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Fiction. Mystery. Thriller. HTML:etective Lindsay Boxer is jogging along a beautiful San Francisco street when a fiery explosion rips through the neighborhood. A town house owned by an Internet millionaire is immediately engulfed in flames, and when Lindsay plunges inside to search for survivors, she finds three people dead. An infant who lived in the house cannot be found; and a mysterious message at the scene leaves Lindsay and the San Francisco Police Department completely baffled.Then a prominent businessman is found murdered under bizarre circumstances, with another mysterious message left behind by the killer. Lindsay asks her friends Claire Washburn of the medical examiner's office, Assistant D.A. Jill Bernhardt, and Chronicle reporter Cindy Thomas to help her figure out who is committing these murders, and why they are intent on killing someone every three days. Even more terrifying, the killer has targeted one of the four friends who call themselves the Women's Murder Club..… (more)
User reviews
Although it did keep me riveted and I learnt more about the women involved there were times when I wanted more, it left me feeling vaguely unsatisfied.
I herby begin my use of the tag, “beach read”, which I define as any book requiring no mental energy to follow the plot. All ranting aside, this book is highly recommended for all lovers of thrillers and suspense fiction. If you prefer your murders confined to the parlor then keep looking this one will be a tad too grisly.
The chapters are short and not filled with inconsequential
As to the plot - oh my God he killed Jill off!
One of the four
This third book was a bit different in that up until the fourth killing, I was partially rooting for the bad guys---going to war with corrupt CEOs and unethical leaders of health care organizations. I don't actually think those people should be killed, but I do think they may need to shape up.
The ending was mildly surprising, although one can expect that the person responsible for the deaths will always be someone slightly different than expected when reading a novel by Patterson.
Overall, a compelling read and worth the day and a half it took me to read it. (Not that all I did was read this book for the past day and a half, I did other stuff too...like go to work.)
So I picked this up just before leaving Katherine this morning and finished it even before the bus arrived in Darwin. I am a Patterson fiend.
I liked this one, but not as much as the first two in the series. One thing
The plot in this one revolves around terror groups in the U.S. Extremists who are killing people in order to prove their points and to try to scare others into action. The grizzly ways that folks are killed is different from the norm, so I liked that twist. Patterson throws in a couple turns in this one that I didn't expect at all. But, that's usually what keeps me interested! I liked this book, but not as well as the first two in this series. It's not stopping me from pluggin' on with them though!
The reading of this book was great. There were a few sound effects that I thought really added to it. Most of the time, I don't like the noice, but this worked for me.
Four and a
Overall Rating: 4.00
Story Rating: 4.00
Character Rating: 4.00
Audio Rating: 3.00 (not part of the overall rating)
First Thought When Finished: Holy emotional roller coaster batman! This one hit close to the heart!
Speed Date Review:
First Date: 3rd degree starts with the steady
Second Date: The gals keep us hooked as they navigate the emotional ups and downs of the case and the personal issues. They really band together and show what this club is made of! This even becomes more evident when they must defend one of their own.
Third Date: 3rd Degree made me cry and want to pull the gals into a warm embrace. There is nothing like an emotional punch to the stomach to make you want to get the bad guy. This ending just held more oomph for me and really signed off strong!
Audio Thoughts:
Narrated by Carolyn McCormick
These are relatively quick listens. Carolyn does an excellent job with voices, pacing, and emotion. I really enjoy her narration. However, the sound effects are HORRID and way overdone. Many times the distracting music tracks pulled me out of the story. In some cases, it even drowned out the narrator. I just was not a fan! I keep sticking with the audio hoping that these will eventually go away. We will see!
Relationship Status: Still Dating
This is the second series of Patterson's that I have tried. I'm more than half finished with this one, so I expect I will finish it tonight. That said, I am going to remove the rest of his books from my "want to read" list. I just can't bring myself to read any more of his work. It's like reading high school term papers in that the ideas are connected but not cohesive. The interactions make since but are not natural. I'm just done here.
Lindsay soon finds out that the house was owned by a businessman who owned a successful computer company. We soon find out that this man was a target of some 60's style leftist terrorists. Three days later another prominent local businessman is grotesquely murdered and another message is left. The targets seem to be random, but the only apparent connection being that all of the victims are tools of the establishment. These terrorists are blaming greed, big business and the government for stepping on the "little man," leaving them abused and broken. Things take a twist when the terrorist start using a toxic poison. Because of this the federal government is brought in and brings the presence of Joe Molinari, deputy director of the Department of Homeland Security. Lindsay and Joe create and VERY strong working relationship that soon starts to have a tinged of romance involved!
During the mess with the murders, the murder club also has a mess on their hands. Jill starts having bruises on her arms. Lindsay feels the need to bring it up to her friend and it does not take long to soon confirm that Jill's Husband, Steve, has been abusing her. It is up to Clair, Lindsay and Cindy to take action and lend their support to their good friend.
Who is behind these terrorist attacks? What happens to Jill? You are going to have to pick up the book and find out for yourself! :)