The 19th Christmas (Women’s Murder Club 19) by James Patterson
It’s not sleigh bells that are ringing this Christmas.
As the holidays approach, Detective Lindsay Boxer and her friends in the Women’s Murder Club have much to celebrate. Crime is down. The medical examiner’s office is quiet. Even the courts are showing some Christmas spirit. And the news cycle is so slow that journalist Cindy Thomas is on assignment to tell a story about the true meaning of the season for San Francisco.
Then a fearsome criminal known only as “Loman” seizes control of the headlines. He is planning a deadly surprise for Christmas morning. And he has commissioned dozens of criminal colleagues to take actions that will mask his plans. All that Lindsay and the SFPD can figure out is that Loman’s greed — for riches, for bloodshed, for attention — is limitless.
Solving crimes never happens on schedule, but as this criminal mastermind unleashes credible threats by the hour, the month of December is upended for the Women’s Murder Club. Avoiding tragedy is the only holiday miracle they seek.
James Patterson is an author that you can only read every once in awhile, in my opinion. His books all follow a formula so if you read too many or too often, you are literally reading the same book over and over. That being said, I haven’t read one if his books in at least a year or so, and I fairly enjoyed this book.
I like the Women’s Murder Club series because, hello, strong female leads is a rarity in media. The series follows four women, however, only Lindsey Boxer seemed to be a focal point of this story. In fact, none of the other women’s plot lines intersected with the main point and we didn’t even see Claire at all. I am not sure if this is common throughout the past few books in the series, because I think the last one I read was #9, but I wish we got to see a bit of everybody.
I did like Lindsey’s murder/ heist case she was working on. I found it entertaining and I liked the idea of a mastermind who had all these false clues laid out. All very red herring esque. That being said, I felt the conclusion of the story and wrap up of the case fell short. This is a slight spoiler, but lets be real, you know they are going to catch the bad guy, they always do- but, in my opinion, Loman seems like a character who would go out with all the blades of glory, not the anticlimactic ending that was written.
Overall, I do recommend this book. Let me know what you guys think about James Patterson and the Women’s Murder Club Series. Was a too hard on the ending or is my disappointment justified? Thanks for reading.
The Travelling Reader 