1st to Die (Women's Murder Club)
by James Patterson
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Book Summary Information
Author: James PattersonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-05-20
ISBN: 0446696617
Number of pages: 432
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Book Reviews of 1st to Die (Women's Murder Club)
Book Review: One star means you hated it, not that you liked it a little.
Summary: 1 Stars
I read "1st to Die" over four nights. What's it about? Four successful women (a detective, a reporter, a medical examiner and an assistant DA) who are each involved in solving a series of viscous murders of a bride and groom on their wedding night. How horrible.
I think the longest chapter in this book was five pages, the shortest half a page. 120 chapters, no wonder Patterson's books are such a quick read. Many critics say this book will grab you and keep you reading with its fast pacing. The only reason I bothered finishing it was because I knew it would be over soon.
Two things dawned on me early on while reading:
1) No description. When your book is as "fast paced" as "1st to Die," when your chapters are an average of three full pages, there is not a lot of room for description. If you read Stephen King, you may have noticed that he can take a few hundred pages to get a story going full tilt, but his writing is such that he brings you there with interesting characters, settings, and gobs of description (not always, but usually).
James Patterson's book read like a screenplay: dialogue and the barest of description, almost solely devoted to the actions of the characters. And the characters: not very well developed.
There are spoilers below.
There was the lady detective (the main character) who was suddenly diagnosed with a potentially deadly disease. The only reason to do that (because this is a work of fiction) is to create a sense of sentimentality with the reader because everyone knows someone who is or has fought a disease. You relate to her plight in the cheapest and most artificial way.
There was the medical examiner, a black woman who was heavy, but not too heavy, you know? Just heavy enough for our main character to notice the ease with which her friend moved around her heft.
There was the green reporter who stumbled onto the story and developed a friendship with the detective.
There was the hard ass ADA who had, thankfully, a minimal role.
There was the male detective assigned from outside the jurisdiction to assist in the case. He fell into a relationship with our heroine, but ended up dying at the end.
There was the male writer main suspect who was an allusion to James Patterson. There were references to this character's lack of talent and criticism; that his books were tripe, which no doubt referenced negative reviews of Patterson's own work. Fans will think how cute Patterson included that particular homage, a bit of poking fun at himself. I think it's sad people will think that.
Long story short, the writer was framed by his second wife for whatever reason. She put on makeup and dressed like him, fooled everyone she came into contact with, did these killings, etc. The eventually found out it was a woman because the killer pissed herself at the scene of the crime and there was yeast in the urine. They thought it was the ex-wife first, but came to realize it was the second wife. Of course, the author showed up at the detective's apartment, after the murderer was dispatched, and tried to rape her, but she kicked his ass or something, I think - I don't even remember, which effectively brings up the second realization I had:
2) The writing sucked. Sorry, but it did. You can admire the ability to bring a story to its conclusion, but if it sucks, it sucks.
There were parts I was embarrassed to have read they were so poorly written. At times it honestly felt like I was reading a nineteen year old's first attempt at writing fiction. When men write for women, I think of the Jack Nicholson line from "As Good As it Gets" when he was asked how he writes convincing female characters: "I think of a man and I take away reason and accountability." Funny? Yes. True? Depends on the character.
Honestly, I think to write as a woman all you have to do is be honest to the character and make sure the reader knows it's a woman; the readers' sensibilities will fill in how the character sounds in their head and you'll have a convincing woman.
Patterson's sappy, ultra-"feminist" yet silly female characters were childishly written, unless his intent was to create pathetic characters who run the emotional spectrum from content to fragile and who speak like unrealistic dorks who are trying to be slightly hip. I say "feminist" because they weren't burn-your-bra feminists, but they sure formed a girls club to withhold evidence in order to solve this murder mystery themselves. The inner thoughts randomly and clumsily strewn throughout the novel were the most bewilderingly stock feminine mystique utterances to be printed.
And there was the prologue that had the main character on her balcony ready to kill herself, but Patterson never got around to explaining that.
I thumbed through a couple other Patterson books just looking at the chapters and they are all the same: 100-plus chapters, three pages long each. This guy obviously found his niche and is exploiting it for all it's worth.
You take a fantastic crime (and I mean that word as a derivation of "fantasy"), underdeveloped characters and a few plot twists like killing the nice guy detective who can give our main character a happy life, and shave off any originality and you got yourself a James Patterson best seller.
Have any of you read a Patterson book? If you have and liked it, please tell me why because I'm really interested. You know, I didn't like "Analyze This," and I feel alone there so maybe I'm in the minority on Patterson, too. But I want to know.
I thought "Kiss the Girls" was a pretty decent flick. I though the "Along Came a Spider" movie was more disappointing, but fair. I won't be reading the novels from which those movies came. I have to assume they sucked as much as "1st to Die." And I will be unwavering in my assumption. Don't judge a book by its cover, but judge it by the piece of s*** sister book by the same writer.
I just feel like, why is this guy so popular? I don't understand.
Summary of 1st to Die (Women's Murder Club)
Imagine a killer who thinks, "What is the worst thing anyone has ever done?"--and then goes far beyond it. Now imagine four women --a police detective, an assistant DA, a reporter, and a medical examiner --who join forces as they sidestep their bosses to track down criminals. Known as the Women's Murder Club, they are pursuing a murderer whose twisted imagination has stunned an entire city. Their chief suspect is a socially prominent writer, but the men in charge won't touch him. On the trail of the most terrifying and unexpected killer ever, they discover a shocking surprise that turns everything about the case upside down.The Women's Murder Club pits four San Francisco women professionals against a serial killer who's stalking and murdering newlyweds in bestselling author James Patterson's newest thriller. Lindsay Boxer is a homicide inspector who's just gotten some very bad news. She deals with it by immersing herself in her newest case and soliciting the personal as well as professional support of her closest friend, who happens to be the city's medical examiner. The two women, along with an ambitious and sympathetic reporter and an assistant DA, form an unlikely alliance, pooling their information and bypassing the chain of command in an engaging, suspenseful story whose gruesome setup is vintage Patterson.
"What is the worst thing anyone has ever done?" the killer muses to himself early in the narrative. "Am I capable of doing it? Do I have what it takes?" Answering his own question, he embarks on a murderous spree that takes him from the bridal suite in a Nob Hill hotel to a honeymoon destination in the Napa Valley and thence to a wedding reception at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio. Dispatching his victims on the happiest day of their lives, he purposefully leaves enough clues for his distaff trackers to discover his identity and put him behind bars. But just when the women think they've got the case all wrapped up, the killer turns the tables on them in a bloody denouement that even the most discerning reader won't see coming. Patterson, author of the popular Alex Cross mysteries, promises future adventures for the Women's Murder Club, which may give him an opportunity to develop his heroines' characters more completely and win new fans among those who prefer their detectives in high heels and lipstick. --Jane Adams
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