Washington, D.C.

homicide investigator and forensic psychologist Alex Cross investigates the brutal murders of two
black prostitutes and an infant. Then, at an exclusive private school, math teacher ary !one"i kidnaps #aggie $ose Dunne
and #ichael oldberg. Cross is pulled off the murder case to investigate the kidnapping instead. Angry because he feels
everyone cares more about two rich white children than three dead black people, he meets %e&&ie 'lannagan, the head of the
children(s !ecret !ervice detail. At an old farmhouse, !one"i buries the children alive in a specially made coffin. Angered by ')*
agent $oger raham(s contemptuous comments about him on T+, !one"i later impersonates a reporter and kills raham.
#eanwhile, Cross, his partner %ohn !ampson and the ')* search !one"i(s apartment, discovering his obsession with
kidnappings, particularly that of the ,indbergh baby, and his desire to become a world famous criminal.
!ome time later, #ichael oldberg(s corpse is discovered, and the Dunnes receive a telegram demanding -./ million. Cross,
!ampson and the ')* investigate, and Cross begins an affair with %e&&ie 'lannagan. 0e is ordered to deliver the money to Walt
Disney World in 1rlando, wondering how !one"i knows about his involvement. A man takes him on a plane, flying to a small
island and taking the money, but never delivering #aggie $ose. At the old farmhouse, police officers find the empty graves
where the children were held. !one"i returns to his home in Wilmington, Delaware, where it is revealed he has a wife and a
daughter.
*n Washington DC, !one"i, dressed as a public utility employee, murders a teacher from the private school. Cross and
!ampson are sent to the scene and, seeing the way he mutilated the body, 2uickly reali&e that !one"i is also behind the killings
they investigated before and after the kidnapping. *n the murdered prostitutes( neighborhood, an elderly woman recalls a man
driving going door to door selling heating systems. They soon find out that a man named ary #urphy works for the company,
and put observation on his family home in Wilmington, but !one"i manages to escape. A day later, he walks into
a#cDonald(s and holds several people hostage. !one"i is almost killed, but Cross saves him, as he believes !one"i knows
where #aggie is. The criminal promises Cross will regret saving his life.
The trial of ary !one"i3#urphy lasts eleven months. Cross hypnoti&es him several times, learning he seems to have a split
personality4 ary #urphy, his everyday persona, is a gentle family man, while ary !one"i is a vicious sociopath. Despite the
defense(s best effort at an insanity plea, !one"i is imprisoned. #eanwhile, Cross learns that someone was following !one"i and
knew about the kidnapping. Cross suspects #ike Devine and Charley Chakely, the !ecret !ervice agents in charge of
protecting #aggie $ose and #ichael when they were kidnapped. 0e meets with !one"i, who confirms he may have been
followed. 0e did not make the connection until he recogni&ed the man at his trial5 #ike Devine.
Cross meets with the ')*, who have believed for some time that Devine and Chakely took the ransom money, hiring and later
murdering the pilot from 'lorida. Cross also learns that no other than %e&&ie 'lannagan masterminded the kidnapping using her
lover, Devine, as a pawn. Around the same time, !one"i escapes from prison and goes to Washington, where he tortures
Devine to find out where the ransom money is. After retrieving the money, he kills Devine.
Cross takes 'lannagan on a Caribbean getaway, and confronts her about her actions. !he explains that Devine and Chakely
noticed !one"i driving by the oldberg house, and followed him. The ransom was her idea, and they removed #aggie $ose
after #ichael died accidentally. 'lannagan is arrested based on a recording !ampson made of the conversation, and #aggie
$ose is found with a family in !outh America, where she had been living for the past two years.
!hortly after this, !one"i attacks Cross at his Washington home, attempting to kill his grandmother and children. ,osing the
fight, !one"i is hunted through the capital and eventually cornered on 6ennsylvania Avenue, where he takes two children
hostage. !one"i is about to shoot Cross, but !ampson shoots !one"i first, wounding him. !ome time later, Charley Chakely and
%e&&ie 'lannagan are executed for their crimes, while !one"i is locked up in a mental institution. 0e writes a last taunting letter
to Cross and bribes a guard to leave it on Cross( windshield. Disturbed but unwilling to let the psychopath disrupt his life any
further, Cross returns home to spend time with his family.
Characters7edit8
Alex Cross5 An African9American forensic psychologist as well as a detective, described as good9looking and well9built. 0e is
often referred to as :Doctor Detective.: Despite being very dedicated to his "ob, he manages to be a devoted father to his two
children. 0is wife, #aria, was killed in a shooting before the novel begins and he is romantically involved with %e&&ie 'lannagan
before he finds out her role in #aggie $ose(s disappearance.
Jezzie Flannagan5 )efore the kidnapping of #aggie $ose and #ichael oldberg, she held an esteemed position in the !ecret
!ervice;the first woman ever to hold the position. !he is described as very beautiful, though she confides in Alex that she
wishes she(d been born plain so she wouldn(t have to face as much sexism in her workplace. As a white woman romantically
involved with Alex <an African9American man=, she faces racism, though she handles it better than Alex does. )oth her parents
were alcoholics, and her father committed suicide. !he names them as :smart failures,: or brilliant people who never made
anything of their lives. When Alex confronts her about her betrayal, she admits that she approached him at first strictly to get
information on what the cops knew, but that she later fell in love with him and his children.
Gary Murphy/Soneji5 As a boy, he was physically and sexually abused by his father and stepmother, which caused him to
develop a split personality. ary #urphy is a normal, all9American father and husband, while ary !one"i is a cold9blooded
predator who fantasi&es about kidnapping and burying a baby alive at twelve and orchestrates the kidnapping of #aggie $ose
and #ichael oldberg. 0e has an obsession with being famous, and wants to be the most feared criminal in America.