James Patterson’s MPD criminal profiler Alex Cross has had a long life across 21 books (10 years), and scored three big-screen adaptations.

The first two produced a ramp-up effect: Along Came a Spider was first and lukewarm, despite Morgan Freeman and Michael Wincott’s performances as hero and villain, respectively. Kiss the Girls, though more vignetted, raised the ante psychologically and cinematically, thanks to the strength of co-stars Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd. Its story was more com...