Review: The 8th Confession by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

In James Patterson and Maxine Paetro’s eighth outing in the Women’s Murder Club series, The 8th Confession, San Francisco’s wealthy are being targeted. A killer has conceived the perfect murder, and when the city’s most prominent couple fall victim to the killer, SFPD Detective Lindsay Boxer catches the case. As she and her partner, Detective Rich Conklin investigate the crime, another brutal murder occurs; this time the victim is a preacher who works with the homeless. His murder seems to be largely ignored until reporter Cindy Thomas starts nosing around and discovers that this seemingly beloved preacher is not what he appeared to be. Add in a rolling meth lab, some snakes, vengeful wack-job, a budding romance and wrap it all up nicely by the last chapter, and there you go…vintage Patterson.

James Patterson’s books are always fun to read. It’s sort of like watching C.S.I., you pretty much know what direction the story is going, there’s usually a couple of odd little tangents the story goes off on, that end up being pertinent to the conclusion, enough personal interaction to make you feel like you know the characters, and a good, if not predictable conclusion. Patterson and Paetro do a good job of making sure none of the regular characters remain static in any of the series. Everyone in the series manages to make an appearance and move their own story line along. And they do a bang-up job of moving those folks forward chronologically while keeping the plot moving along. When there’s a cast of characters this size, I’m not sure that’s an easy thing to do either. I’ve read the whole series, but I think its written in a way that would allow someone to come in part way and still be able to figure out who’s who and what’s what. Which is something else that may not be an easy thing for an author to accomplish.

The 8th Confession is a fun, fast read and if you’re a fan of the series, it’s a must read.

My rating: