Opening up the cover of The 17th Suspect by James Patterson/Maxine Paetro is like sitting down for a night in with the girlfriends. So grab your coffee/tea/wine, curl up in the comfy chair and find out what’s new in the lives of Lindsay (detective), Yuki (lawyer), Claire (medical examiner) and Cindy (reporter), AKA The Women’s Murder Club.
As you probably guessed by the title, this is the 17th installment of The Women’s Murder Club series. Although each book stands alone there are references to past cases and relationships, so I recommend hitting the library and starting with the original…1st to Die.
Normally each book in this series will focus on one or two of the main characters, with the other two playing a peripheral role, and two story lines. Sometimes the two story-lines merge together and everyone is involved and sometimes they remain separate.
In 17th, Yuki is prosecuting a rape case, where the man is claiming his former boss ,a woman, forced him to have non-consensual sex at gunpoint. In the meantime, Lindsay is chasing someone killing the homeless on the San Francisco waterfront while trying to keep her personal demons in control.
I hate to say any more about the story because I don’t want to give you any spoilers. As in most Patterson detective tales, there are many twists and turns. It’s a quick read, owing to the short chapters and fast paced storylines. Speaking of twists, if you love them, you HAVE to read Roses are Red by James Patterson…the only book I’ve read where I was literally sitting there with my mouth gaping open because I could not believe what happened at the end. But, don’t start with Roses are Red, you need to read the previous Alex Cross books too so you can understand the relationships between the main characters. If you don’t understand the relationships, you won’t get the same I-can’t-believe-that-shit-just-happened impact. And hopefully you get so caught up in the story you aren’t turning every page waiting for that impact to happen and will forget everything I just said.
In closing, I got what I expected from The 17th Suspect: a good story with characters I enjoy. I have not read all of James Patterson’s books but the ones I have definitely don’t disappoint.