2nd Chance, James Patterson

 

The Book 

The Women's Murder Club is back in business, led by the inimitable, and now Lieutenant Lindsey Boxer. A ruthless serial killer is on the loose, targeting the family of or members of black law enforcement in San Francisco. Lindsay and her friends Claire, Cindy and Jill work together to make the puzzle pieces fit. Along the way they find out Jill is pregnant. But then, Claire is targeted for an attack, Lindsey's dead beat dad turns up out of nowhere, trying to reconnect with her, and Jill looses the baby. But on the upside, maybe Cindy has fallen in love, with a preacher? Could that be true? With all of that drama going on, can Lindsey put the pieces together and keep the club intact? Or will the killer, a very smart man, outsmart all of them? 

My Thoughts

This book, the second in The Women's Murder Club series, and series I have yet to start, was the wrong book for me to read at this moment in my life. I cried the whole way through the ups and downs of Lindsey's attempts to reconcile with her father. And those moment rang a little too true. Sure, I've mostly kept the passing late last year of my father off of this blog, but it made me, grief stricken and struggling at the wrong moment in my life to read these passages. 

The puzzle in this book is really, really, wickedly awesome. The feints, the sleight of hand, the way Patterson and in this book Andrew ??? are so well done. 

I took James Patterson's Master Class last year, and I was deeply impressed with some of his advice. It can be seen here. Among the things he advises is to do draft after draft after draft of your outline, until you get the story right. And it shows here. In fact, he advises writing draft after draft of your scenes until you get the scene right. And the man knows what he is talking about. 

I firmly believe that those people who reach the top of their fields usually do so because they are the best in the business. Sure, luck matters, too. But as they saying goes, luck favors the prepared. James Patterson and his co-authors have clearly prepared their stories to catch in our imaginations. And this is why he sells so many books. 

How Much My Library Card Saved Me

This book is one of the one I got from the Friends of Antioch Public District Library sale late last fall. As such, my library card wasn't used. This book was in fairly good condition, and I'm glad I have it. I'm glad to know about this series. I think I will do the Women's Murder Club as one of the series I read all the way through. At this point, James Patterson has written too many books for me to complete his oeuvre. At 500+ I find it hard to fathom how those few people who have read all of his work have kept up. I know what they say about Patterson being more of a brand than an author. So, in order to put that theory to the test, I guess I will just have to read his Alex Cross series as well. The TBR list just grows and grows. 

This Book                                                           $00.00

Items Reviewed This Year                                 $37.99  

Still Here? 

 I am now a published author. You can pick up a *FREE COPY* of my novella The Big Intersection here.