1st to Die by James Patterson1st to Die is the first book in the Women's Murder Club series of crime novels by James Patterson. This was the first novel by Patterson which I have read and I really enjoyed his fast paced, often gritty style of writing and storytelling. The characters are well crafted and the four lead women each bring something to the story, and the supporting characters fit in nicely and serve their purposes.
Centring on Lindsey Boxer, a San Francisco homicide inspector who is given the case of Philip Campbell, a man who violently murders a bride and groom on their wedding night. She's paired up with a new partner Chris Raleigh who inevitably she falls in love with. However, Lindsey has just been diagnosed with a rare and deadly blood disease, which is an interesting sub-plot and ties in nicely with the overall story at the end. Her best friend Claire is a pathologist, and is the most likeable character for me in the book. She and Lindsey have an excellently written friendship, the two of them could easily be sisters they are that close. Then there's Jill and Cindy, Jill works for the DA and Cindy is a reporter trying to get her big break with the Honeymoon Murders case. Considering the author is male, he has written these characters incredibly well and believably. Especially the parts which are told from first person (which is most of the book) from Lindsey.
One thing that is stopping me from giving this a full five star rating is that the twist, although a good one revealing the killer is a little far-fetched. The novel is very serious, well researched, with some technical language and scenarios which could be imagined in real life so the slightly over the top twist did change the tone of the novel for me slightly, but didn't stop me enjoying it after all it is a novel not a true story, but I'd just liked to have had a more realistic twist. But as I said, I haven't read any other books by Patterson yet (although I am planning on reading some of his other work) so I don't know if he likes to use silly twists and reveals a lot in his work. But I think that would be my only gripe with this otherwise fantastic book as a whole.
If you like a book with plenty of twists then this is for you, because there is twist after twist right until the last page. It isn't that difficult to guess who the killer is a chapter or two before the reveal but even then after the killer has been unmasked there is still another twist or two up Patterson's sleeve. The writing isn't overly complicated, it helps the pace of the story and the chapters are very short, you can often read about twenty at a time and forget to put the book down because it really does suck you in. If you are going to be reading this before bed start at about nine o'clock then you won't be up until two a.m. not being able to put it down! On the whole I'd highly recommend 1st to Die, it's fast paced, easy to read and ties many different issues and plot lines together nicely. This is a very promising start to this series.
Centring on Lindsey Boxer, a San Francisco homicide inspector who is given the case of Philip Campbell, a man who violently murders a bride and groom on their wedding night. She's paired up with a new partner Chris Raleigh who inevitably she falls in love with. However, Lindsey has just been diagnosed with a rare and deadly blood disease, which is an interesting sub-plot and ties in nicely with the overall story at the end. Her best friend Claire is a pathologist, and is the most likeable character for me in the book. She and Lindsey have an excellently written friendship, the two of them could easily be sisters they are that close. Then there's Jill and Cindy, Jill works for the DA and Cindy is a reporter trying to get her big break with the Honeymoon Murders case. Considering the author is male, he has written these characters incredibly well and believably. Especially the parts which are told from first person (which is most of the book) from Lindsey.
One thing that is stopping me from giving this a full five star rating is that the twist, although a good one revealing the killer is a little far-fetched. The novel is very serious, well researched, with some technical language and scenarios which could be imagined in real life so the slightly over the top twist did change the tone of the novel for me slightly, but didn't stop me enjoying it after all it is a novel not a true story, but I'd just liked to have had a more realistic twist. But as I said, I haven't read any other books by Patterson yet (although I am planning on reading some of his other work) so I don't know if he likes to use silly twists and reveals a lot in his work. But I think that would be my only gripe with this otherwise fantastic book as a whole.
If you like a book with plenty of twists then this is for you, because there is twist after twist right until the last page. It isn't that difficult to guess who the killer is a chapter or two before the reveal but even then after the killer has been unmasked there is still another twist or two up Patterson's sleeve. The writing isn't overly complicated, it helps the pace of the story and the chapters are very short, you can often read about twenty at a time and forget to put the book down because it really does suck you in. If you are going to be reading this before bed start at about nine o'clock then you won't be up until two a.m. not being able to put it down! On the whole I'd highly recommend 1st to Die, it's fast paced, easy to read and ties many different issues and plot lines together nicely. This is a very promising start to this series.
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