Alex Cross's Trial

by James Patterson, Richard DiLallo

Overview

Written in the fearless voice of Detective Alex Cross, Alex Cross's Trial is a #1 New York Times bestseller of murder, love, and above all, bravery.

From his grandmother, Alex Cross has heard the story of his great uncle Abraham and his struggles for survival in the era of the Ku Klux Klan. Now, Alex passes the family tale along to his own children in a novel he's written-a novel called Trial.

As a lawyer in turn-of-the-century Washington D.C., Ben Corbett represents the toughest cases. Fighting against oppression and racism, he risks his family and his life in the process. When President Roosevelt asks Ben to return to his home town to investigate rumors of the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan there, he cannot refuse.

When he arrives in Eudora, Mississippi, Ben meets the wise Abraham Cross and his beautiful granddaughter, Moody. Ben enlists their help, and the two Crosses introduce him to the hidden side of the idyllic Southern town. Lynchings have become commonplace and residents of the town's black quarter live in constant fear. Ben aims to break the reign of terror-but the truth of who is really behind it could break his heart. Written in the fearless voice of Detective Alex Cross, Alex Cross's Trial is a gripping story of courage in the face of prejudice and terror.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780446561808
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	04/06/2010
Series:	Alex Cross Series
Pages:	391
Sales rank:	64,733
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

James Patterson has had more New York Times bestsellers than any other writer, ever, according to Guinness World Records. Since his first novel won the Edgar Award in 1977 James Patterson's books have sold more than 300 million copies. He is the author of the Alex Cross novels, the most popular detective series of the past twenty-five years, including Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider. He writes full-time and lives in Florida with his family.

Hometown:

Palm Beach, Florida

Date of Birth:

March 22, 1947

Place of Birth:

Newburgh, New York

Education:

B.A., Manhattan College, 1969; M.A., Vanderbilt University, 1971

Website:

http://www.jamespatterson.com

Read an Excerpt

Alex Cross's TRIAL

---

By Patterson, James

Grand Central Publishing

Copyright © 2010 Patterson, James
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9780446561808

---

Part One

A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND

Chapter 1

“LET HER HANG until she’s dead!”

“Take her out and hang her now! I’ll do it myself!”

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Judge Otis L. Warren wielded his gavel with such fury I thought he might smash a hole in the top of his bench.

“Quiet in the court!” the judge shouted. “Settle down, or by God I will hold every last one of you sons of bitches in contempt.”

Bam! Bam! Bam!

It was no use. Warren’s courtroom was overflowing with disgruntled white citizens who wanted nothing more than to see my client hang. Two of them on the left side began a chant that was soon taken up by others:

We don’t care where. We don’t care how.

We just wanna hang Gracie Johnson now!

The shouts from some among the white majority sent such a shiver of fear through the colored balcony that one woman fainted and had to be carried out.

Another bang of the gavel. Judge Warren stood and shouted, “Mr. Loomis, escort all those in the colored section out of my courtroom and out of the building.”

I couldn’t hold my tongue another second.

“Your Honor, I object! I don’t see any of the colored folks being rowdy or disrespectful. The ones making the fuss are the white men in front.”

Judge Warren glared over his glasses at me. His expression intimidated the room into silence.

“Mr. Corbett, it is my job to decide how to keep order in my court. It is your job to counsel your client—and let me tell you, from where I sit, she needs all the help she can get.”

I couldn’t disagree.

What I once thought would be an easy victory in the case of District of Columbia v. Johnson was swiftly turning into a disaster for Gracie and her increasingly helpless attorney, Benjamin E. Corbett: that being myself.

Gracie Johnson was on trial for the murder of Lydia Davenport, a wealthy white woman who was active in Washington society at a level high enough to cause a nosebleed. Worse, Gracie was a black woman accused of killing her wealthy white employer.

The year was 1906. Before it was all over, I was afraid they were going to hang Gracie.

I had to be careful they didn’t hang me while they were at it.

Continues...

---

Excerpted from Alex Cross's TRIAL by Patterson, James Copyright © 2010 by Patterson, James. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---

Editorial Reviews

"The Man Who Can't Miss."

TIME

The 15th book in James Patterson's Alex Cross series takes us back to early-20th-century America, deep into the heart of Mississippi Jim Crow country. A brave young lawyer named Ben Corbett has been summonsed to the White House by President Theodore Roosevelt and given the enviable assignment of investigating reports of lynchings in the Deep South, with the help of a Eudora, Mississippi, man who happens to be Abraham Cross, a great-uncle of Alex. Once on the scene, Ben begins to notice that his every movement is being watched. He has a clear choice: Beat a hasty retreat back to Washington or stay and risk his own violent demise. Torchlit danger and suspense.

Fans of Patterson's serial-killer hunting detective, Alex Cross, expecting another cat-and-mouse thriller based on this book's title, will find Cross's appearance limited to a two-page preface in which the fictional character explains why he's written a book called Trial. Abraham Cross, a relative who lived in Eudora, Miss., at the beginning of the 20th century, helps liberal lawyer Ben Corbett to expose the truth about a wave of lynchings near that town, an assignment undertaken at the request of Corbett's friend, President Theodore Roosevelt. When Corbett arrives in Eudora, where he was born and raised, he receives a frosty reception from many unhappy with his record of representing African-Americans accused of murder, including a cold shoulder from his father, a judge. Soon, Corbett finds evidence that racism is alive and well, and that brutal murders of blacks, often for the most trivial of reasons, are endemic. Some may be disappointed that Abraham plays a relatively minor role, given the jacket line that "the Cross family had more than one hero."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly

"A compelling and unforgettable novel . . . A powerful drama and a gripping thriller - and the story that it tells is an important one."—Nights and Weekends.com

"A little bit of Atticus from To Kill a Mockingbird and a lot of James Patterson heading in a new direction."
—TheReviewBroads.com

"Fans of the Cross novels will find this book equally as enjoyable as any Cross book. IT CONTAINS THE SAME FAST PACE, TRUE-TO-LIFE CHARACTERS, AND GREAT STORYTELLING THAT ARE HALLMARKS OF VIRTUALLY EVERYTHING THAT PATTERSON WRITES."—TMRZoo.com

"A HAUNTING ACCOUNT OF A BLEAK TIME IN AMERICA'S HISTORY . . . A REVELATION."—BookReporter.com

From the Publisher

James Patterson returns to his most popular character, Detective Alex Cross, in this mysterious new thriller, which has Cross relating the tale of his grandfather's struggle for survival against the KKK in the South to his children in the form of a novel. Narrator Dylan Baker is the optimal choice to bring this story to life and never disappoints. His pitch-perfect dialect is a marvel filled with subtleties and nuances that take the story to a whole new level. Baker has the capacity to speak directly to each individual listener while still managing to appeal to his audience as a whole with a tremendous stage presence that will have listeners enthralled for hours. L.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2009 - AudioFile