From Publishers Weekly
In a recent column in Entertainment Weekly, Stephen King cited Patterson's thrillers as the example of "dopey" bestsellers. We hope that doesn't mean that those who enjoy them are dopes, because this new one is vastly entertaining. Alex Cross, Patterson's black lawman hero, has left the D.C. police force for the FBI. But Cross was a star cop, so when the Bureau becomes aware that attractive white women are disappearing at an unusually high rate in the nation's capital, Cross, despite still being in training at Quantico, is brought onto the case and is personally mentored by the Bureau's director, earning the ire of some Feds but the support of others. Behind the disappearances is a sexual slavery operation run as a sideline by one of the more believable and most compellingly evil villains in the Patterson universe, the Wolf, a mysterious former KGB man who's now the world's top mobster. The narrative throughout is swift and varied, as Patterson cuts among the diabolical schemes of a Russian magnate who may be the Wolf, the plight of several kidnap victims, the dogged pursuit by Cross and company of the Wolf, and the hideous designs of the members of an encrypted computer chat room who pay the Wolf fortunes to snatch women who fit their fantasies. And there's domestic drama, too, as the mother of Cross's young son, Alex, decides that she wants her boy back. Full of plot surprises and featuring a balanced mix of intrigue, hard action and angst, the novel, on which Patterson notably does not share cover credit, grips from start to finish. The Alex Cross series remains Patterson's finest, and this is the finest Cross in years. Maybe we're dopes, but we're smiling ones.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
In the midst of his FBI training, former Police Detective Alex Cross is called in to investigate The Wolf, an ex-KGB agent turned master criminal, with links to the Russian Mafia, who uses the Internet to fulfill the fantasies of some of the sickest sociopaths in recent popular fiction. Each of these well-heeled villains pays megabucks to have his current obsession, male or female, stalked, kidnapped, and delivered--to him. As the complex plot unfolds, narrators Peter J. Fernandez and Denis O'Hare offer a variety of stunning characterizations. Alex has clarity and energy, The Wolf is vicious and sadistic, and the cyber-weirdos, particularly Mr. Potter and the Art Director, are despicable. Patterson's plot, rife with imprisonment, torture, rape, and murder, gives Fernandez and O'Hare plenty to sink their teeth into. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
Alex Cross finally took the plunge at the end of Four Blind Mice (2002) and joined the FBI. The training is a little beneath Cross, who has spent years working with the FBI on the toughest cases, but he dutifully attends classes until he's pulled out to consult on a case. Wealthy women have been disappearing around the country. The latest, a judge's wife, was snatched at a shopping mall. It appears these women (and soon several young men as well) are being abducted and sold to people who have "selected" them and paid a hefty sum. The man behind it all is a Russian known only as the Wolf. Cross gets a break when one of the buyers releases the woman he paid to have abducted, but when they track him down, they find he's committed suicide. Then a major bombshell in his personal life distracts Cross from the case: his ex-girlfriend Christine, the mother of his youngest son, has reappeared, and she wants custody. Cross' first major case with the FBI will have readers on the edge of their seats, swiftly turning the pages to the exciting showdown. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Alex Cross battles the most ruthless and powerful killer he has ever encountered - a predator known only as the Wolf." "Alex Cross's first case since joining the FBI has his new colleagues stymied. Across the country, men and women are being kidnapped in broad daylight and then disappearing completely. These people are not being taken for ransom, Alex realizes. They are being bought and sold. And it looks as if a shadowy figure called the Wolf - a master criminal who has brought a new reign of terror to organize crime - is behind this business in which ordinary men and women are sold as slaves." "Even as he admires the FBI's vast resources, Alex grows impatient with the Bureau's clumsiness and caution when it is time to move. A lone wolf himself, he has to go out on his own in order to track the Wolf and try to rescue some of the victims while they are still alive." As the case boils over, Alex is in hot water at home too. His ex-fiancee, Christine Johnson, comes back into his life - and not for the reasons Alex might have hoped.

FROM THE CRITICS

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.

Library Journal

In this new episode in the life of ace detective Alex Cross, he has just joined the FBI. While still in training, he is called upon to help break up a kidnapping ring. Beautiful, rich, educated women and men across the country are being abducted. No ransom is requested, and the victims often are never heard from again. It appears that an organized crime godfather known as the Wolf is behind the scheme to buy and sell humans. Alex, a street cop at heart, loves the power and technology available via the FBI, but he is impatient with the bureaucracy. Back at home, Alex's ex-girlfriend and mother of his toddler, little Alex, reappears and starts custody proceedings. Then the kidnapping case puts Alex's family in danger. Patterson ties all the twists and turns in this plot into one interesting and plausible story, well read by Peter J. Fernandez and Denis O'Hare. Recommended.--Joanna M. Burkhardt, Coll. of Continuing Education Lib., Univ. of Rhode Island, Providence Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

AudioFile

In the midst of his FBI training, former Police Detective Alex Cross is called in to investigate The Wolf, an ex-KGB agent turned master criminal, with links to the Russian Mafia, who uses the Internet to fulfill the fantasies of some of the sickest sociopaths in recent popular fiction. Each of these well-heeled villains pays megabucks to have his current obsession, male or female, stalked, kidnapped, and delivered—to him. As the complex plot unfolds, narrators Peter J. Fernandez and Denis O'Hare offer a variety of stunning characterizations. Alex has clarity and energy, The Wolf is vicious and sadistic, and the cyber-weirdos, particularly Mr. Potter and the Art Director, are despicable. Patterson's plot, rife with imprisonment, torture, rape, and murder, gives Fernandez and O'Hare plenty to sink their teeth into. S.J.H.
© AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews