57 pages 1 hour read

James Patterson

Along Came a Spider

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1993

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics.

Prologue-Part 1, Chapter 25

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1: “Maggie Rose and Shrimpie Goldberg (1992)”

Prologue Summary: “Let’s Play Make-Believe (1932)”

Content Warning: The source text includes depictions of physical and sexual abuse against a child, insensitive depictions of mental illness, racism, death by suicide, and violence.

Along Came a Spider opens in New Jersey in March 1932. A 12-year-old boy stands outside the home of pilot Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, watching them eat dinner as he considers their fame. The boy craves fame, too, so he’s conceived a plan that he believes will make him infamous. He takes a ladder beside the garage and climbs up into the bedroom of 20-month-old Charles Jr. The boy places a rubber ball in the baby’s mouth to silence him and carries him down the ladder. He takes the baby to a farmhouse less than two miles away and buries him alive.

Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary

Alex Cross, a Black psychologist and police detective, is playing the piano on his front porch early in the morning on December 21, 1992. The phone rings, and his grandmother, Regina Hope, a retired school principal nicknamed Nana Mama by 10-year-old Alex, refuses to answer it for him. Alex answers the phone, speaking to his partner and childhood friend, John Sampson, who informs Alex that there has been a murder in Langley Terrace, a neighborhood in

Related Titles

By James Patterson

Study Guide

logo

1st to Die

James Patterson

1st to Die

James Patterson

Plot Summary

logo

Alex Cross

James Patterson

Alex Cross

James Patterson

Study Guide

logo

Ali Cross

James Patterson

Ali Cross

James Patterson

Plot Summary

logo

Ambush

James O. Born, James Patterson

Ambush

James O. Born, James Patterson

Study Guide

logo

Cross Down

James Patterson

Cross Down

James Patterson

Study Guide

logo

Eruption

Michael Crichton, James Patterson

Eruption

Michael Crichton, James Patterson

Plot Summary

logo

Four Blind Mice

James Patterson

Four Blind Mice

James Patterson

Study Guide

logo

Holmes, Marple & Poe

James Patterson, Brian Sitts

Holmes, Marple & Poe: The Greatest Crime-Solving Team of the Twenty-First Century

James Patterson, Brian Sitts

Study Guide

logo

I Funny

James Patterson, Chris Grabenstein

I Funny: A Middle School Story

James Patterson, Chris Grabenstein

Plot Summary

logo

Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment

James Patterson

Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment

James Patterson

Study Guide

logo

Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life

Chris Tebbetts, James Patterson, Illustr. Laura Park

Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life

Chris Tebbetts, James Patterson, Illustr. Laura Park

Plot Summary

logo

Nevermore

James Patterson

Nevermore

James Patterson

Plot Summary

logo

Roses Are Red

James Patterson

Roses Are Red

James Patterson

Plot Summary

logo

Sam's Letters to Jennifer

James Patterson

Sam's Letters to Jennifer

James Patterson

Plot Summary

logo

Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas

James Patterson

Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas

James Patterson

Plot Summary

logo

The Big Bad Wolf

James Patterson

The Big Bad Wolf

James Patterson

Study Guide

logo

The House of Wolves

James Patterson, Mike Lupica

The House of Wolves

James Patterson, Mike Lupica

Plot Summary

logo

The President is Missing

Bill Clinton, James Patterson

The President is Missing

Bill Clinton, James Patterson