The Big Bad Wolf (Alex Cross Series #9) Book

Things look full of promise for Alex Cross. His new job with the FBI is prestigious and exciting. But no sooner has he gone in for orientation, when all hell breaks loose. An all - women team of kidnappers has been snatching successful, upstanding men and women right before their families' eyes — possibly to sell them into slavery. Alex's knowledge of the D.C. streets, together with is unique insights into criminal psychology, make this mind bending case one that only he can solve — if he can just get his colleagues to set aside their staid and outdated methods. With unexpected twists and whiplash surprises, this is another brilliantly irresistible audio program from America's bestselling thriller writer.

Publishers Weekly

Unlike the original Big Bad Wolf, Patterson's newest and arguably most fear-inspiring villain maims, slaughters and kidnaps victims for purposes of sexual slavery. Rumored to be a Russian emigre, this shrewd predator has made crime pay so fabulously he sits atop an empire capable of accomplishing any nefarious purpose, including attacks on the homes of high-ranking FBI officials. Despite having just joined the Bureau, series hero Alex Cross winds up hunting the Wolf, which puts his family in peril. Meanwhile, his former girlfriend decides she wants custody of their young son. Patterson, a master at suspenseful twists and turns, keeps the action non-stop by constantly shifting among Alex's first-person tribulations and punchy, objectively told sequences focusing on Wolf, several ultra-wealthy computer chat group slugs who are taking The Story of O much too seriously, and the chat group members' struggling victims. The effectiveness of these quick changes is heightened by the use of dual readers. Theater and TV actor Fernandez has a warm, rich voice that provides Cross with a soulful dimension often absent from the author's prose, and O'Hare (a Tony Award winner for the hit play Take Me Out) handles the other chores, satisfactorily running the gamut from Russian-accented growls to effete simpers. Their all-pro rendering of this smartly paced thriller almost makes up for the fact that major plot strings are left tantalizingly untied. Simultaneous release with the Little, Brown hardcover (Forecasts, Oct. 6, 2003). (Nov.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.