Em taca

Ulisses vivia numa ilha grega que se chamava taca, com a sua mulher penlope e o
seu filho Telmaco. Era um rei diferente que gostava de caar e conversar com o
seu povo.
De esprito irrequieto e aventureiro, quando estava em casa s pensava em ir ao
encontro de aventuras, do desconhecido pois o que o entusiasmava era o mar.
Quando o prncipe Pris raptou a bela rainha Helena de Tria, Ulisses no quis ir
para a guerra e fingiu estar louco para no ir.
Mas l foi com os seus guerreiros, pensado alegremente que iam ter uma vitria
fcil e, em breve, regressariam ao reino.

O cerco e ataque a Tria

O cerco e a guerra de Tria duraram 10 anos 10 anos sem os gregos verem a

Ptria, a famlia, j ningum sabia suportar a saudade, o esforo de manter um
cerco durante tanto tempo. Aquilo no podia continuar assim.
Ulisses teve a ideia de construir um enorme cavalo de pau assente num estrado
com rodas para se poder deslocar. Dentro da barriga do cavalo esconderam-se
alguns homens. O cavalo foi deixado, como oferta, s portas da cidade de Tria. Os
outros gregos fingiram que se retiravam.
Passados 4 dias, os troianos convenceram-se que os Gregos tinham mesmo partido.
Abriram, devagarinho, as portas da cidade e levaram para o meio da praa o
cavalo, comeando a festejar a vitria.
Durante a madrugada, quando os Troianos estavam a descansar, os Gregos saram
de dentro do cavalo, abriram as portas da cidade aos companheiros e destruram,
completamente, Tria.

Incio da viagem de regresso que vai durar outros 10 anos

Cheios de saudades os gregos meteram-se nos barcos e dirigiram-se para as suas

terras. Ulisses reuniu-se com 40 valentes marinheiros e l foram num belo navio em
direo a taca. Assim em pleno mar, Ulisses s pensa em regressar ptria.
Os deuses, furiosos, intervieram sob a forma de uma estranha corrente submarina
que iam levando para onde eles no queriam ir.

Na terra dos Ciclopes

Comearam a avistar terra: era uma ilha onde o navio calmamente aportou.
Mas havia entre eles um que era mais forte do que todos, mais cruel que todos,
mais bravo do que todos e que era o terror de todos.
Chamava-se Polifemo e tinha um mau gnio horrvel, zangava-se por tudo e por
nada e depois dava murros para a esquerda e para a direita.
Depois de frustrarem as intenes que Polifemo tinha de comer os homens,
conseguiram fugir da gruta, agarrados s barrigas das ovelhas, depois de terem
cegado o gigante.

Ilha de olo

A viagem de Ulisses continuou e aportaram na ilha da Elia. Foram bem recebidos e

o rei ofereceu-lhes um saco feito de pele de boi onde tinha metido todos os ventos
do mundo exceo de Zfiro, a brisa suave. Mas avisou-o do grande perigo que
seria se algum abrisse o saco pois os ventos soltar-se-iam.
Os marinheiros curiosos por saber o que o saco continha, abriram-no s escondidas
de Ulisses.

Ilha de Circe
Cansado e desiludido, Ulisses chegou a uma nova ilha. Estranhou no ver os seus
marinheiros mas encontrou Eurloco: soube ento que naquela ilha vivia uma
lindssima feiticeira, Circe, que ao dar de beber aos homens um licor, os marinheiros
eram agoraporcos!
A deusa Minerva deu-lhe a erva da vida que o livraria da m sorte. Depois de muito
tempo e do arrependimento de Circe seguiu os seus conselhos: dirigir-se ilha dos
infernos e falar com Tirsias, o profeta que lhe daria novas da sua famlia. Falou-lhe
tambm do perigo de ouvir os cnticos das sereias.

