As the only woman homocide inspector in San Fransisco, Lindsay Boxer has to be tough. But nothing has prepared her for the honeymoon murders.
A brutal maniac begins a killing spree – slaughtering newlywed couples – and Lindsay takes on the case. She is sickened by the deaths, but her determination to bring the murderer to justice is threatened by a personal tragedy. So she turns to Claire, a coroner, Cindy, a journalist, and Jill, an attorney, for help with both crises: and the Women's Murder Culb is born.
Genre: Fiction, Crime, Mystery
Year: 2001
Publisher: Headline
Rating: 3/5
I haven't had much experience with James Patterson novels before. I think I read Along Came a Spider many years ago but I don't really remember it. I decided to Bookmooch the first book in the Women's Murder Club series because I had played a game based on it (Little Black Lies – lots of fun! Give it a go if you like detective, puzzle games). Weird way to find a novel, I know, but I get my books suggestions from a variety of places.
I enjoyed this book. Lindsay Boxer was an interesting character. She was tough, brave and ambitious but she also had a softer side. I like my characters multi-dimensional.
This novel follows Lindsay as she tries to crack the honeymoon murders case, all while battling a serious illness. On top of that, she is partnered up with a city detective and sparks fly! It's nice to see a female cop not be so hard as nails she can't have a bit of love in her life, so the stereotype goes.
The mystery in this book was interesting. It had more than one twist I did not see coming. It wasn't brilliant or original but it was still a good read. Even if it got to the point where it seemed a little far fetched... I mean, that many twists? .. come on. Overkill.
The chapters in this novel were really short... and when I say really short I mean about four pages long. Some were only two. I have never read a book with such short chapters before. It was slightly unsettling. I found it hard to concentrate for long periods of time and put the book down a number of times.
Each chapter also ended with something that was meant to make you want to keep reading. With a total of 126 chapters in 453 page book, you can imagine how many twists or "oh no!" moments Patterson jammed into this book.
I have no idea why Patterson writes in this way. Are all his book like this? It reminded me of how a movie has short scenes... so maybe Patterson was using that technique. Or maybe it is aimed at people with short attention spans. This would make a great travel read.
I may not have loved this book but it was a good light read for a weekend afternoon. I wouldn't go out and buy any Patterson books based on this, but I would not hesitate to mooch another Women's Murder Club novel.
