**An instant* New York Times* bestseller! *Return of the Spider* is the stunning companion novel to *Along Came a Spider* , the *New York Times* bestselling classic thriller from the world’s most popular storyteller.** **Enter the thrilling world of the #1 bestselling detective series that inspired the Prime Video show,*Cross*.** *Along Came a Spider* introduced Detective Alex Cross to readers around the globe and delivered an unsurpassed Cross—named the “human superhero” by *The New York Times* —versus Gary Soneji, who the *Lexington-Herald Leader* called the “most deliciously wicked character since Hannibal Lecter”. But that wasn’t their first meeting … Police discover that Soneji kept a murder book, Profiles in Homicidal Genius, detailing his transformation from substitute teacher to hardened serial killer—including clues that imply missteps that Alex Cross may have made a rookie homicide detective. Now, Alex must retrace the steps of that long-ago investigation and face … the *Return of the Spider*. **“Patterson knows how to sell thrills and suspense.” —People, on *Along Came a Spider***