Source: Review copy
Publication: 25 November 2021 from Century
PP: 416
ISBN-13: 978-1529125252
My thanks to Sarah Harwood and Century for an advance copy for review
Alex Cross ventures into the rugged Montana wilderness – where he will be the prey.
He’s not on the job, but on a personal mission. Until he’s attacked by two rival teams of assassins, controlled by the same mastermind who has stalked Alex and his family for years.
Darkness falls. The river churns into rapids. Shots ring out through the forest.
No backup. No way out. Fear no evil.
When a series reaches Book 29, you know the author is doing something right! I’ve always loved a dose of Alex Cross, the tall detective whose family sustains him, from his current wife, Bree Stone– now in an elite private practice as an investigator, to his children, Damon, Jannie, and Ali and the mainstay of his home hub, Regina, known as Nana Mama, getting so much older, but still cooking delicious meals for the family that make your mouth water as you read about them.
In Fear No Evil Cross is once again working with his long term friend and partner at Metro PD, John Sampson, and FBI agent Ned Mahoney. They have had their fair share of fiendish antagonists over the years but the most puzzling surely has to be M or Maestro whose interventions have sometimes been helpful and sometimes deadly.
Alex and John Sampson find themselves caught smack in the middle of two rival groups – the Alejandro drugs cartel and the mysterious ‘M’.
The main part of the plot is set in the beautiful wilderness of Montana with a sub plot involving Bree taking place in Paris. Alex and a still grieving Sampson are about to leave on a much needed trip into the wilderness when they’re called to a murder scene in the middle of Washington, DC. It soon becomes clear that someone is targeting Federal Agents.
In a fast paced-book with all of the tension and suspense that Patterson brings to these books, the reader is treated to a number of scenarios where the body count rises and the danger increases, building the tension until we realise that Cross and Sampson are in the maelstrom of several brutally violent outbursts from which escape is hardly likely.
All the while Patterson teases with the elusive identity of his main antagonist and why they would be targetting Cross. There will be some answers, and some surprises, though one answer was, I felt fairly predictable, but not enough to spoil what is a tense and adrenaline-fuelled thrill ride through the beautiful and wild Montana rapids.
Verdict: Action packed, thrilling and violent, this is another enthralling episode in the mighty Alex Cross saga.
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James Patterson is one of the best-known and biggest-selling writers of all time. His books have sold in excess of 400 million copies worldwide. He is the author of some of the most popular series of the past two decades – the Alex Cross, Women’s Murder Club, Detective Michael Bennett and Private novels – and he has written many other number one bestsellers including stand-alone thrillers and non-fiction. James is passionate about encouraging children to read. Inspired by his own son who was a reluctant reader, he also writes a range of books for young readers including the Middle School, Dog Diaries, Treasure Hunters and Max Einstein series. James has donated millions in grants to independent bookshops and has been the most borrowed author in UK libraries for the past thirteen years in a row. He lives in Florida with his family.
Live and Deadly 
Great review
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