Cross
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Where did Ali come from??
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Anne
(last edited Aug 25, 2016 01:57PM)
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Nov 26, 2007 06:57AM
How did Cross have a 3rd kid when his wife was preggers when she died? I missed something!
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Ali is Alex's son with Christine who was introduced earlier in the Alex Cross series. She was a school teacher who Alex fell in love with, she became pregnant and was kidnapped. She decided she could not live the life that Alex lived so she moved away with Little Alex and finally after some time and tribulations she decided to give Alex custody of the little boy.Hope that helps you out.
that kinda helps me out... only Ali came off as the baby of the family. and all the other kids were older in the book "Cross" so unless he cheated on his wife how did Ali end up younger than the rest of them?
Jannie and Janel, the two older children of Alex are by Alex's first wife Maria. Ali (Alex Jr.) is by Christine, a woman Alex met later on who could not handle Alex's job as a cop so she moved away., I am not sure which book she was introduced in. Hope that clears it up for you.
Patterson could have written the two or three sentences to explain that. Something like "Little Alex is the happy result of a failed relationship. Christine couldn't deal with my job so she split but eventually gave me custody of our son." You'd think an editor would have pointed out that no mention is made of Ali's origins and a first time reader would be confused by that. I know I was.
His two children from wife Maria who was killed are Jannie and Daymon.
Ali was from his liason with Christine before she was kidnapped and taken to an island by one of his villans. You need to read more of the Alex Cross books Patterson has written. Christine was the principal of his kids' Jannie and Damon's school.
A lot of times, when an author writes a series of books about one character, the story itself can stand alone. It's the same for the Alex Cross books, except there are a few things you would pick up along the way. Sometimes, I would almost rather they not dwell on explaining everything that has happened. I hate when each book begins with a re-cap, and then interjects all these little explanations thoughout the story. It gets tedious.
he first shows up in Pop goes the weasel if that of any help
Just reread Cross as I want to see the movie. I couldn't figure out where Ali came from.. I agree with Judy... little background could have been mentioned. I read Pop goes the Weasel but many years ago. Sometimes we just don't remember the little facts of Patterson's books.
Madelyn wrote: "Just reread Cross as I want to see the movie. I couldn't figure out where Ali came from.. I agree with Judy... little background could have been mentioned. I read Pop goes the Weasel but many year..."In many instances, it would be convenient to have background updates. However, at some point, this would be more distractive than helpful.
As a great Fan of James Patterson's Alex Cross novels, I am glad he does not recap everything in every book. I agree you really have to be a fan to know the story, but also strongly suggest to all of you who have not, to go back to the first book of the series and read them all.
Can anyone post the cross books in order. Some have been republished under different names and it is hard to keep straight sometimes. Thanks
Here is the order of books from beginning to most recent pending release• Along Came a Spider,
• Kiss the Girls
• Jack & Jill,
• Cat and Mouse
• Pop Goes the Weasel
• Roses Are Red
• Violets Are Blue
• Four Blind Mice
• The Big Bad Wolf
• London Bridges,
• Mary, Mary,
• Cross,
• Double Cross,
• Cross Country
• Alex Cross's Trial,
• I, Alex Cross,
• Cross Fire,
• Kill Alex Cross, .
• Merry Christmas, Alex Cross,
• Alex Cross, Run
I find it ironic that Alex cross went from being portrayed by Morgan Freeman to Tyler Perry in just the last 12 years. He gets younger looking every day!
Tyler Perry is more like the Alex Cross i imagine than Morgan Freeman could be. He's a middle aged brick of a man that can chase his villains down. Can't see Morgan Freeman doing that.
All publishers should realize that with a series, people will read them out of order. This book starts off with Alex having two children, then skips ahead several years to a time when he has three and never explains where the third one came from. That was a major distraction for me, because I kept going back through the book, looking for something on Ali's origins. My enjoyment of the book suffered, as it did for many other readers who'd never read the previous books. Two sentences would have cleared that up.
So Cross cheated on the Love of His life, in order to have a child younger than the 2 with Maria correct? That is the way it says on disc 2 of the book, Ali is the youngest, or it was simply poorly written and made it seem Ali was the youngest?
Jim wrote: "So Cross cheated on the Love of His life, in order to have a child younger than the 2 with Maria correct? That is the way it says on disc 2 of the book, Ali is the youngest, or it was simply poorl..."No. Alex was married to Maria, they had two children Damon and Jannie. Maria was pregnant with their third child when she was murdered (drive by shooting). Alex was in his early 30's when this happened.
Move on 10 years and he fell in love with Christine, who was the principle of Damon and Jannie's school. However, due to his job, she was kidnapped and she was pregnant at the time with Ali. When she was finally rescued she had already given birth to Ali. She gave Alex baby Ali to look after because she couldn't cope after the kidnapping, she was too scared to be with Alex because of his work. After about a year she came back for Ali and kept him for over a year but eventually she gave him back to Alex and he ended up with custody of Ali.
