Rating: Summary: Not worth my time Review: I was so disappointed with this book for so many reasons. After reading 1st to Die, I was hopeful that perhaps James Patterson could fill out his characters and improve his story the second time around. No such luck.First, as a woman, I was highly irritated with Patterson's one-sided characters and flat dialogue. These ladies simply do not sound like real women sitting around together; rather, they sound the way men probably THINK women talk. I don't really feel as if I know these women at all, and I really don't see how they can possibly know each other very well either, based on their conversations. At one point, Lindsey makes a very irritating assumption about Jill's husband, even though Patterson has not established anything about him as a character, and I can't recall any time in either book where she and Jill have talked about him. I was also incredibly frustrated with Lindsey's weak character; Patterson tries to make her hard-nosed and tough, but someone is constantly having to bail her out of poor decisions. A perfect example of this is the scene (mentioned by several others) where she goes sneaking after a whole crew of bad guys with no backup, no cell phone, etc. There were also several instances where I kept thinking that *I* was a better detective than Lindsey. The killer's phone number shows up on Claire's caller ID, yet nobody thinks to check it out. Aaron spots a glimpse of the killer in a mirror, yet nobody asks him to describe the person. And worst of all, I knew the killer's true identity immediately after Lindsey interviewed him. Finally, I was somewhat put off personally by the character of Aaron. As the wife of a minister, I know that it's nearly *impossible* to please everyone, and yet somehow Aaron manages to pull it off. It's nice to see Patterson treating a minister's character with a bit of respect, but Aaron never mentions anything about his faith, even in a sermon delivered at a memorial service. I would have been so impressed if Patterson had really done his homework here and created a more three-dimensional character. Overall, Patterson really blew his 2nd chance to create a real winner of a series.
Rating: Summary: Rated the BEST! Review: Ever since my daughter could read, I have told her that I would always buy her books if she read them. She is now a senior in College and she loves mysteries. Her favorite author is Mary Higgins Clark. However, after reading 2nd Chance she phoned me and raved and raved about this latest Patterson book! Never, ever have I heard her be so excited and thrilled with reading a book! She had read his other books and states that you must read 1st To Die before reading this book. I have NO IDEA why there are such low numbers. In addition, she is quite a good writer herself and one of her majors is English so that may carry some weight as well. Thought I should post this so that this book may get a better review. P.S. She dares me to figure out "who done it" before the end of the book. :))
Rating: Summary: Pick This Up Today! Review: I absolutely love James Patterson! He's an incredible writter who [pulls] you into the plot immediately. After reading "1st To Die" I couldn't wait to pick this up! It'll keep you guessing tell the very end!
Rating: Summary: The Women's Murder Club is in business agin!!! Review: James Patterson delivers a spine tingling thriller again in 2nd Chance. Lindsey Boxer and her fellow collegues in the Women's Murder Club find they have another serial killer on their hands. They feel the some clue is being overlooked by their male counterparts and feel an urgency to figure out this mystery but it costs one of them their lives. Patterson delivers drama and page turning action with plenty of plot twists and turns.
Rating: Summary: So Much Waste; So Much Sexism Review: I pounced on this tape for two reasons: After listening to the first tape, I'd decided that the so-called Women's Murder Club was a new, promising idea and was worth pursuing; and Melissa Leo was outstanding on Homicide, guesting on Law and Order, and I thought she'd be great. Pretty funny, on both counts. The WMC turned out to be a drinking and hugging club, and very little else. Melissa was badly directed (or was matching the tape length) and read s-l-o-w-l-y, and the poor recording values made her hiss her s's. Drives me crazy, and she doesn't sound like that normally. I realize the sexism charge is a bit of a hot button, but I grew weary of having the heroine report her various physical reactions (e.g.,hair-raisings--neck, arms, etc.) to stress after every sentence. Her behavior (abandoning police procedure at every opportunity and going it alone and unprepared) would never have elevated her to the Lt's rank. Also her personalizing every development, hating the maybe-perp endlessly provide nothing but ammunition for those who say women shouldn't be in leadership positions because they're prisoners of their emotions. If Patterson insists on a third in the series, perhaps he should hire a female "asst." writer who will leave out the histrionics. Guaranteed.
Rating: Summary: Just say no Review: I bought this book at the airport, hoping to have a good read before my flight and on the plane. It did not even make it on the plane with me, I returned it after reading a dozen or so pages. It is poorly written with lousy dialogue, I was amazed the author was able to find publishing.
Rating: Summary: "My girls"? Review: I read the first one in this series and it was ok and tried to read this one, but I can't stomach a group of professional woman going around referring to each other as "my girls". After reading "my girls" a couple times, I had to stop reading. Life's too short to force yourself to read a book that you don't like.
Rating: Summary: Could be the new Alex Cross Review: Again a fine cast of characters. Lindsay and her crew. The blast from the past. Some real good side plots. Had me guessing all along. The author did his job well. I hope to get some more of these great charaters in the future, I'm looking forward to the next in this line, much as I do for the Alex Cross books. Only thing I could say was weird is, revolvers don't have clips and the Glock definately doesn't have a safety. Then again I'm not the worlds greatest speller either. A must for fans of the author.
Rating: Summary: Utterly forgettable Review: This was my first James Patterson novel, although I have seen two movies made out of his books--Kiss the Girls and Along Came A Spider. This novel was a thorough disappointment in so many ways. The writing was terrible. I felt as though it was written at a first grade level. This impression was amplified by the fact that each chapter was about a page and a half long. Especially abysmal was the dialogue. It is not how anyone I know talks. The characters were so stereotypical they were almost caricatures. First we have Jill, the stylish, high-powered, control hungry district attorney. Second: Claire, the motherly, overly optimistic forensic pathologist who apparently sidelines as a physician in every field of medicine--she knows everything about everything medical-related. Third: Cindy, the ace reporter with a heart of gold, at the top of her field but apparently does not publish any secrets revealed to her by the other three members of her women's murder club. Finally, the gritty but beautiful and vulnerable Lindsey, first female lieutenant of the SFPD, who chases down a meeting of murder suspects alone, without notice to other cops, and without even a cell phone The plot is the biggest disappointment of all. It wasn't clever and it did not even seem to make sense. When I found out who the murderer was, I didn't say, "Aha!" or "I can't believe it was ____!" I simply didn't care because I didn't know enough about the character to feel one way or the other about him/her. There are so many good books out there. Don't waste your time or money on this lifeless "mystery" awash with stereotypes.
Rating: Summary: Don't read this book Review: Read the first novelin the series first. I guarantee you won't try the second.
|