Just when Alex thought his life was calming down into a routine of patients and therapy sessions, he finds himself back in the game--this time to catch a criminal mastermind like no other. A spate of elaborate murders in Washington D.C. have the whole East Coast on edge. They are like nothing Alex Cross and his new girlfriend, Detective Brianna Stone, have ever seen. With each murder, the case becomes increasingly complex. There's only one thing Alex...

Desiree Mitry is furious to discover that a major drug cartel has been operating in Dorset, Connecticut, right under her nose. Matters escalate when a troubled Sour Cherry Lane resident turns up dead. Desiree pursues the case in her own way. The problem is that her way gets her in way too deep. And there's only person who can possibly get her out--New York film critic Mitch Berger.

In Washington, two lots of serial killers compete for the limelight. One lot kills famous people as they work their way up to the president, the other kills black children in ever-growing numbers. Black deputy police chief Alex Cross leads a manhunt.