Mary, Mary (novel)

Mary, Mary is the eleventh book by James Patterson featuring the former Washington, D.C. homicide detective and forensic psychiatrist and current FBI agent Alex Cross.

Plot summary

FBI Agent Alex Cross is on vacation in Los Angeles with his family when he receives word that a Hollywood actress has been murdered. The actress was shot and her face violently slashed with a knife. An email describing the killer's mindset before and during the murder as well as allusions to the killer's motivation was sent to an entertainment reporter at the Los Angeles Times. The emails are signed "Mary Smith". The actress happens to be friends with the wife of the President of the United States who has asked FBI Director Ron Burns to look into the matter.

Additional victims, including a movie producer and a local TV anchorwoman, turn up later as well. As the number of incidents increases so does the number of leads. One such lead is a sighting of a blue Chevrolet Suburban speeding away from one of the murder scenes. Further investigation reveals the owner of one such Suburban who's owner lives near the Internet cafe where many of the Mary Smith emails were sent. A variety of other evidence also corroborates the conclusion that the Suburban's owner is, in fact, the Mary Smith killer.

Cross interviews the Suburban owner. In doing so, he discovers that she suffers from some sort of psychological disorder that either lead or caused her to kill her three children 20 years ago. To investigate the killings further, Cross travels to the Suburban owner's small hometown in Vermont and discovers that after her children were killed, she was institutionalized at a state mental hospital from which she later escaped.

At the mental hospital, Cross examines the log of visitors who had come to see the Suburban owner and discovers a familiar name who then shows up and tries to silence Cross for good.

Trivia

• Title is from the rhyme "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary".
• In the custody case, Alex is angered and a surprised Christine had a P.I. snap a shot of the family being evacuated; yet, in an earlier book, (The Big Bad Wolf) he sees the P.I.