Cross and Sampson Quiz: How Well Do You Know the Thriller?
Quiz Overview
This 20-question quiz covers the complete story of Cross and Sampson, the first book in James Patterson’s new Alex Cross and John Sampson thriller series. Questions are divided into four categories: plot and sequence, character motivation, theme and symbol, and synthesis. Formats include both multiple-choice and short-answer questions. The full answer key with brief explanations follows the questions.
Before starting, you might want to revisit the complete Cross and Sampson summary or explore the questions and answers and ending explained.
Part One: Plot and Sequence (Questions 1–8)
1. Multiple Choice
What event shatters the Cross family’s peaceful morning in the opening chapters?
A) A news alert about a Washington DC car bomb
B) A phone call from Professor Clarisse Pope reporting Damon missing
C) An unannounced visit from FBI agent Ned Mahoney
D) A campus brawl involving Damon’s girlfriend Melissa
2. Short Answer
What critical clue does Melissa reveal during the search of the apartment that gives Alex and Bree their first tangible lead on Damon’s disappearance?
3. Multiple Choice
Where does John Sampson first suggest that the bombing on N and 13th Streets may have targeted the FIP-PAC office?
A) At the ATF forensic laboratory in Beltsville
B) At the Panera restaurant command post during the interagency briefing
C) Inside the CIA headquarters at Langley
D) At the Sunset Shores Motel in Virginia
4. Short Answer
What does Aiden Phillips leave on the wall of his motel room that investigators later discover?
5. Multiple Choice
How does Alex Cross learn about the two local men who harassed Damon and stole his bicycle?
A) From a security camera footage review at the UNC campus safety office
B) Through Melissa’s tearful confession at the hotel restaurant
C) Via a wiretap tip from FBI agent Drake Cannon about a Dixie Mafia recording
D) From a handwritten note Damon left behind in his apartment
6. Short Answer
Where are Damon, Professor Darius Lucas, and teaching assistant Amy Tyne held captive?
7. Multiple Choice
What happens to ATF explosives enforcement officer Anna Rizzo?
A) She resigns after the second bombing to protect her children
B) She is killed by a car bomb detonated in John Sampson’s driveway
C) She successfully captures Aiden Phillips during the motel raid
D) She is seriously wounded by sniper fire but survives
8. Short Answer
What does the Palmer, Georgia sandpit represent in the overall bombing investigation?
Part Two: Character Motivation (Questions 9–13)
9. Short Answer
Why does Bree Stone decide to illegally insert a search code into a proprietary government AI system?
10. Multiple Choice
Why does Aiden Phillips break into John Sampson’s home, disarm him, and hold him at gunpoint?
A) To kill Sampson in revenge for the manhunt
B) To steal case files and evidence against him
C) To reveal that he has been framed and to lead Sampson to the real bomber
D) To demand money and a vehicle for his escape
11. Short Answer
What motivates Colton Brophy to imprison Damon, Professor Lucas, and Amy Tyne in his underground bunker?
12. Short Answer
During the underground confrontation, why does Melissa suddenly pretend to reject Damon and spit in his face?
13. Short Answer
Why does Sampson decide to attend Anna Rizzo’s funeral at Arlington National Cemetery despite feeling intense survivor’s guilt?
Part Three: Theme and Symbol (Questions 14–17)
14. Short Answer
At Brophy’s compound, Alex looks up and sees a Confederate flag illuminated by a floodlight. What does this symbol represent within the novel’s thematic framework?
15. Multiple Choice
When investigators trace the C-4 used in the bombings to a specific military source, what broader theme does this reinforce?
A) Random chaos and senseless destruction
B) Violence as a deliberate form of communication and message-sending
C) The economic motivations behind domestic terrorism
D) The superiority of forensic science over detective work
16. Short Answer
Nana Mama repeatedly sends care packages and offers prayers while Alex and Bree search for Damon. What do these gestures represent amid the unfolding crises?
17. Short Answer
How does the masked march chanting “Whose streets? Our streets!” function as a symbol in the campus subplot involving Michaelson Woods?
Part Four: Synthesis (Questions 18–20)
18. Short Answer
The novel braids two parallel investigations: the DC bombing case and the search for Damon. How do these two storylines connect thematically?
19. Short Answer
Compare the bureaucratic obstacles that Alex Cross encounters at the UNC campus and that John Sampson faces with interagency investigations. What common commentary do they provide?
20. Short Answer
Describe the overall resolution for the Cross and Sampson families. How does the final chapter at the Cross house bring both narratives to a close?
Answer Key
1. B — Professor Clarisse Pope calls Alex to report that Damon has missed classes and all communication for a week. Nana Mama’s dropped skillet punctuates the crisis (Chapter 1).
2. Damon’s bicycle is missing from the apartment. Melissa recalls that it is gone, giving the search a concrete starting point (Chapter 16).
3. B — During the task force briefing at the Panera command post, Sampson recalls that the FIP-PAC office is nearby and urges investigators to run it as a possible target (Chapter 7).
4. A trophy wall of newspaper clippings covering the DC bombings, with red circles around images and headlines, serving as his personal monument to the attacks (Chapter 51).
5. C — FBI agent Drake Cannon provides an unofficial tip from a Dixie Mafia wiretap, in which two men laugh about an “uppity kid” (Chapter 69).
6. In Colton Brophy’s underground bomb shelter, accessed through a hidden hatch beneath the pigsty on his secluded farm (Chapter 99).
7. B — Anna Rizzo is killed when a car bomb explodes in Sampson’s driveway, an attack intended for him (Chapter 82).
8. A remote practice site where the bomber rehearsed his fertilizer-based explosive device, matching the blast-zone measurements of the later DC attacks (Chapter 37).
9. Bree is desperate to trace Damon’s movements or any mention of him digitally, even if it means violating multiple laws and risking her career at Bluestone (Chapter 52).
10. C — Phillips insists the CIA fabricated his involvement and that he can lead Sampson to the actual culprit, J.T. Polermo (Chapter 88).
11. Racist ideology and hatred of interracial relationships. Brophy delivers a tirade against Damon and Melissa’s relationship before imprisoning them (Chapter 103).
12. To distract Brophy and create an opening for Alex to seize the shotgun, a calculated act of deception that sparks the group’s resistance (Chapter 103).
13. To honor Rizzo’s sacrifice and heroism, and to support her children and grandmother, acknowledging that she gave her life in pursuit of justice (Chapter 108).
14. The enduring presence of white supremacy and the “Lost Cause” ideology, directly contrasting Brophy’s claims of being a mere historical reenactor (Chapter 90).
15. B — The traced taggants show the bomber wanted the explosive’s origin identified, turning the attacks into a deliberate message rather than anonymous terror (Chapter 67).
16. The sustaining power of family love, faith, and domestic care, even when the family is physically separated by crisis (Chapter 20, Chapter 73).
17. It symbolizes organized white supremacist intimidation as a theatrical performance, designed to frighten without leaving a traceable identity (Chapter 24).
18. Both plots explore the drive to protect family, the corrosive effects of institutional failure, and the ways hidden networks of extremism threaten individuals and communities.
19. Alex faces campus police jurisdictional limits that delay the missing-person response, while Sampson battles interagency mistrust and CIA secrecy. Both expose how bureaucratic self-interest hinders swift justice.
20. Damon, Lucas, and Tyne are rescued from Brophy’s bunker, and Brophy is arrested. The real bomber, Polermo, is exposed in a Congressional hearing, and Phillips is vindicated. Sampson and Willow stay with the Cross family while his home is repaired, and the final chapter shows the reunited family sharing a fried-chicken supper under Nana Mama’s command.