Customer Reviews

2nd Chance

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(50)
3 star:		(41)
2 star:		(33)
1 star:		(26)

 

 

This book is packed with suspense and is unpredictable. Reading it was thoroughly enjoyable and again Patterson delivered and excellent thriller.

Take four professional women--Lindsay, a homicide inspector who receives some bad personal news; Claire, a medical examiner and Lindsay's best friend; Jill, a tough assistant DA; and Cindy, a persistent reporter from the Chronicle--mix them together and you've got: The Women's Murder Club.

With a serial killer dubbed 'Chimera', we are given a glimpse of pure evil--a killer whose targets appear to be random, with nothing obvious to connect them. But of course, Lindsay and her friends slowly begin to put the pieces together. And when the targets become more personal, especially to Lindsay, you are left wondering if there will be a Women's Murder Club by the time the story has ended.

With engrossing and 'real' characters, whose only fault is that they may be just a bit too intelligent and a bit too perfect, Patterson captures the camaraderie of female friendships. But it is the relationship between Lindsay and her estranged father that is key to this story.

In this second smoothly crafted installment, I am please to report that James Patterson and his mysterious co-author Andrew Gross have yet again captured my imagination and kept me up late at night. I couldn't wait to read it after I finished the first in the series--1st to Die--and I'll be running out for the third immediately. The plot races along at breakneck speed, with enough twists to make your stomach churn. I've been a longtime fan of Patterson's Alex Cross series, but I have to say...'Alex Cross move over! There's a new gal in town...and her name is Lt. Lindsay Boxer!'

I have a few questions regarding the co-author. Why is there no biography at the back for Andrew Gross? And why is his name in such tiny print? I also wonder how much of this novel he actually wrote. And this leads me to my final question--What does it take to co-write a novel with James Patterson (because as an author myself I am always looking for new options!) :)

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif

Author of Whale Song (978-1-897339-02-2)

Available 2007 from Kunati Books

http://www.kunati.com

This book series is incredible. I absolutely loved it. Highly recommend if you like murder mysteries with some good suspense.

Set in beautiful San Francisco, Patterson once again outdoes himself. Lindsey Boxer and her 3 Murder Club friends take us along for another riveting and realistic murder: coolheadphones.com

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.

I would have given this book five stars but felt it wasn't quite up to the level of ROSES ARE RED. Many times I find that I don't enjoy sequels. Maybe I set my expectations too high. However, Mr. Patterson had no problem setting the bar for future sequels I may read. This was great. Linsay Boxer is such a cool character. I must admit I din't think anyone could take the place of Alex Cross, but Lindsay seems to be doing a fine job. I am eagerly awaiting more novels with her character in them. Would also recommend another book I've come across recently titled THE BARK OF THE DOGWOOD--very good, suspenseful, disturbing, and well-written.

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.

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.

When a little girl is shot on the steps of a San Francisco church, Detective Lindsay Boxer knows it's time to reconvene the Women's Murder Club. Boxer and her friends think the killer may be an ex-cop, but nothing can prepare them for the demented logic behind his choice of victims.

After listening to 1st To Die, I was hooked and couldn't wait for the second installment. Naturally, sequels of any kind are never as good as the first. While the first one was a first rate thriller, this one didn't really keep me hooked and wanting more.

This was my first James Patterson and it was a disappointment. The writing feels hurried and superficial and the characters have no depth. The plot starts promisingly but peters out and the subplots, if you can call the brief character "study" interludes that, don't contribute to the story at all. I am not sure if I'll pick up another Patterson. Maybe my mistake was diving into it after finishing a Tony Hillerman.