From Publishers Weekly
Fans of Sex and the City ripoffs may best appreciate Patterson’s eighth Women’s Murder Club novel, his fifth coauthored with Patero (after 7th Heaven). Det. Lindsay Boxer, of the San Francisco police department, is searching for a killer who’s knocking off the well-to-do without leaving any signs of violence on the bodies. The investigation is going nowhere until the department’s repository of institutional memory recalls a series of unsolved killings from …
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This is James Patterson’s eighth installment of his “WOMEN’S MURDER CLUB” series and it literally starts off with a “bang” as a floating meth lab disguised as a school bus explodes resulting in numerous deaths. Before the reader has any time to recover from the explosion… “Woman’s Murder Club” (WMC) member Cindy Thomas, an investigative reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle is scrutinizing the brutal murder of a homeless man known simply as “Bagman Jesus”. To the rest of the world “Bagman” is just another homeless loser and his death does not affect the rest of the world… including Cindy’s friend and WMC member Detective Lindsay Boxer… who is immediately taken off the “Bagman” case so she can spend all her time on a rash of high profile “rich-and-famous” millionaire murders. As Cindy digs deeper into who “Bagman” really was… she finds out that “Bagman” was literally a “Saint-Of-The-Streets”. “He’d broken up a liquor-store holdup, sometimes worked in a soup kitchen, said that he always had a few dollars for someone who needed it.” He had even helped deliver a woman’s baby. If all the aforementioned criminal activity isn’t enough to get the readers engine running… a rock star dies mysteriously.
Simultaneously WMC member Yuki Castellano an assistant district attorney is prosecuting a big murder case involving a former beauty queen who beat her Father to death with a tire iron… and attempted to accomplish the same thing with her Mother… but failed… but not for lack of trying. Yuki has been on a losing streak… so this case has an added level of importance.
As the story progresses clues seem to point to the current millionaire murders being related to a series of high society deaths in 1982… and the deeper Cindy digs in the “Bagman” case… the more it seems that the “Saint-Of-The-Streets” may actually be a sinner. Now… based on the crime stories being presented… experienced Patterson fans… who have been terribly disappointed in the last few years… may start to think… hey… maybe Patterson has found his long forgotten talent… but then… we get to the romance!
The romantic interludes between all of the characters could only be appreciated by someone in junior high school or lower. It is hard to take these interludes seriously… such as when Cindy and Lindsay’s partner Rich “hook-up”… the author writes: “IT WAS A PERFECT KISS, NO CLASHING OF NOSES OR TEETH.” And this next quote from the same sex scene will make you laugh out loud: “RICH SLIPPING HIS HANDS INTO THE FLIMSY FABRIC OF HER PANTIES, MAKING THEM DISAPPEAR.” (?What disappeared? His hands… the panties… or both? Was Rich a magician as well as a cop?) And when Yuki starts falling in love with a doctor… “YUKI HAD CAUTIONED HERSELF NOT TO GET TOO GAGA ON THEIR FIRST REAL DATE, NOT TO LET HER MOONY EYES SHOW.”
There is one situation that comes up out of THE ABSOLUTE BLUE… out of left field… regarding Yuki and the doctor… that is so ludicrous and not needed… but I just can’t tell you here. Not that it’s a spoiler in the normal sense of the word… but it’s so indescribably ridiculous… I can’t take this absurdity away from you if you decide to pay for this book. If you want to see what this preposterous development is before laying down your money it’s on page two-hundred-eighty-four.
In summary: the crime portion of this book is an improvement on Patterson’s recent releases… but the romance would only be enjoyable in a comedy.
SUMMARY: The Women’s Murder Club returns for their eighth case in which a series of unrelated crimes both past and present converge.
WHY YOU’LL LIKE IT: Anyone who is familiar with Patterson and his numerous coauthors understands that these books are formulaic, and it’s no longer a question of how contrived the plot will be but rather how enjoyable it will be to read. This latest offering is a step above the last two or three entries in the series, but nowhere near as compelling as the first few. That said, this is a quick and untaxing read with characters whom readers have come to know and enjoy. The manner in which the murders are perpetrated is relatively interesting, and the new pairing of Cindy and Rich is cute if pat.
WHY YOU WON’T: Patterson’s quirk of short chapters is annoying and tiresome, as his penchant for ending each one with what he assumes to be a cliffhanger. It’s plodding and actually slows the narrative rather than accelerating it. The villain is revealed early on as plot device, but their motives are never fully explored, and thus it’s difficult to care about them or their victims as we wait for Lindsay to put all the clues together. The new romances for Cindy and Yuki are odd and rushed, with no real thought behind them; Yuki’s in particular was brittle and appeared to reinforce her loneliness rather than abate it. Yuki is extremely likable but has never been as fleshed out as predecessor Jill. In fact, characterization suffers as the series progresses.
BOTTOM LINE: If you’re in the series for the long haul, this installment is better fare than some of the previous novels, but nowhere near as interesting as the first few. A quick read with some good moments.
When I first discovered James Patterson about 10 years ago, I loved his stuff. He was by far the top novelist in the Mystery-Suspense genre. His early Alex Cross books were always best sellers and this was completely deserved. His books always had great pace, suspense, mystery and intriguing villains.
He still produces best sellers but he is living purely on reputation. He now employs associate authors thus enabling him to churn out novels 4 times a year. The truly great authors generally produce one book a year.
This book, The 8th Confession, is another assembly-line product. While it holds your interest, there is nothing that makes it stand out. The word that comes to mind after finishing it is TRITE. There is no real suspense. Instead it depends on familiar characters and thin plot lines.
Will the real James Patterson please come back.