James Patterson's Alex Cross by the numbers
!['Cross My Heart' is James Patterson's newest book starring Alex Cross.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.usatoday.com/gcdn/-mm-/1ae3d489f7d477430743208755baf1a4f924809f/c=0-206-1830-2649/local/-/media/USATODAY/test/2013/11/27//1385572062000-PATTERSON-CROSS-BOOKS-2960.jpg?width=300&height=401&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
Twenty years ago, James Patterson wrote his first thriller starring Alex Cross, a black psychologist and former FBI agent. The 20th novel in the series, Cross My Heart, is out this week.
81 million: Copies sold of series, starting with Along Came a Spider in 1993.
5: Cross novels that have hit No. 1 on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list.
3: Movie adaptations: Kiss the Girls (1997) and Along Came a Spider (2001), starring Morgan Freeman; Alex Cross (2012), starring Tyler Perry.
11: Women Cross has been romantically involved with. Maria, his first wife, was murdered before the series began.
0: Cross novels written with a collaborator. Patterson, who often works with co-authors, says "with Alex, it just seems to come together so naturally that I've kept him for myself. I suppose you could say Alex is the co-author."