Thrillers & Suspense
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21st Birthday (Women's Murder Club, 21)
Detective Lindsay Boxer vows to protect a young woman from a serial killer long enough to see her twenty-first birthday.
When young wife and mother Tara Burke goes missing with her baby girl, all eyes are on her husband, Lucas. He paints her not as a missing person but a wayward wife-until a gruesome piece of evidence turns the investigation criminal.
While Chronicle reporter Cindy Thomas pursues the story and M.E. Claire Washburn harbors theories that run counter to the SFPD's, ADA Yuki Castellano sizes Lucas up as a textbook domestic offender . . . who suddenly puts forward an unexpected suspect. If what Lucas tells law enforcement has even a grain of truth, there isn't a woman in the state of California who's safe from the reach of an unspeakable threat.
When young wife and mother Tara Burke goes missing with her baby girl, all eyes are on her husband, Lucas. He paints her not as a missing person but a wayward wife-until a gruesome piece of evidence turns the investigation criminal.
While Chronicle reporter Cindy Thomas pursues the story and M.E. Claire Washburn harbors theories that run counter to the SFPD's, ADA Yuki Castellano sizes Lucas up as a textbook domestic offender . . . who suddenly puts forward an unexpected suspect. If what Lucas tells law enforcement has even a grain of truth, there isn't a woman in the state of California who's safe from the reach of an unspeakable threat.
Readers Top Reviews
E Evans.jac18
More of the same from the Women’s Murder Club. A woman and child are reported missing by the woman’s distraught (but perhaps slightly crazy) mother. Is the husband/father responsible? Or is the missing woman a spendthrift attention seeker who’ll be home when the money runs out? Everything procceds as usual: Lindsay investigates, Claire provides the medical detail, Yuki agonises if she’s done enough to put the guilty party away, and Cindy chases the story that will give her a best selling true crime book. There is an unusual twist that derives from the husband’s own background but to be honest I didn’t feel this was one of the best of the series. The suspect is unsympathetic; the sections on Lindsay’s home life (cute child, unbelievably supportive husband) feel like they’d been clipped from earlier books; and whilst the ending provided an explanation, it just all felt unfinished somehow. A series I normally enjoy, so hopefully better luck next time.
Kid FerrousJo
This is another fast-paced instalment of the long running series, with good characters and a twisting plot. Unfortunately the ending felt rushed and abrupt with some questions left unanswered.
A. W. Wilson
Not sure I understand the One star reviews, but, that's what opinions are for. This, for me, is a return to cracking form for team Patterson and Paetro. From first to last page, just twists after twist,. The tension in the final third had me so gripped I just had to read on til the end without stopping. The domestic scenes with Joe, Martha and Julie, fitted in and don't hold up the action, and the other members of the WMC all had a bigger better part than some previous novelsl; If the writing team can keep up this standard then I truly can't wait for the 22nd. (But I guess I will have to!)
Lois FisherKindle K
I love the Women's Murder Club characters. Lindsey, the cop, Claire, Medical Examiner, Yuki, ADA, and Cindy, reporter. This book gets off to a wonderful start with Cindy at her lawyer's office to close a deal on a sensational murder back in SF. Story goes back in time to tell the reader what transpired to land Cindy her deal. Again, a great mystery with a guy suspected of murdering his wife and 16 month old daughter. Then his girlfriend (at the prep school where he teaches!) is killed. Bodies pile up. The suspect drops a bomb on Lindsey and others. Is what he says true or just the manipulations of a psychopath? And then the plot unravels into a meandering story, including a trial, and another suspect on the rampage. Just never comes together. Whodunnit was way too easy to figure out. The characters, for me, acted in dumb fashion. Not a favorite in the series.
