If you’re a big fan of trashy, popular airport mystery paperbacks, you probably know who James Patterson and Alex Cross are. Patterson is a highly successful author (he’s the first person to ever sell one million e-books), and while these days he seems to let other people write for him and then just slaps his name on the cover and cashes a check, his early books were authored solo. And when he wrote those early books, he created Alex Cross, a character who has appeared in several books now (by last count, there are 34 novels featuring Cross). Cross is a brilliant Metropolitan Police Department detective who often hunts down twisted serial killers. He’s the type of ready-for-the-screen character that people love to watch, so it makes sense that there have been multiple Alex Cross movies — and there’s a new Alex Cross TV series on the way, too, headed to Prime Video.

For now, we’re just going to focus on the movies. There are three of them total, and their order can be a little confusing if you’ve read the books, because the movie order does not match the book order. So let’s investigate.  

As said above, there are three Alex Cross movies. The first is “Kiss the Girls,” directed by Gary Fleder. Morgan Freeman plays Cross, who gets involved with a case that involves the abduction of his niece. As it turns out, there are 10 women who have been abducted by a psycho known only as Casanova. When one of Casanova’s victims, Dr. Kate McTiernan (Ashley Judd), escapes from captivity, Cross teams up with her to try to find the rest of the missing women. Released in 1997, “Kiss the Girls” received mostly negative reviews but was a big enough hit to earn itself a sequel. 

That sequel was “Along Came a Spider,” released in 2001 and directed by Lee Tamahori. Once again, Morgan Freeman played Alex Cross, and once again, he was investigating a kidnapping — this time, the daughter of a senator is abducted by a creep (played by the great creep character actor Michael Wincott) posing as a teacher. There are plenty of twists and turns along the way. Once again, the film garnered less-than-stellar reviews but was still a box office hit. You’d think that would mean another sequel with Freeman in the lead role would get a green light — but that’s not what happened.

Instead, Alex Cross wouldn’t return to the screen until 2012, in reboot form. This reboot, titled “Alex Cross,” saw Tyler Perry take on the title role, with Rob Cohen directing. Perry is kind of blah as the Alex Cross character, but thankfully, Matthew Fox is on hand, hamming it up big time as the film’s villain, a psycho killer known as Picasso. Unlike the previous two movies, “Alex Cross” was a box office bomb, and while there were initially plans for Perry to return for a sequel, those plans were ultimately scrapped.

Here’s where things get slightly confusing. If you’ve read the books, you know that “Along Came a Spider” is actually the first book in the series, and “Kiss the Girls” is the second. But the movie order is reversed. Also, “Cross,” the book that inspired “Alex Cross,” the third movie, is the 12th book in the series. Throw in the fact that “Alex Cross” is a reboot and not a sequel, and things get a little weird. But don’t fret, I’m here to help. 

My advice: watch these movies in release order. Start with “Kiss the Girls,” follow it with “Along Came a Spider,” and then cap things off with “Alex Cross.” That said, each of these movies stands alone. You can really watch them in any order and not be confused. If you want to start with “Alex Cross,” the third movie, go ahead! No one is stopping you.