My 14yo son gave me the 5th book in the Alex Cross series...Pop Goes the Weasel.   I haven't read any of the Alex Cross books, but I do read all of the Women's Murder Club books and know that I will generally like the series.  How badly do I need to start the series at the beginning?  Is there so much backstory by the 5th book that I'll be confused or irritated if I just try to read that one?  I have so many series going...I really don't want to get hooked on another one. But I really want to read this one because he picked it out himself for me.

Yes, they should be read in order some of the books due reference characters or events from previous books in the series.

Hope this helps

Happy Holidays

Tammy

Thanks, Tammy....I guess I'm off to look for a deal on the first four books!

Christa - I love Patterson's Alex Cross series.  And my answer may be a little biased because I'm a bit OCD about reading books in order, but I do think that this series works better read in order because of the awesome character development that Patterson does.  there are tons of authors that have written series books that after the first 10 or so become routine or boring, but Patterson has kept the Cross series very interesting.

And as a complete off topic - I saw your location - Walter Denham that settled Denham Springs was a relative of mine!  I need to dig out the geneology that one of my distant cousins did.  I'd totally forgotten about this.

You definitely want to read these books in order.   Alex Cross has quite a few relationships that carry throughout the books.   Some books don't end all tidy....they almost feel like "to be continued". 

I just finished Big Bad Wolf.   A to be continued ending but, I have London Bridges waiting for me. :)

I'm excited about starting this series, but will wait until later in the year.  I'm pretty focused on reducing my TBR pile right now, doing it mainly through the Christian Fiction and Historical Fiction challenges. Once I make a dent in those, I'll start collecting the Cross books and get started.  My library has an FOL sale every month and I know I can get older books like this for a quarter each pretty easily.

Melani, we've lived here for seven years and I know very little of the history of the area.  I do know where the actual spring is that the town was named after, and I know that this parish has a long and ugly history with the KKK...a reputation that sticks with it today unfortunately. 

Melani, we've lived here for seven years and I know very little of the history of the area.  I do know where the actual spring is that the town was named after, and I know that this parish has a long and ugly history with the KKK...a reputation that sticks with it today unfortunately. 

yeah, that's not part of my family history that I'm proud of. *sigh*

As for the Alex Cross books...you're gonna love 'em!  (at least I hope you will!)