20 Apr 2017

(WOMEN'S MURDER CLUB #11): 11TH HOUR.

11th HOUR by JAMES PATTERSON & MAXINE PAETRO.

BACK COVER BLURB: Is one of Detective Lindsay Boxer’s colleagues a vicious killer? 
She won't know until the 11th hour…

A notorious drug dealer is gunned down using a weapon taken from the evidence locker in Lindsay’s own department!

Lindsay must investigate her closest colleagues. But who can she trust? 

And is she placing herself, and her unborn baby, in a deadly situation?

FIRST SENTENCE {PROLOGUE: REVENGE. ONE}: A good-looking man in his forties sat in the back row of the auditorium at the exclusive Morton Academy of Music.

MEMORABLE MOMENT {PAGE 119}: "Maggots, like all animals, are what they eat. If Jane here was poisoned or drugged, the tox screen on the milk shake would reveal that. So I put some squirmers into the blender and sent that out to the lab. Hoping for something, Linds, I was hoping for arsenic. Instead, we found benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine."

SOURCE: Ex-library stock.

READ FOR: What's In A Name? challenge: 'A title with a number in numbers' category (2nd book of 6) and Mount TBR challenge (8th book of 24).

MY THOUGHTS: Though book 11 of a series that I believe currently stands at sixteen novels I can't say I felt I'd missed anything by not having read any of the previous books. Indeed I found Detective Lindsay Boxer so irritating that I didn't feel inclined to know anything more of her. 

With what seems like books churned out every few months, I don't know if its merely a case of quantity over quality, a case of it being co-written OR whether its just a not-so- good novel as happens to the best of authors and especially during a long running series. One thing I do know though is, with their short, snappy chapters I normally turn to James Patterson's book when I want a quick, easy to read thriller, but this one alas this failed to hit the mark.

OK, so it is fiction and as such I expect certain liberties to be taken. And yes, I'm British and therefore perhaps used to slightly different procedures but surely no pregnant police detective (let alone one pregnant with what I gather was a 'high risk' pregnancy) would still be on such active service as to be involved in high speed car chases etc? 

Then there were the cases. Both rather mediocre, the perpetrator revealed rather early in one of them, the other easily guessed at. I don't know if its typical of this particular series to feature two cases but I'm afraid I didn't think the writing strong enough to support them both.

Not yet totally finished with the novels of James Patterson (though I'm rapidly beginning to understand why so many copies grace the shelves of the various charity shops)  but I rather think this may well be the first and last Women's Murder Club novel that I read.


11 comments:

Barbara said...

The first line was enough to put me off, and the ‘memorable moment’ confirmed my first thoughts. This one is not for me Tracy and obviously not for you either. I hope your recovery is going well.

Kelly said...

Patterson is an author I've not read (I don't think...) though my sister was a great fan of his novels. I seem to remember at one time there was also a crime writer named James NORTH Patterson that I did read one or two from. No matter, it's been years and I don't think I'm in any hurry to read this or any others based on your review.

So good to see a new review from you! I hope that means the fog is clearing somewhat and you're able to enjoy reading again.

Mary (Bookfan) said...

I've only read one of his books and thought it was just okay and haven't tried another. Sorry to hear this wasn't a winner for you.

Suko said...

Tracy, I'm sorry this one didn't hit the mark. It's great to see you back with a review! As usual, it's honest and well written.

Anonymous said...

Tracy,
I am very glad to see you reviewing
again. As I always appreciate your
honesty, I do not know if I would
want to read this book.
Raven

Brian Joseph said...

I am glad to see that you are posting again Tracy.

My wife likes James Patterson but she has not read this one. Based on your commentary it sounds a little disappointing. He writes a lot of books so I suppose that there will be some misses.

frayed at the edge said...

I skipped over your review, as I will be reading this on holiday, and didn't want to read a spoiler!!

Melliane said...

I have a book by this author to try

Literary Feline said...

I haven't read a Patterson book in quite a while, an none from the Women's Murder Club series. I did catch one episode of the television show once and it didn't really stand out to me, I'm afraid. I like his earlier books more than his more recent ones.

Melissa (Books and Things) said...

I'm not a huge Patterson fan so this does not surprise me. I do hope you next book is good! Hope you are doing well!

Gina said...

Oh that's too bad. Grant it, I've not read his work for awhile, but I rather liked this series (read the first 6 or so?). To each their own... 😊