I hope this makes sense.
In the novel Cross he reflects back on his relationship with Maria and also her death. This novel is about him finding her killer and bringing closure to his guilt about not finding her killer sooner. This reflecting back may have caused some confusion for someone who hasn't read any of the previous books in the series.
If you read the books in order , it's not hard to find out who Ali is and how he ended up living with Alex and his family.
What is your favorite James Patterson novel? A page turner that you couldn't page down.
Once I start an Alex Cross book, I put it down only when I have to. That is why I haven't read the latest book. It is a "to be continued" book. I don't want to wait a year to find out what happened.
I have read more of his newer ones, but want to go back to some earlier ones, wanted to know which earlier one was the best?
They are all good, so I can't really pick any one to be the best. Start at the beginning, there is a list of them in this discussion. But "Kiss the Girls" and "Along came a Spider" are missing. Both or these were made into movies staring Morgan Freeman. Of these, I liked "Kiss the Girls" the best.
Thank you!!! I did read those first two, so I will just go in order from there... Thanks again!
Judy wrote: "Patterson could have written the two or three sentences to explain that. Something like "Little Alex is the happy result of a failed relationship. Christine couldn't deal with my job so she split ..."
If you read the books in order there is no question when the children were born or to which mother. There was no reason for James Patterson to make any explanation. Start at the beginning and read all the books in order. Then you will understand this.
Christine git kidnapped at end of cat and mouse.... The following book is pop goes the weasel and Christine is already back home am I missing something??
Alex rescues her and finds out that she was pregnant when she was kidnapped. She has had the baby - Ali - while in captivity. He rescues them both and takes them home with him.
I'm reading them in order and the end of Cat & Mouse Christine went missing. I'm halfway through Pop Goes The Weasel and nothing tells of what happened to her. Irritating...
Keep reading. It's in there.
Christopher wrote: "Ali is Alex's son with Christine who was introduced earlier in the Alex Cross series. She was a school teacher who Alex fell in love with, she became pregnant and was kidnapped. She decided she cou..."I am a fan of the series and a collector of all of the James Patterson series.All 5 of his series.That is exactly how the baby ALI story happened.This answer is 100 % correct.
Thank you. I just happened to pick up Cross from the library, was unfamiliar with the series, and thoroughly confused about Ali. I'm now hooked and will go back and read the series in order.
Just don't try to set up a time line for Alex and his grandmother. The years it would take for him to be a DC cop, FBI agent, cop and profiler again, then go into private practice and then hit the streets again, not to mention all the years of schooling he would need would put him north of 70 by now. As for reading the books before watching a movie.... don't. So much artistic license is used that barely more than the characters names remain.
Judy wrote: "All publishers should realize that with a series, people will read them out of order. This book starts off with Alex having two children, then skips ahead several years to a time when he has three ..."Agree wholeheartedly Judy. I actually read them in order, but on a very random schedule. I might go a few years before reading the next one. Someone said it could get "tedious" if Patterson gave some background. That's silly. A short parenthetical reference is all that's needed to reference where Ali came from. You don't have to write a paragraph and regurgitate the whole story.
Georgia wrote: "If you read the books in order there is no question when the children were born or to which mother. There was no reason for James Patterson to make any explanation. Start at the beginning and read ..."It's silly to ask every reader to read every Alex Cross book in order. The book titles themselves don't even indicate an order. With the Women's Murder Club (or Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone series, etc.), you know and expect the books are in order.
Authors need to write expecting that a reader may not have read every book in order. I actually read them in order but take years between novels (I have many, many authors and types of books I like to read), so a brief parenthetical reference to remind me where Ali came from, especially in a story that starts far in the past, is extremely logical.
I'm glad this question was asked. I've not read any Alex Cross books for years and have just picked up Cross. I remembered that there was an explanation about Ali somewhere but in Cross it starts with there being toddler Damon and baby Jannie and Maria being pregnant then dying. No mention of other children until Chapter 19 which starts with Alex, Damon, Janelle and 'little Alex's going car shopping.
Which is rather jarring and makes no sense. Perhaps having a list of key characters at the beginning if you're going to make that leap in the text would make sense.
DolphinBlue wrote: "Georgia wrote: "If you read the books in order there is no question when the children were born or to which mother. There was no reason for James Patterson to make any explanation. Start at the beg..."Goodreads puts them in order. There was no leap in the text.
Ray wrote: "Madelyn wrote: "Just reread Cross as I want to see the movie. I couldn't figure out where Ali came from.. I agree with Judy... little background could have been mentioned. I read Pop goes the Wease..."It was more distractful to me when I first read Cross and trying to fip back through the pages, wondering where in the world Ali came from! Just a brief explanation would have prevented me from spending sleepless nights wondering if I missed something
.
