Book Review - The 11th Hour

The 11th Hour by James Patterson

May 2012

Harback - auto shipped from Amazon

Why?  The Women's Murder Club mysteries are another series I was hooked on...until the last installment.  10th Anniversary was sooooo bad that #11 was James Patterson's last chance as far as I was concerned.

What now?  I'll pass this one on to my firstborn; she also read the series after my recommendation and also hated #10.  These are fast reads for us...anywhere from a few hours to 1 day usually. 

Golden Lines

A 3D representation had been made of each skull by a laser scanner that utilized light, mirrors, and sensors to capture the image and generate a wire-frame matrix.  Information from CT scans of living persons was added, and the sophisticated software program distorted reference points on the 3D skull to correspond with points on a reference CT scan, creating a facial shape for each skull.


What if [he] was home and had committed tonight's shooting?  That meant he had most likely committed all of the shootings we attributed to Revenge.
The [name] house was full of kids.
What if [he] decided to make a stand?
If I had been wearing boots, I would have been shaking in them, thinking about all of the truly bad things that could happen if we went into [his] house.  But I saw no choice.  If he knew he was being watched, there was no telling what he would do.  We had to get him away from his children.

Summary

Sgt. Lindsey Boxer of the San Francisco Police Dept. is happily married to Joe (former FBI agent) and has a baby on the way while working on two high profile cases at the same time.  Severed heads are found in the backyard of a famous womanizing Hollywood star, and a serial killer called Revenge is on the loose, killing drug dealers one by one, leaving no threads of evidence to his identity.  Revenge's professionalism and skill lead the SFPD to believe he is one of their own, a policeman gone rogue, so they must procede with caution  in order to find the killer before he strikes again without accusing an innocent officer.  Lindsey is called in to lead the investigation of Revenge but also wants to find the identities of the murdered young women as well as the murderer.  She also has to sidestep an obnoxious reporter who is determined to get the scoop, even if he has to make it up.  As always, Lindsey works with her friends Yuki, Claire and Cindy in order to find out the truth.

What I Liked

Lindsey and Joe - thank goodness these two are finally together and finally happy.  Every once in a while it's nice for things to work out.

The suspense - I didn't figure this one out until close to the end...The Women's Murder Club mysteries had become pretty formulaic, and in all honesty, this one follows the basic outline that is Patterson...but I stayed interested and kept wondering what was around the corner.  I found myself having to pay a little closer attention as well...the details in this one were much better than the last few in this series.

About mid-way through, Patterson jerked the rug out from under me...of course I can't tell you what happened.  But, I can tell you that the family and I were sitting around the pool and I gasped outloud and spooked everybody :p  I was so distraught that I had to peek at the ending to make sure all would be well...(don't tell my firstborn; she gets sooo angry when I do that).

I love it that Lindsey's pregnant...and working.  Nobody around her questions her abilities bc she's going to be a mom.  Even when she herself knows her emotions are in overdrive, Lindsey is the only one who mentions it.  Of course, there are the normal recommendations to take it easy, but it's so nice to have a character for whom pregnancy is not seen as a crutch, illness or disability.

Claire - she doesn't play a major role in this plotline but she is one the sidelines working all the science.  There's a little more science this time...almost "Bones"ish.  Claire also is a mother of a very young child and her brain is still intact.  She can even talk about her kids and still do her job better than most.  

What I Didn't Like

Cindy - I'm sorry; I just cannot like this character.  She is obnoxious, untrustworthy, and a pest.  She doesn't care about the rules...as long as she gets what she wants.  She's willing to put other people's jobs on the line in order to get the scoop...even the jobs of those she says she loves.  I think Rich deserves much better...as long as it's not Lindsey.

Overall Recommendation

Patterson returns to the early suspense of the Women's Murder Club with this one so previous followers (whoever's left after the 10th Anniversary fiasco) should give this one a go...it's worth it.  It's a fast read...I read it in less than 24 hours.