My first ever Alex Cross and I enjoyed it - fast paced and exciting with a murderer you really want to be caught. I loved the wise, wonderful Nana and the third dimension she brings to the detective's character. The twist at the climax reminded me a little of the end of The Final Cut by Michael Dobbs .....

Reasons for not giving a 4th star were (trying to avoid spoilers here):

1. The ending seemed weak - all seems way too quick and easy. Surely in modern America the process of getting arrest warrants for such a wealthy, powerful person would be a lot harder than this?

2. The murderer's identity was far too obvious from about 1/2 of the way through. Maybe one particular minor character should have been introduced at the very beginning or not until the very end...?

3. I felt the fact that the first victim was his niece got kind of lost somewhere. Very soon becomes more or less irrelevant to the story line and I got the feeling that it could have been just any other young woman who had been viciously murdered.