Along Came a Spider
  • # of Books:
    34
  • First Book:
    February 1993
  • Latest Book:
    November 2023
  • Genres:
    Police Procedural
  • Setting:
    Washington, D.C.
  • Characters:
    Alex Cross, detective
  • Series Rating:
  • Description:
    James Patterson's Alex Cross series features the gritty backdrop of Washington, D.C., for his titular detective. Alex Cross is a detective with the Metropolitan Police Department who has a psychology degree from Johns Hopkins specializing in abnormal psychology and forensic psychology.

    The first book in the series, Along Came a Spider, was published in 1993 and new books have been delivered on a regular basis since then. Patterson has also written several spin-off novels from this series. The popular detective was brought to the big screen in 1997 starring Morgan Freeman as Alex Cross.
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Alex Cross Series in Order (34 Books)

Order Book Date Rating
1 5
2 5
3 5
4 5
5 5
6 5
7 5
8 5
9 5


10 5
11 5
12 5
13 4.5
14 4
15 5
16 5
17 4.5
18 4
19 4
20 4
21 4
22 5
23 5
23.5 4
24 5
24.5 5
25 5
26 5
27 5


28 5
29 5
30 5
31 5
32 0

Book Descriptions for series: Alex Cross


  • Book - 1

    A missing little girl named Maggie Rose. A family of three brutally murdered in the projects of Washington, D.C. The thrill-killing of a beautiful elementary school teacher. A psychopathic serial kidnapper/murderer who calls himself the Son ...



  • Book - 2

    First came the stunning number-one bestseller Along Came a Spider. Now comes the scariest, most unforgettable novel in several years. In Los Angeles, a reporter investigating a series of murders is killed. In Chapel Hill, North Carolina, a beautiful ...



  • Book - 3

    Someone has killed one of the most powerful men in the U.S. Senate--and the whole world is watching. Someone has murdered a small black girl on the mean streets of Washington--and no one seems to care. But only D.C. homicide cop Alex Cross suspects t...



  • Book - 4

    In Cat & Mouse, things get too close to home. Two killers, one operating in America--one in Europe--believe Alex Cross is the only worthy opponent in the deadly game each has planned. And Alex must contend with something he hasn't known since the los...



  • Book - 5

    Detective Alex Cross is back--and he's in love. But his happiness is threatened by a series of chilling murders in Washington, D.C., murders with a pattern so twisted they leave investigators reeling. Cross's pursuit of the killer produces a suspect,...



  • Book - 6

    In this heart-pounding new thriller, Detective Alex Cross pursues the most brilliant killer he's ever confronted, a mysterious criminal who calls himself the Mastermind. In a series of crimes that has stunned Washington, D.C., bank robbers have been ...



  • Book - 7

    D.C. Detective Alex Cross has seen a lot of crime scenes. But even he is appalled by the gruesome murders of two joggers in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park--killings that look more like the work of savage beasts than humans. Local police are horrifi...



  • Book - 8

    On the verge of resigning from the D.C. police force, Detective Alex Cross knows he can't refuse this case. His partner John Sampson has a friend who has been framed for murder and is facing the gas chamber. His accusers? The United States Army. As a...



  • Book - 9

    Alex Cross's first case since joining the FBI has his new colleagues stymied. Across the country, beautiful women are being kidnapped-to be bought and sold as slaves. Behind this depraved scheme stands a shadowy figure known only as The Wolf, a maste...






  • Book - 10

    Minutes after soldiers evacuate a Nevada town, a bomb completely destroys it. On vacation, FBI agent Alex Cross gets the call: the blast was perpetrated by the Wolf. A supercriminal and Cross's deadliest nemesis, the Wolf threatens to obliterate majo...



  • Book - 11

    Somebody is murdering Hollywood's A-list. Her calling card: "You've got mail." On a family vacation, FBI agent Alex Cross is asked to investigate the shooting of a top actress...and an e-mail sent to the Los Angeles Times with shocking details about ...



  • Book - 12

    Alex Cross's most terrifying--and emotional--case may destroy him. Alex Cross was a rising star in the Washington, D.C., Police Department when an unknown man gunned down his wife. But his need for vengeance was placed on hold as he raised his childr...



  • Book - 13

    Alex Cross rejoins the D.C. police force to confront two of the most diabolical killers he's ever encountered. Just when his life is calming down, Alex Cross is drawn back into a lethal game like no other. In Washington, D.C., a maniac stages his kil...



  • Book - 14

    Detective Alex Cross pursues the most ruthless killer he's ever encountered -- to a land of sheer terror and back. It's the worst crime scene Alex Cross has ever seen, and then more killings, each one more ruthless than the last, quickly follow. Afte...



  • Book - 15

    THE CROSS FAMILY HAD MORE THAN ONE HERO Alex Cross tells the incredible story -- passed down through generations -- of an ancestor's courageous fight for freedom. SEPARATED BY TIME From his grandmother, Alex Cross has heard the story of his great un...



