The opening two chapters of James Patterson’s latest Women’s Murder Club series, 7th Heaven, should be set to the Mission Impossible theme song. Tension and violence races through those first few pages as surely as that burning fuse tracked across the screen. And you won’t be able to stop there. Patterson and co-writer Maxine Paetro know how to get a thriller up and running and sustain the pace and the 'need to know what’s gonna happen next' with the best of them.
The book starts out with a couple of serial killer arsonists who could be college kids, except for that nasty homicidal urge they maintain, which would be exciting enough. But then the authors mix in a poor little rich boy with a congenital heart defect who's gone missing for a further delectable mystery that throws the Club’s newest member, Yuki Castellano, directly into the limelight and into harm’s way, I was flipping pages like a madman and trying to put all the pieces together.
Michael Campion, son of two of San Francisco’s wealthiest residents and waaaayyyy overprotective parents, was seen entering the home of Junie Moon, a known prostitute. He was never seen leaving again. I really like Lindsay Boxer’s first person narrative in all the books as she takes the primary focus of the investigations. She was in fine form in this book as she and partner Rich Conklin roll on the anonymous tip the San Francisco PD get about the night of Michael’s disappearance.
Patterson starts throwing twists and turns at the reader from the very beginning because Junie Moon isn’t what anyone expects her to be. I was torn all the way through the book about how I felt about her, and I caught just a glimpse of how the whole question of guilt was going to be resolved only a few pages from the end – which is the perfect place for a faithful suspense reader to be rewarded for paying attention.
When Junie Moon breaks down and confesses to being present when Michael died as a result of his heart defect, I felt sorry for her. Then she goes on to talk about how she and a co-conspirator cut up his body and disposed of it so she wouldn’t be connected to his death. Even when Yuki had her on the witness stand, I didn’t know exactly how I felt about her. The authors played that card perfectly.
Article comments
1 - A. Critic
I'm not sure why the authors include a horribly inaccurate paragraph about Scott Dyleski in Chapter 23 of 7th Heaven. Many authors have no honor anymore. Was this really neccessary?
2 - Denise
I agree with your comment 100%! In fact, I wrote Mr. Patterson telling him it was obvious he knew nothing about Scott Dyleski's case and he should be ashamed for writing lies, not having checked out the facts.
3 - Starr
James patterson is a great writter and doesnt need to have facts straight, its only a book and its fiction its not like hes writting lies about for people to think that its real.
4 - Denise
Yes, I realize he writes fiction, but when he's writing about a real case involving real people, he DOES need to get his facts straight.
5 - Ceci
What happened to the first comment. It seems it's ok to use a real person in the book but tell fiction about them.