"Murder Club" takes back seat to Lt. Lindsay Boxer in twisty fourth outing!

Patterson is sustaining his popularity with the new, four-book (to date) series featuring LAPD Homicide Lt. Lindsay Boxer, and her gal pals Claire (Medical Examiner), Cindy (News Reporter) and Jill (Asst. DA). [That this foursome has like three built-in conflicts of interest doesn't seem to bother anybody but us!:] In "1st to Die" and "2nd Chance", we came to enjoy the affable group and their solving perplexing murder mysteries, despite Lindsay's frequent departures from standard police procedures. We enjoyed "3rd Degree" best of all for its complex and shocking plot, but ironically quibbled that the women's dialogue seemed awfully adolescent for four professionals. We suggested perhaps a woman co-author might fix that, instead of Patterson's stalwart cohort Andrew Gross. To our amazement, "4th" does feature a new writer to the set, namely Maxine Paetro - was the author listening ??!!

Unfortunately, the club, now one member short after the events of the preceding tale, didn't get much play in this their fourth outing. The beginning of the novel features a deadly encounter between Boxer and an old partner, who chase and then get into a shootout with two teenagers, leaving three injured and one dead, 15-year-old Sara. A lawsuit by the parents for wrongful death is almost more suspenseful than the murder mystery that followed, although the case seemed clearly an open and shut self-defense considering the girl fired first, with the policewoman's gun holstered. {However, we know what goes on in LA courtrooms!}

Meanwhile, a series of serial killings are taking place, apparently at random, with the unusual twist that the victims are whipped near or after death. Boxer recognizes a similarity to a cold case from ten years ago, and despite being on leave, then on vacation resting from the trauma of the shooting and the court case, she inserts herself into the local investigation and helps solve the case. We rather suspected one of the perps early on, but the ultimate outcome was pretty shocking. Despite treading on risky ground procedurally (as usual), Boxer comes out the heroine once again.

While we thought the interactions of the woman to be more professional as hoped, the club really got short shift in this story. Moreover, with Patterson's typical 146 chapters in a 380-page book, there's an awful lot of blank space that makes this actually rather short novel a quick read. We would have preferred a little more character work, especially with what appears to be the new addition to the club, an interesting persona with whom our acquaintance barely scratches the surface. While no doubt most will enjoy this new addition to the set, we'd like to see a more substantive story next time out, and one that involves all the women in the solution. If they are just going to be drinking buddies, we fear Boxer and her antics per se may get a little tiring. Meanwhile, undoubtedly Patterson and Paetro have another hit on their hands!