace. Alex Cross, the Deputy Chief of Detectives, is an African-American Washington, D.C. homicide investigator and forensic psychologist who also has a doctorate of Psychology from Johns Hopkins University. Cross is investigating the brutal murders of two prostitutes (mother and daughter), as well as an infant three year old boy. The women were slashed with a razor, their pubic hair completely shaved and their breasts cut off. While all this is happening, at a private school, 'Washington Day School', the mathematics teacher, Gary Soneji, who you later find out his true identity, walks into another classroom and claims there's been a threat made agaisnt two of the students, Megan (Maggie) Rose Dunne and Michael (Shrimpie) Goldberg, and that for security measures they must return home immediately. Upon leaving the classroom, he tells the pair that he's taking them home and while in the car, knocks them out with chloroform. Alex Cross and John Sampson are pulled off their current case and put on the kidnapping, making Cross furious. No one cares about some prostitutes who were obviously tortured and mutilated, but a pair of white kids of famous parents gets kidnapped and an army responds...Anyways Cross teams up with a white Secret Service Agent named Jezzie Flannigan, who he ultimately fucks on countless occassions and falls in love with. They work together to try to glue the pieces of the puzzle together, and they discover the Soneji wants to commit the crime of the century. But when the body of Shrimpie Goldberg is discovered, they lose faith in their tatics. One because they tought Soneji was harmless, yet he broke almost every bone in the boys body and sodomized him countless times after he was dead...true pyschopath...After finding the body, Megan's parents recieve a ransom note asking for 10 million, and the drop point, Disney World...well things go wrong and Cross loses the money, and Rose never shows up...Because of the turnout on the ransom drop, Cross and Sampson return to Washington DC, as they are no longer wanted on the case. They are to work the murder of the dead prostitutes. By now, it's been about 6 months since the kidnapping. Alex, who is now obsessed with catching Soneji and finding Megan Dunne alive, works the case on his off time, with the help of Jezzie...In Washington DC, Soneji, dressed as a public utility employee, murders Vivian Kim, the teacher from Washington Day, in hopes of sending a message. Cross and Sampson are sent to the scene, where Ms. Kim has had her breasts cut off and pubic hair shaved, just like the other murders. They also find Maggie's shoe on the scene. Cross now knows Soneji is also the murderer he is looking for in the deaths of the prostitutes. Cross & Sampson are walking the neighborhood where the hookers were murdered. They come across Ms. Scott, an elderly lady who recalls a man driving around the neighborhood several times. Ms. Scott also remembers that same man going door to door selling heating systems. Ms. Scott recalled the company was Atlantic Heating from Wilmington. Cross & Sampson are going to Wilmington. In Wilmington, the Murphy's are having a birthday party for their daughter. Outside, the FBI with Cross & Sampson are on a stakeout. They decide to move in and rush the house. When they go in, Soneji is nowhere to be found. He managed to escape when he went to get pizza at the door from a delivery boy. A day later Gary walks into a McDonald's and holds the people inside hostage. When the FBI hears that the man holding the McDonald's is Soneji, they rush to the scene. A trooper takes a shot at Soneji, but Alex saves Soneji, as Cross believes Soneji knows where Maggie is. Soneji promises Alex he will regret saving his life. During this time Cross hypnotizes Soneji several times, speaking with both Murphy and Soneji, getting inside Soneji's/Murphy's head and gets Soneji/Murphy to tell him of all his terrible secrets. Murphy was a tender man, Soneji a sadistic, evil monster. After Soneji is convicted and put into prison despite his try at an insanity plea.After the verdict, Jezzie meets her secret lover (another man than Cross) at a lake house. Cross returns to work and questions a woman about Soneji. She tells Cross that someone had been following Soneji. Someone knew about the kidnapping. Cross wonders about Mike Devine and Charley Chakely. Cross meets with Soneji, who confirms he may have been followed. Soneji didn’t make the connection until he recognized the man at his trial - it was Mike Devine. Cross meets with the FBI, they also had their suspicions and were running an investigation. The FBI believes Mike Devine and Charley Chakely took the ransom money. They believe the pilot from Florida, who has since been found dead, was a drug runner hired by Mike Devine and Charley Chakely. The FBI has no proof Mike Devine and Charley Chakely did this but still keep them under surveillance. Then they drop a bomb on Alex. Jezzie was involved with Mike Devine for years and they are lovers. They also believe Jezzie was in it from the start. Cross begins to connect the pieces. The FBI was right. Jezzie and Devine meet. They plan to wait it out. Cross, Sampson and the FBI begin to plan on getting Jezzie and the guys. Soneji escapes from prison with the help of a guard that he eventually kills. Alex takes Jezzie Flannigan on a Caribbean getaway. In Washington, D.C., Soneji, dresses as a FedEx employee and visits Mike Devine. He tortures Devine to find out that the money was still in D.C.. Upon retrieving the money Soneji returns and kills Devine. Alex finally confronts Jezzie and tells her he knows what she did. Since they were both wearing bathing suits, Alex showed her he wasn’t wearing a wire and demanded to know how and why. She explains that Secretary Goldberg was threatened by a Colombian cartel and demanded protection for his family. Devine and Chakely noticed Soneji making passes at the Goldberg house. Since then they followed Soneji everywhere, including the Maryland farm. It was Jezzie's idea for the ransom, and they removed Maggie after the Goldberg boy had died. Cross demands to know where Maggie is, while, at a distance, Sampson is holding a long distance microphone. After Jezzie's confession, Sampson and the FBI reveal themselves. It has been 2 years since the kidnapping. Maggie was held by people in Uyuni Bolivia, South America, near the Andes Mountains. She is finally rescued. Soneji attacks Alex in his home. He planned to kill Nanna and the kids. After a fight, Soneji manages to escape momentarily, but is trapped near the White House. He is holding hostages again, this time 2 children. Soneji was about to shoot Cross, but Cross is saved by Sampson, who manages to shoot Soneji instead. Gary was wounded, but is alive. Epilogue -- Jezzie Flannigan is executed by lethal injection. Six weeks earlier Charlie Chakely had been executed. Soneji was still alive. Due to his mental state he would be held at a mental institution.

Review: Ever seen the movie, nothing like it. I don't know where the script writers came up with what they did, but to a loyal James Patterson fan, it had no true content to the story. The fact is, is that the book was very graphic in nature, talking about the brutal beating and rape of a young child, you can't exactly put that into a movie. But they could have made the relationship (fling) between Jezzie and Alex reality, but of course, that was left out. It's a great book, well written, constructed, and the material researched to a fine tee. You can't put it down until the very end, and then you're asking where's the next one. If you want a suspense novel that won't disappoint, and that can keep you guessing until the very end, besides my summary, then I recommend...and if you love the pyschopathic Soneji, well he doesn't die like he did in the movie, he taunts you for another few books or so, and the confrontation to follow with Soneji and Cross, is one that will have your mouth truly agape...