I know this is usually a prayer for kids everywhere, but if it’s okay, I’d like to pray for just one kid tonight,” I said. “A lot of you know Gabriel Qualls. He’s in my grade at Washington Latin. He doesn’t really come to church, but the point is, he’s been missing for three days.” Ali has helped to solve two big cases and he knows he has what it takes to follow in the footsteps of his famous father, Alex Cross.

Ali Cross - Penguin Books UK

This series is brilliant for mystery and adventure-loving readers 9+, fans of Alex Rider and any readers of parents who enjoy Alex Cross! The excitement in this book comes from an app that Gabe, Ali's friend, has developed. The app scans police frequency and they get alerted of crimes close to home. Ali sneaks out at night and observes the police in action over a range of different crimes. The crimes are setup to help support Ali's point of view on the police debate.This book differs from the previous two books and the title seems misleading. Ali isn’t actually solving any crimes as he’s caught up in tensions between the police and the public. The story itself is thought-provoking but it’s not what readers might expect when they start the book. Like I also should have just read the prayer anyway and gotten it over with like I was supposed to. But I couldn’t. It’s supposed to be a big deal to get chosen for the children’s prayer at my church, especially on Christmas Eve. I guess you could say it was an honor. But my mind was like mush that night, and I was wishing they’d tapped someone else.

James Patterson – Books – Ali Cross

I hadn’t known him that long—only since the beginning of middle school. But we got to be friends right away. I saw him in the cafeteria one day, eating by himself and working on a pretty cool drawing. I mentioned something about it, and that’s when I found out he was a total Outpost fan, like me. Ever since then, we’d been gaming together, he’d come over to watch movies, and that kind of thing. But he never talked about himself much, and I never really asked. Now I was thinking maybe I should have. Main character Ali aspires to be a member of the police force and is caught between the hurt and anger of his neighbourhood, and the good work he knows his detective father and his colleagues perform.

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Ali, written by James Patterson as Alex Cross's youngest son, knows Gabe Quails better than anyone. So when his friend goes missing Ali jumps right into action. Being Alex Cross's son has taught him the skills he needs to solve the mystery. Intelligence, persistence, and logic. One rhing he didn't inherit? Patience. Because he knows that with every passing day, Gabe gone, the less likely it is he'll ever be found. AND...being Alex Cross's son, he refuses to accept those odd. This is a very good read. I like his touch of Ali. I remember a former book in which he finds out the problem with the numbers in the margins. Brilliant..... I recently finished James Patterson’s latest Alex Cross novel, which saw an increase in Ali’s presence. It felt fitting to turn to this shorter piece to give Ali his time in the spotlight and to see if younger readers were getting the same intensity in their novels related to this DC family. Patterson does well to pull a new set of Cross fans in, setting a mystery with Ali in the middle. Ali Cross is a middle-schooler who has all the tools to live a 21st century life, including an online presence that keeps him in touch with his friends. However, he has Cross blood in his veins and if he is not going to excel in athletics like his siblings, he might as well take up sleuthing. The reader can see this throughout this piece, as Ali Cross comes into his own. He loves a good mystery and has the empathy to make his work mean something. Other characters help pave the way to a successful story, including Alex Cross, which enriches the entire reading experience. While it is hard to place this on the Alex Cross timeline of books, there is surely a little character development for Alex and Ali, though it might be in a vacuum and not entirely in line with the chronology of the larger Cross series (if that makes sense as I pen it now). The story was strong and helped introduce the reader to Ali Cross in such a way that readers will want to know more. With some eerie goings-on in the Alex Cross series and a few hints that Ali Cross has not tripped on his only mystery, Patterson keeps readers of all ages wondering what will come next in the Cross saga and how long until Ali takes over the spotlight, letting Alex relax and fade into the role of advisor, rather than ‘feet on the ground’ detective. It had been three days since my friend disappeared and I was starting to think the worst might have happened. Maybe I should have said a prayer for my dad, too. Because I wasn’t the only one dealing with some heavy stuff that night. When I was working on this prayer, I thought a lot about the night Jesus was born, and how nobody wanted to make any room for him, and how he had to be born in a stable,” I said. “So now I’m wondering if maybe we could learn something from that. I’m hoping we can all make room for Gabe. Like in our hearts. And in our prayers.”