Ehhh. This book showcases all that is wrong with the Women's Murder Club books. It had too much going on and we end up with a huge loss at the end of this one.

Lindsay is investigating what appears to be a murder and then arson to cover it up of a wealthy Internet millionaire. It doesn't make a lot of sense, but the people behind this and other murders are going to aim to wipe out capitalism. The murder case really isn't front and center until it impacts one of the ladies that is part of the Women's Murder Club.

Lindsay meets a new love interest in this one and honestly he has as much presence as her last lover did which was zero. 

Most of the other women are ignored in this one except for Jill. We get some history on her and her marriage and it just comes out of nowhere. Patterson didn't do a great job of setting things up.

Eventually the case and the personal collide and nothing made much sense to me. It felt like Patterson was racing to the end and not really making sure that things were developed in a logical way. 

We have a serial sniper who seems out to get African Americans who are linked to San Francisco police officers. Lindsay who is now a lieutenant, doesn't seem to be doing a good job of actually tracking her people, and making sure things are moving forward on her other cases. She soon becomes focused on this case and brings in the Women's Murder Club to help her out. 

Honestly I didn't like 2nd Chance because we find out what happened years ago when a police officer murdered a young black boy, and we have Boxer and her friends just ignoring it. I thought it was garbage and felt really upset that we had no repercussions for that part of the book that is just dropped on us. 

I also really loathed the Jill gets pregnant, but because she is dedicated to her job, loses her baby story-line. It's gross and sexist as hell.

There's not much for Cindy to do in this one besides decide she is in love with a local reverend. 

Lindsay was boring and her reconciliation with her father came out of nowhere, so you know it has something to do with the case she's on. Nothing was a surprise and was boring. 

The writing is still choppy and at this point, the two books seem to be doing the same thing. We catch a bad guy, but hey it's not the real bad guy and we get an ending with Lindsay ready to be killed, but she someone shoots the bad guy. 

I fell in love with this series when I was 23. I also played the games based on this series too. Too bad I ended up despising the characters and writing around book #10 and tapped out. I decided to do a re-read since my library had pretty much all of the books available right now.

1st to Die follows homicide inspector, Lindsay Boxer. Lindsay has plans to be made a lieutenant one day. When she gets devastating medical news on top of being involved with what looks to be a serial killer, she ends up asking her friends for her help, thus the women's murder club is borne. 

I have to say that Lindsay never grabbed me as a lead in this series. She was and is in the earlier books too wishy washy. We know she's divorced, but she catches feelings for her new partner and he for her for no reasons except plot. 

Patterson doesn't do a great job of developing the other three women in the club, Claire Washburn (a Medical Examiner) Jill Bernhardt, (assistant D.A.), and Cindy Thomas (journalist). The women don't do much but get together to have margaritas and lo and behold they are somehow figuring out what done it and why. 

The book also switches between these women and the killer (with Lindsay in first person POV) and everyone else in third person point of view, except for the killer, which makes zero sense. Patterson should have just had Boxer as the lead, and have her interact with her friends more.

The writing is choppy and so are the chapters. I can't lie, these are a fast read and you won't have a chance to get bored since Patterson runs from scene to scene.

The why behind the murders was a reach and a half though and the ending was a joke. 

See https://www.fictfact.com/BookReleaseCalendar for complete list.

Pretty basic....I've read the previous 5 Women's Murder Club novels and this just continues the daily adventures of these characters. One's involved in a murder trial, one's involved in solving a crime, one's a medical examiner who found out she's pregnant, and the other is a reporter who basically snoops around in the other three's lives. The trial part in this book was pretty good...the rest just average....