Along Came a Spider  (English, Paperback, James Patterson)

Along Came A Spider is the first book in the Alex Cross series by James Patterson. It presents a thrilling tale that involves a psychologist, a Secret Service agent, and a psychopath who suffers from a split personality.

Summary Of The Book

James Patterson’s Along Came A Spider was originally published in 1993 as part of the series about a forensic psychologist called Alex Cross.
Alex Cross, the popular homicide investigator in Washington D.C., is investigating a murder case of two black prostitutes and an infant. He has to work in collaboration with a Secret Service Agent Jezzie Flannagan. Soon, they are pulled away from this case to work upon a high profile case of the kidnapping of two rich white children Maggie Rose Dunne and Michael Goldberg. Cross feels agitated to do so as he realizes the discrimination between white and black people.

Gary Soneji, the kidnapper, is a mild-mannered teacher at a private school. He had been ill-treated by his parents from an early age and thus, he has developed a split personality. He is a serial kidnapper and murderer and he has committed such heinous crimes hundreds of times before. He aims to commit the crime of the century and that too right in front of the two most successfully acclaimed officers of Washington D.C. To achieve his goal, he kidnaps two rich kids, Maggie Rose (the daughter of a movie actress) and Michael Goldberg (the son of the secretary of the treasury).

On the other side, the brilliant homicide detective and the first female supervisor of the Secret Service, Jezzie Flannagan, are about to fall in love at the most inappropriate time. Gary Soneji holds the control of the game and makes the most the unspeakable crimes take place in Alex Cross's precinct, under the noses of Flanagan's men. Now, Cross is presented with the ultimate test of his life, how to outdo a psychopath? Especially the one who has outsmarted the FBI and the police? Being every parent’s nightmare, he has become Cross’ nightmare as well.

The success of Along Came A Spider led to the publishing of its eighteen sequels till date. This thriller was adapted into a movie in 2001 with the same name and starred Morgan Freeman, Monica Potter, and Michael Wincott.

About James Patterson

James Patterson is a bestselling American author famously known for his Alex Cross series.

He has authored several thriller series, non-fiction books, stand-alone thrillers, and romance novels. His other published works include Confessions of a Murder Suspect, Guilty Wives, Zoo, Private Games, Private London, Now You See Her, Merry Christmas, The Postcard Killers, 3rd Degree, Private Berlin, and Don’t Blink.

James Patterson was born in 1947 in New York. He studied English at both the graduate as well as the postgraduate level from Manhattan College and Vanderbilt University respectively. He began in career in the advertising industry, but quit the job in 1996 when he started devoting all his time to writing. Since his first novel in 1976, he has come a long way and has been honored with various awards for his works. Currently, he lives with his wife and son in Palm Beach, Florida.