Author: James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
Publisher: Century
Publication Date: 26th February 2015
Pages: 384
ISBN: 9781780892870
Source: Review Copy
Rating: 4.5/5
Purchase: Amazon
A new terror is sweeping the streets of San Francisco. And the killers look a lot like cops...
As Detective Lindsay Boxer investigates whether the perpetrators are brilliant imposters or police officers gone rogue, she receives a chilling warning to back off.
On the other side of the city, an innocent woman is murdered in broad daylight in front of dozens of witnesses. But there are no clues and no apparent motive.
With killers in disguise, a maniac murderer on the loose, and danger getting ever closer to Lindsay's door, could this be one case too many for the Women's Murder Club?
James Patterson's Women's Murder Club series is one of my favourite crime series of all-time so when I received an early copy of 14th Deadly Sin, I was ecstatic. It's hard to believe that this is the 14th novel, but the series definitely shows no sign of slowing down and Patterson and Maxine Paetro have definitely written one of the strongest books in the series yet. I do find myself saying this a lot and am perhaps a little biased given how much I love the series, but looking at it as impartially as I can, it was a very good book and I hope there's going to be plenty more.
James Patterson's books usually have crimes which are quite over the top, but which when you really think about them aren't totally unrealistic. In 14th Deadly Sin it's a gang of men dressed as police officers carrying out robbery homicides around San Francisco. Lindsey and her bosses are naturally quite worried about whether the killers are actual police officers, or impersonators. With threatening notes being left for Lindsay, and with a major discovery that she's uncovered regarding other murders, she's definitely kept busy throughout this novel.
I do love each of the characters that make up the Women's Murder Club, and love the continued character development for each of them. Lindsey is my favourite as always, but this time around I really enjoyed Yuki's story and she has somewhat of a starring role in 14th Deadly Sin. It took me a while to like Yuki back when she was first introduced, but now I like her as much as the others. I love a good courtroom drama, and with a job change on the cards for Yuki that makes for some quite exciting developments throughout the book especially in her relationship both with Lindsey and with her husband, Lieutenant Brady. These four women are friends, but their jobs often have the potential for drama yet their friendship seems able to overcome almost anything. I do sometimes read these books a little bit on edge, fearful that our four characters won't get that typical hero's ending that is commonplace in crime fiction. I still mourn Jill!
I also love the scenes of normality that we get in this series. I am especially a fan of Lindsey and Joe's relationship, and the little family set-up that they now have. The WMC, Alex Cross and Michael Bennett books all have that theme throughout them and I find it nice to have that. Oh, and there's always lots of food, which I'm definitely not complaining about! Sometimes I think we don't even need the crime element, just have the four women go off on holiday! In fact, that doesn't actually sound too bad an idea, but I'm sure wherever their holiday destination was, murder wouldn't be too far behind but after 14 books perhaps taking them away from San Francisco for one would actually be exciting. I think there's been books where one or two went somewhere, and we had the cruise but somewhere with all four going would be interesting.
Despite the story itself being strong, I did work out who was responsible very early on, which sadly does sometimes happen in crime fiction. But, Patterson and Paetro pack in more than enough twists to keep this book exciting all the way through, especially towards the end where the book ends on a huge cliffhanger which as always is both brilliant but incredibly frustrating as it makes the yearly wait for the next book seem far too long and there will be a 15th book in 2016, right? I certainly hope so and as always I will be at the front of the queue. Long live the Women's Murder Club!
4.5/5
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