No reino dos Infernos

Nesta ilha apenas havia desolao e as sombras, as almas vagueando

Crbero, o co de trs cabeas, o co que dorme com os olhos abertos, guarda a
gruta. Ulisses apenas comunica com as sombras a quem oferecer carne de uma
ovelha negra que Circe lhe dera.
E v a me que ele ainda imaginava viva e lhe fala dos perigos que ameaam a sua
famlia e doe estratagema que Penlope arranjara para adiar os seus pretendentes:
de noite desmancha a teia que tece durante o dia.
E v Tirsias que lhe confirma a confuso que reina em taca.
E v Tntalo, um homem que fora cruel em vida e que agora cumpre o seu castigo:
metido numa lagoa, quando vai beber a gua escoa-se; quando tenta apanhar os
frutos ao seu alcance eles escapam-se-lhe.
E v Ssifo que fora um rei desumano e cujo castigo era empurrar um rochedo que
rolava constantemente.
Incapaz de suportar tanta desolao, Ulisses e os marinheiros afastaram-se daquele
lugar.

Mar das sereias

Aproximando-se do mar das Sereias os marinheiros quiseram colocar cera nos seus
ouvidos mas Ulisses, teimoso, no o permitiu e insistiu em ser amarrado a um
mastro.
E o cntico chorava suavssimo, violentssimo, vindo de dentro das sondas, de
dentro das cores, de dentro do vento. E Ulisses sofria pavorosamente.
E os marinheiros continuavam a remar
No final Ulisses parecia um velho, cheio de sangue e suor.
E continuam e passam junto de dois enormes rochedos e houve um naufrgio e
ficou s, nico sobrevivente do ltimo naufrgio.

Na terra dos Fecios

Desmaia e perde a memria quando alcana as praias de uma nova ilha.

recebido por Nausica, a filha do rei Alcino e da rainha Arete. Est na Crcira, a
terra dos Fecios depois de contar a sua histria parte para taca.
E dorme e dorme.

Regresso a casa

Os marinheiros depositam-no adormecido numa praia e partem. Quando acorda,

entristecido por se encontrar de novo sozinho, v Minerva que lhe diz estar na sua
terra. Transforma-o num mendigo.
Na casa de Eumeu encontra Telmaco e revela-lhe quem . Estabelecem um plano.
De manh reconhecido pelo seu velho co, Argus que morre de emoo e por
Euricleia que, ao lavar os ps daquele mendigo reconheceu uma estranha e
profunda cicatriz que s Ulisses tinha
Com a ajuda de Telmaco derrota os pretendentes de Penlope perante um povo
entusiasmado, um Telmaco orgulhoso e Penlope que o abraava para nunca mais
deixar.
Timeline of Cases Solved

OUT NOV 17th | Pre-Order the Book

Hope to Die
Detective Alex Cross is being stalked by a psychotic genius, forced to play the deadliest game of
his career. Cross's familyhis loving wife Bree, the wise and lively Nana Mama, and his precious
childrenhave been ripped away.

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Cross My Heart

James Patterson raises the stakes to their highest level, ever-when Alex Cross becomes the
obsession of a genius of menace set on proving that he is the greatest mind in the history of
crime.

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Alex Cross, Run

Detective Alex Cross arrests renowned plastic surgeon Elijah Creem for sleeping with teenage
girls. Now, his life ruined, Creem is out of jail, and he's made sure that no one will recognize him
by giving himself a new face.

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Kill Alex Cross

The President's son and daughter are abducted, and Detective Alex Cross is one of the first on the
scene. But someone very high-up is using the FBI, Secret Service, and CIA to keep him off the
case and in the dark.

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Cross Fire
Detective Alex Cross and Bree's wedding plans are put on hold when Alex is called to the scene of
the perfectly executed assassination of two of Washington D.C.'s most corrupt: a dirty
congressmen and an underhanded lobbyist. Next, the elusive gunman begins picking off other
crooked politicians, sparking a blaze of theoriesis the marksman a hero or a vigilante?

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I, Alex Cross

Detective Alex Cross is pulled out of a family celebration and given the awful news that a beloved
relative has been found brutally murdered. Alex vows to hunt down the killer, and soon learns that
she was mixed up in one of Washington's wildest scenes. And she was not this killers only victim.

