Alex Cross is the protagonist of Along Came a Spider. Alex is a Black psychologist and police detective currently working for the Washington, DC, police department. He is a man with a difficult past that begins with the deaths of his parents at the age of eight and a move to Washington, DC, to live with an unknown relative: his grandmother, Regina Hope, whom he would nickname Nana Mama. Alex has deep roots in the Washington Southeast neighborhood where he grew up and continues to live. These roots include Nana Mama and his childhood friend, John Sampson, his partner on the job.

Alex was married to a social worker, Maria, who was killed in a drive-by shooting. He is still grieving his wife three years later and raising their two children, four-year-old Janelle and six-year-old Damon. In this novel, Alex’s grief is focused on the fact that he was unable to say goodbye to Maria because her death was sudden. He also grieves for his children because he knows what it’s like to grow up without a mother, and he worries they will suffer from her loss.

Alex is an intelligent man who lives in a country where intelligent Black men are often not celebrated.