Step on a Crack

Step on a Crack is a thriller by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge, published on 6 February 2007 and the first novel in the series about Detective Michael Bennett.

The book begins with the death of a much-loved former First Lady and a funeral at St Patrick's Cathedral in New York, where actors, politicians and business figures are gathered under one roof. During the service a group of armed men seals the cathedral and takes everybody inside hostage, and their demand is unusual: each captive is to pay a ransom personally, arranged by their families, agents and lawyers. As the money is assembled the gunmen demonstrate what happens if the terms are not met, and the city has to decide how far it will go. Detective Michael Bennett, the negotiator brought in to talk to them, is a widower bringing up ten children, and the siege plays out while he is also trying to hold his household together.

Patterson wrote the novel with Michael Ledwidge, and the series that follows continues Bennett's cases in New York.