  • Book - 16

    You can't run Detective Alex Cross is pulled out of a family celebration and given the awful news that a beloved relative has been found brutally murdered. Alex vows to hunt down the killer, and soon learns that she was mixed up in one of Washingt...



  • Book - 17

    A new killer strikes at the nation's capital as Alex Cross faces his oldest -- and most dangerous -- nemesis. Detective Alex Cross and Bree Stone's wedding plans are put on hold when Alex is called to the assassination scene of a dirty congressman an...



  • Book - 18

    The only way to stop Alex Cross...is to kill him. Detective Alex Cross is on the biggest case of his career. The president's son and daughter have been abducted from their school. Alex does everything he can but is shunted to the fringes of the inves...



  • Book - 19

    It's Christmas Eve and Detective Alex Cross has been called out to catch someone who's robbing his church's poor box. That mission behind him, Alex returns home to celebrate with Bree, Nana, and his children. The tree decorating is barely underway be...






  • Book - 20

    DON'T LOOK, ALEX CROSS Top plastic surgeon Elijah Creem is renowned for his skills in the operating room, and for his wild, no-expense-spared "industry parties," bringing in underage exotic dancers and models for nights of drugs, champagne, and unin...



  • Book - 21

    James Patterson raises the stakes to their highest level, ever-when Alex Cross becomes the obsession of a genius of menace set on proving that he is the greatest mind in the history of crime. Detective Alex Cross is a family man at heart--nothing ...



  • Book - 22

    Detective Alex Cross is being stalked by a psychotic genius, forced to play the deadliest game of his career. Cross's family--his loving wife Bree, the wise and lively Nana Mama, and his precious children--have been ripped away. Terrified and despera...



  • Book - 23

    The toughest cases are the ones that hit close to home. When his cousin is accused of a heinous crime, Alex Cross returns to his North Carolina hometown for the first time in over three decades. As he tries to prove his cousin's innocence in a tow...



  • Book - 23.5

    Alex Cross, I'm coming for you--even from the grave if I have to. Along Came a Spider killer Gary Soneji has been dead for over ten years. Alex Cross watched him die. But today, Cross saw him gun down his partner. Is Soneji alive? A ghost? Or some...



  • Book - 24

    In all of Alex Cross's years with Homicide, Washington, DC, has never been more dangerous. After shots pierce the tranquil nighttime calm of Rock Creek Park, a man is dead: what looks at first like road rage might be something much more sinister. ...



  • Book - 24.5

    The suspect is your patient, Dr. Cross. An anonymous caller has promised to set off deadly bombs in Washington, DC. A cruel hoax or the real deal? By the time Alex Cross and his wife, Bree Stone, uncover the chilling truth, it may already be too l...



  • Book - 25

    The charges: explosive Alex Cross has never been on the wrong side of the law-until now. Charged with gunning down followers of his nemesis Gary Soneji in cold blood, Cross is being turned into the poster child for trigger-happy cops who think the...



  • Book - 26

    TARGET: HEAD OF STATE A leader has fallen, and the procession route from Capitol Hill to the White House is lined with hundreds of thousands of mourners. None feel the loss of a President more keenly than Alex Cross, who has devoted his life to th...



  • Book - 27

    When a mysterious serial killer known as "M" launches a deranged "investigation", Alex Cross and his partner must unearth long-forgotten secrets to survive -- or risk getting buried themselves. In a Virginia penitentiary, Alex Cros...






  • Book - 28

    The murder of a glamorous DC socialite becomes Alex Cross’s deadliest case since Along Came a Spider. Kay Willingham led a life as glamorous as it was public-she was a gorgeous Georgetown socialite, philanthropist, and the ex-wife of the vice pr...



  • Book - 29

    Alex Cross enters the final battle with the all-knowing genius who has stalked him and his family for years. Dr. Alex Cross and Detective John Sampson venture into the rugged Montana wilderness -- where they will be the prey. They’re not on ...



  • Book - 30

    Detective Alex Cross hunts down a serial killer who’s murdering entire families -- and who will next be coming for Cross. A methodical killer is targeting multigenerational families in and around Washington, DC -- striking under cover of darknes...



  • Book - 31

    Alex Cross is gravely injured. Only his partner and friend John Sampson can keep him safe . . . and get him justice. For the first time, John Sampson is on his own.    The brilliant crime-solving duo of Washington, DC’s, Metro PD and the ...



  • Book - 32

    Inspiration for Cross, coming soon to Prime Video—Alex Cross, fresh from a brush with death himself, is on the trail of the Dead Hours Killer.   Detectives Cross and Sampson are tracking a serial killer who's fatally ambushing young me...


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

There are 34 books in the Alex Cross series.

The next book in the Alex Cross series, Cross Out (Book 32), will be published in November 2023.

The first book in the Alex Cross series, Along Came a Spider, was published in February 1993.

The Alex Cross series primarily falls into the Police Procedural genre.