James Patterson's "Alex Cross's 'Trial' " Quiz

Answer: She had a stroke

When Ben was only seven, he and his mother went to the Mercantile to buy curtains for their home. When she began to slur her words, Sam, the store owner, dismissed her as being a drunk. He ordered his two helpers to take her out of the store. One of them, a young black boy, helped Ben take his mother to the hospital.

Answer: President Roosevelt

While at home in Washington, Ben received a message from Theodore Roosevelt. The President had formerly been his Colonel in the war. He needed Ben's help with rumors of lynching in his old town in Mississippi, Eudora. Ben agreed to travel home to investigate the crimes. Abraham was the man that helped Ben learn the truth.

Answer: A murder

Ben and his friend Jacob noticed three black youths talking amongst themselves, right in front of a few white men. The white men chased the oldest, George, around, saying he was boasting too much. Ben sent Jacob to get his father while to tried to prevent George from being murdered. Unfortunately, he saw the poor youth get hung.

Answer: She was tired of "waiting for him"

Ben's wife, Meg, thought that he would grow into a prosperous lawyer that worked directly for the President. But he often worked for free because he was kind-hearted, and his job often took him away from the family. When he told her President Roosevelt asked him for help, she thought it was finally his time.

When he told her that wasn't the circumstance, she grew furious. Weeks later she wrote Ben and told him she was moving back into her father's house. She returned home in the end of the story.

Answer: Henrietta

Meg was Ben's wife. At the end of the story she had apparently changed her mind about moving away. Elizabeth was married and had children of her own. However, the two had been each other's first loves when they were younger and flirted often as adults. Moody was in love with Ben. Near the end of the story, the two walked hand-in-hand through the racist city, and sent the town a message. Aunt Henrietta, who liked to be called "Henry," was the one that nursed Ben back to health.

They were not involved in any way.

Answer: He became a successful correspondent for a newspaper

Marcus met with Ben after a jury was selected for the big White Raiders Trial. He had become a successful reporter for his local "Indianapolis Cross" newspaper. He told Ben that he'd followed his career and admitted it had given him some hope. Marcus didn't know that by saying that, he had given some hope to Ben, as well.

Answer: Jacob and Elizabeth

Jacob and Ben grew up together and were best friends. As it turned out, Jacob was a member of the Ku Klux Klan and had tried to murder Ben. Elizabeth had been sneaking information to the racist people she sided with the entire time she flirted with him. Everyone else was extremely loyal to Ben.

Answer: Everett Corbett

This was unusual because Everett Corbett was the father of the prosecution's aide, Ben. However, it wasn't illegal. Jonah Curtis was a genius prosecutor who happened to be black. The defense attorney was Maxwell Hayes "Loophole" Lewis. Everett was an prejudiced judge who never let justice reign in his courtroom.

Answer: False

Ben was a good lawyer, but he didn't win any cases in the novel. In the beginning of the story, he defended a black woman accused of murdering her cruel boss. He lost that case, and discovered she actually had committed the crime. Ben also lost the big trial, but he earned a moral victory for bringing the case out in the first place.

Answer: "You did fine, Ben. You did just fine."

Ben lost the trial and the three murderers were set free. He returned to Abraham, who was at death's door. He said "You did fine, Ben. You did just fine." Then the 89-year-old passed out and never regained consciousness. Ben never forgot the words of the wise old man who helped expose the corruption in Eudora.