MixedThe New York Journal of BooksHe is able to take us from Alex Cross under scrutiny of murder, to the dark world of subterranean humans—even mix in his family relationships—and pull it all together, then wrap it up in a nice bow for the denouement ... However, some of the characters make appearances far apart, and readers are likely to lose track of more than a few characters’ raison d’etre. With so many characters, and so many scenes, Patterson would serve us better if he included a list of characters and their roles in the front matter ... His sparse use of coarse language is refreshing ... He’s able to break the rules and combine first person singular with third person omniscient. Still, readers may have a couple of concerns, or maybe complaints, concerning The People vs. Alex Cross; it needs less setting description and fewer scenes that don’t drive the plot. Maybe readers would be better served with more 60,000-word novels, instead of 110,000.
