James Paterson's narrative style has improved with this writting. We once again follow Alex Cross as he works on a homicide case. But this time, he is brought into the case by his best friend and partner John Sampson.
An old army budy of John's from Vietnam, a decorated veteran with a perfect record, is convicted of a brutal murder. And Alex can not accept this. He ask Alex to investigate this crime as a favor. As they delve into the murder, they find that there is more then one crime associated with the Army that have the same profile. The army does not cooperate with Cross, and we are left wondering if they are protecting their own, or hiding something.
There are a lot of distractions in this book, and some background. We learn why John feels like he was rasied by Alex's grandmother, Nana. The fact that John servered in Vietnam before going to the police academy. Both John and Alex have new budding relationships. And Nana is sick.
As usual, we know who the killers are toward the begining of the book. And we get to see things from the killers propsective as our hero, Alex Cross tries to catch them. Still, the book is a page turner and I read it in one day.