If you're a fan of James Patterson's novel I, Alex Cross, the disappointments are starting to pile up.  The adaptation is being handled by Rob Cohen (Stealth) and Tyler Perry is playing the titular detective.  Now there's another piece of perplexing casting as Deadline reports that Lost's Matthew Fox will play the villain, serial killer Michael Sullivan.  This is the same Matthew Fox who looks like he's about to cry every five seconds.  Here's how Deadline describes the character: "one bad dude", "kills both for money and thrills", "known as the Butcher of Sligo".  Well, Fox will certainly be playing against type.

The story centers on Cross trying to catch Sullivan only to have Sullivan brutally murder Cross' wife as retribution (that'll teach 'em!).  Ed Burns will play Cross' partner, Tommy Kane.  Three studios are reportedly vying for the domestic distribution rights to the project.  Hit the jump for a synopsis of the novel.

Here's the synopsis for I, Alex Cross.  The Alex Cross character was previously played by Morgan Freeman in the movies Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider:

Can Alex Cross survive his most chilling - and personal - case ever? Pulled out of a family celebration, Detective Alex Cross gets awful news: A beloved relative has been found brutally murdered. Vowing to catch the killer, he quickly learns that she was mixed up in one of Washington, D.C.'s wildest scenes. And she was not this killer's only victim . . .

The hunt for the murderer leads Alex and his girlfriend, Detective Brianna Stone, to a place where every fantasy is possible, if you have the credentials to get in. Soon they confront some very important, very protected, and very dangerous people who will do anything to keep their secrets safe. As Alex closes in on the killer, he discovers evidence that points to the unimaginable - a revelation that could rock the entire world.

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