Rating: 
Summary: No, thank you
Review: This is a feminist novel through and through. I 've never aspired to be one and anyone who is makes me very irritable. Get off your man hating horse, ladies. Story is not bad but female circle thing ruins it for me completely.
Rating: 
Summary: Okay
Review: ROSES ARE RED, being my favorite book of Patterson's, has somehow spoiled me. I expect all of his work to live up to that. And while 2ND CHANCE is good, it's not his best effort. The story, in a nutshell: The sensational killings that have rocked San Francisco appear to be unrelated except in their brutality. Detective Lindsay Boxer senses that there's some thread connecting them all. She calls her friends in the Women's Murder Club together to see if they can discover what it is. But doing so, involves a lot of risksThe story itself was great, and definitely showcases Patterson's ability to write murder mysteries. However, there were a couple of things that threw me off. First, something I noticed in the prequel, is that while Patterson is great when writing from the perspective of a male, such as with his Alex Cross novels, he is really horrible at a female narrative. There were some female bonding scenes that were so corny that I wanted to puke. My second complaint could be considered more a matter of opinion. There was a romance between the female reporter and the minister of the church where the first shooting occurred. Although a sexual relationship was never described in detail, it was definitely hinted at. Patterson made this minister out to be so perfect, yet any minister who really was perfect would never enter into a sexual relationship before marriage. I do not know if Patterson did this out of ignorance or if he did realize this conflict and this is why he avoided a detailed sex scene but still left it open to interpretation. Would like to recommend Patterson's ROSES ARE RED and a book titled THE BARK OF THE DOGWOOD (very funny, suspensful, and well-written) for those looking for a great summer read.
Rating: 
Summary: Could not put it down
Review: I read this book on a business trip in the airplane and I enjoyed it so much. I forgot everything around me. James Patterson's style of using very short chapters challenges me every time ... one more chapter ... one more chapter ... and so soon I am so far that I cannot stop anymore.
While "1st To Die" was probably a little bit better than the second book, I gave both books 5 stars since they are both much above everything else out there.
Buy it. Read it. Enjoy!
I read "3rd Degree" first, then "1st to Die" and then "2nd Chance". I recommend reading them in the right order since there are some developments which are in all books and when reading in the incorrect order gives some things away. But reading them seperatly in any order is also fine.
I am looking forward for the next book "4th of July" and I will also go now for more James Patterson books. Especially the "The Midnight Club". I have not started any Alex Cross books yet and I am not planning on doing do for now. But we will see.
If you like Patricia Cornwall's "Kay Scarpetta" series, you will love this one too. The Women's Murder Club.
Rating: 
Summary: Give it one
Review: One Tough Cookie 2nd Chance by James Patterson was an excellent book. So many emotions were incorporated into the book. Love, drama, heartbreak, and action all rolled onto one amazing work. Everyone in life is given or deserves a second chance sometime in their long life. Lindsay Boxer happens to get many second chances throughout the book, many of them life changing. The title of the book signifies how profound her chances are. She goes through life and takes everything in stride, even the really hard things. When you think she is going to fall and not get back up you are deceived and she does rise up. The title makes you want to read, it doesn't give anything away. It's the type of title that keeps you guessing until the end. Once you finish the book then you tie the title and the story line together. The only thing is you have to pay attention to details because he ties them into the story later. If you don't pay attention then you wind up going back in the story hunting for the little detail you missed. Other than that small negative this was an excellent book. It was a quick and light read which made it more enjoyable for the reader. Also highly recommended: Roses are Red and The Children's Corner by Jackson McCrae.
Rating:
Summary: Huge Alex Cross Fan Now Has a New Detective
Review: As a fan of the entire Alex Cross series except London Bridges. I loved all three of these!
Rating:
Summary: locked in
Review: I read Patterson's 1st To Die and this well done follow-up works just as well. Here we have another serial killer and this one brought to mind for me the real life D.C. serial killer spree of a few years ago. Lead detective Lindsay Boxer should be a household name in San Fran after all her heroics in her first two novels. Still again Patterson has a gift to reel you in and keep you locked in with a very fast plot line. Good stuff!
Rating:
Summary: 2nd Chance
Review: This is the 2nd book I read by James Patterson. It's good but it's not better than 1st To Die. It's about this man going around killing African American people with guns. Lindsay, Jill, Cindy, Claire are trying to find who it was. But they are lucky to have a 2nd Chance. And even in this book. 1 of the characters is pregnent. This book is good. I recommend this book to everyone. If 3rd Degree be good, I know that 4th Of July will be good to.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: This book was fantasic. I absolutely loved it. There were so many twists and turns. It was simply a great murder mystery book! I highly reccomend it.
Rating:
Summary: A sequel... an average sequel
Review: I like Patterson's work. I really enjoyed "1st to die". It was well written, with a great plot and real thrills... So I read "2nd chance". PLEASE! What is this? The beginning is good, there is a real pleasure to retrieve the women's murder club... But very soon, it's starting to go deeper and deeper into stereotypes. Very interesting aspects are left without development, the plot is as predictable as a Columbo episode, but at least the Columbo character is interesting...
This book is not very bad, but I was very deceived of a such low quality after "1st to die"... Plus the end that seems to have been written because the book had to fit inside a determined number of pages... Hey James, if you do a sequel, respect your readers: do it right!
Rating:
Summary: My 1st Chance on Patterson
Review: I can't tell a lie - this is my FIRST EVER James Patterson novel - at least as far back as my increasingly unreliable memory serves me.
It definitely had me turning the pages as fast as I could, with an intriguing story about Lt. Boxer, her girlfriends and their current bad guy, Chimera. It was fairly obvious from early in the book that one of the characters was hiding something, but the "something" wasn't really as spell-bindingly shocking as I had hoped. The plot was well thought out, and painstakingly unraveled, something like your favorite episode of Law and Order
Patterson takes pains to show the strengths of his four stars, but then even more painstakingly, he ensures that he gives each one a little weakness here and there, just to level the playing field for the other characters. This is most obvious with the Asst. D. A., whose problem could have been left out without affecting the story in the slightest.
Anyway, you have to feel the love for a strong willed woman surviving in a typically male-oriented environment, and I was totally into the Lindsay Boxer character, even when, towards the end of the book, she squeezed the trigger of her Beretta while cupping both her ears with her hands.
A great book to while away some spare time, especially in an airplane, dentist's office or other equally time consuming experience.
Amanda Richards, November 7, 2004
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