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Cross Country

In over a decade of police work, it is the worst murder scene Alex Cross has ever seen. A family
has been butchered in their home. And more killings follow. One after the other. Each more
gruesome than the last. The only lead is an elusive trail left by a diabolical African warlord know
only as The Tiger. It leads Alex Cross into the dark underbelly of Washington DC and beyond, into
a true heart of darkness in Africa herself.

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Double Cross

Alex Cross rejoins the DC Police Force to confront two of the most diabolical killers he's ever
encountered, a psychotic killer who craves an audience and a murdering mastermind who works
alone. Both want Alex dead, and they'll to do anything to get what they want, even if it means
plotting together...
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Alex Cross (also published as Cross)

Among the villains Alex Cross has facedGary Soneji, Casanova, The Mastermind, The Wolfone
psychopath tops them all. Alex knows him as his wife's killer. Alex may have a chance to catch his
wife's murderer after all these years. Is this a chance for justice at long last? Or the culminating
scene in his own deadly obsession?

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Mary, Mary

Hollywood's most famous stars are being murdered one by one. The killer is known only as Mary
Smith. Is Mary really a woman? Or just someone playing the part? With the LAPD and FBI
clueless, it's up to Alex Cross to track down the truth

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London Bridges

Geoffrey Shafer, the Weasel, is found and abducted from Salvador, Brazil. The notorious Wolf then
sends him on a mission. His first job is to completely wipe out an American town-Sunrise Valley,
Nevada. And once again, that is just the beginning.

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The Big Bad Wolf
Zamochit means "the breaking of bones." It is part of a murder ritual practiced by members of the
Red Mafiya. The "impossible" murder of an Italian godfather in the high-security, supermax prison
in Florence, Colorado, is just the beginning.

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Four Blind Mice

The Bluelady Murders occur at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Army wives are killed and their bodies
painted blue. John Sampson asks Cross to talk to his friend and mentor, Sergeant Ellis Cooper,
who has been convicted of the murders but swears he is innocent.."

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Violets Are Blue

A string of gruesome murders points to a vampire subculture in the United States. Cross flies to
San Francisco to meet with Inspector Jamilla Hughes, Homicide. They compile a list of unsolved
vampire murders going back at least eleven years.

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Roses Are Red

Meet The Mastermind. He's the man behind bank robberies and the murder of bank employees
committed in Virginia and Maryland. Then a tour bus is hijacked in D.C. and a $30 million ransom
demanded. Cross and an FBI team have less than two hours to deliver.

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Pop Goes the Weasel

Geoffrey Shafer, the Weasel, works in Intelligence in the British Embassy in D.C. He and three
twisted friends play a Game of Death that involves unsuspecting women around the world.

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Cat & Mouse

A killer named Mr. Smith begins his murder spree in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and then starts
terrorizing Europe. Bodies are found "gutted." At the same time Gary Soneji taunts Cross with
murders in train stations.

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Jack & Jill

A game of Life and Death. Sam Harrison (Jack) and Sara Rosen (Jill) delight in their board game
that has photos of famous people; a simple roll of the dice determines their destiny.

When sixty-four-year-old Senator Daniel Fitzpatrick is found murdered, the FBI makes a formal
request for Cross. The FBI is stymied. The code name for President Thomas Byrnes is Jack. The
First Lady's is Jill.

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Kiss the Girls

Alex Cross matches wits with Casanova and The Gentlemen Caller. This time it is personal. Naomi
Cross, twenty-two-year-old daughter of Cross's deceased brother Aaron, is reported missing. She
is a law student at Duke University. Cross goes to North Carolina, fearing the worst.
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Along Came a Spider

Life changes for Deputy Chief of Detectives Alex Cross when he is drawn into a high-profile case.
Two nine-year-old children are kidnapped by a teacher, Gary Soneji, from the prestigious
Washington Day School. Maggie Rose Dunne is the daughter of an actress, and Michael "Shrimpie"
Goldberg is the son of the Secretary of Treasury. A ransom of $10 million is demanded.