Paperback, 480 pages
Published April 2, 2002 by Headline Book Publishing.
Four women-four friends-share a determination to stop a killer who has been stalking newlyweds in San Francisco. Each one holds a piece of the puzzle: Lindsay Boxer is a homicide inspector in the San Francisco Police Department, Claire Washburn is a medical examiner, Jill Bernhardt is an assistant D.A., and Cindy Thomas just started working the crime desk of the San Francisco Chronicle.But the usual procedures aren't bringing them any closer to stopping the killings. So these women form a Women's Murder Club to collaborate outside the box and pursue the case by sidestepping their bosses and giving one another a hand.The four women develop intense bonds as they pursue a killer whose crimes have stunned an entire city. Working together, they track down the most terrifying and unexpected killer they have ever encountered-before a shocking conclusion in which everything they knew turns out to be devastatingly wrong.
Yuck.
Mediocre writing, predictable plot, flat characters, and I don't think I need to read any more female characters written by Patterson. I also don't think Patterson should write any more female characters.
Lastly, the final post-twist twist must be the most tacked-on two pages in literary history. Just terrible.
Formulaic, easy reading detective/serial killer story featuring a female cop with a fatal disease as the main protagonist. The kind of light, no-brain book that's good for long airplane trips or the beach, and that's probably the highest praise I can come up with. I did like that the main characters are women, even though their characterization is fairly shallow and stereotyped. Still, good effort, good to see more authors trying to include more women in interesting roles.
I enjoyed the story and the nice twist
Spoileralthough the twist in the twist seemed too much and obvious to see coming but the final twist bumped up gave it an extra 1/2 star. Nice!
I didn't care for the narrator. She sounded too harsh and gave nearly all the characters a very gruff, hard edge. Some aspects of her reading were very good but she could have softened the tones and voices in many places.
