Cat & Mouse (Alex Cross)

• James Patterson knows how to write one heck of a scary book. A cold blooded murderer, Soneji, is on the loose and killing everyone who crosses his path. In Europe, another psycho, "Mr. Smith", is continuing to mutilate his victims before killing them.
  
  No one has a clue who he is and he's already outsmarted the police through 22 murders. Will they ever catch him?
  
  I didn't want to put this book down. It just grabs you and you have to keep reading. An excellent screaming terror.
  

• A former nemesis of Alex Cross, Gary Soneji, has escaped from jail and is intent on building his reputation as the best (worst?) serial killer in the world and to add Alex Cross to his growing list of victims.
  
  Shooting people like fish in a barrel in Washington and New York train stations brings Alex in close contact with this vicious psychopath whose final words seems to indicate that Cross and his family are doomed.
  
  Meanwhile in Europe another serial killer nick named "Mr. Smith" is dispatching victims at and incredible rate and he too would like to end the career of Alex Cross. As Alex becomes involved in this case he must figure out the tantalizing clues left by the killer before he too becomes a victim of the brilliant "Mr. Smith".
  
  A real page turner filled with incredible tension softened somewhat and made human by Alex's growing love for the beautiful Christine Johnson. For thriller readers a real must.
  

• Cat & Mouse was the story of Alex Cross, an African-American police officer who was working on a case of two serial killers.
  
  One was Gary Soneji--the antagonist from Patterson's previous thriller Along Came a Spider--who was hellbent on taking revenge on Cross, family included. The other was Mr. Smith, a serial killer with split personalities who performed "autopsies" on his victims while they were still alive.
  
  This book has a good balance of scenes between Cross' personal life (his loving grandmother, his huge best friend Samson, his two beautiful children, and their teacher whom he is falling in love with) and business life.
  
  I would recommend this book to anyone but be sure not to make the same mistake I made. I started the book late at night before I went to bed at about 11 o'clock. It was so good that I continued to read until three in the morning, which left me sleepy and irritable the next day at work. If you are going to read this book, be sure to start it when you have at least two hours of spare time.