Along Came a Spider

Washington, D.C., 1993. Detective and psychologist Alex Cross, a widower with two kids, is working a triple murder in a housing project when he gets pulled into something bigger: Gary Soneji, a math teacher at an elite school, kidnaps Maggie Rose Dunne and Michael Goldberg. Michael turns up dead. After a botched ransom drop at Disney World, police land on Gary Murphy, a salesman who seems to have a split personality. He is convicted, escapes, attacks Cross at home and is shot by Sampson and sent back to prison. Cross learns that Secret Service agent Jezzie Flanagan, his lover, and two colleagues knew about Soneji and took Maggie. Jezzie confesses in the Caribbean and is arrested. Maggie is found alive in Bolivia.

1. ChangeOne child instead of two

   In the book, Soneji takes Maggie Rose Dunne, an actress's daughter, and Michael Goldberg, the Treasury secretary's son. The film has a single victim: Megan Rose, a senator's daughter.

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2. ChangeNo split personality

   Book Soneji has a second identity, salesman Gary Murphy, and his trial turns on it. The film drops the split personality and most of his backstory.

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3. ChangeSoneji lives in the book

   In the film, Cross kills Soneji. In the book, he's caught, escapes with a crooked guard's help, attacks Cross at home and is shot by Sampson, but goes back to prison alive.

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4. ChangeHow Jezzie and Maggie end up

   In the book, Cross gets Jezzie to confess in the Caribbean, she is arrested and executed, and Maggie Rose turns up two years later living with a family in Bolivia. The film wraps it all up at a farmhouse, with Cross shooting Jezzie.

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