1st to Die – James Patterson
published 2001 – 424 pages
From the back cover -
Enjoy the riveting debut of The Women’s Murder Club – James Patterson’s most exciting series ever. In San Francisco newlyweds are being stalked – and slaughtered. Enter four unforgettable women, all friends… Lindsay, a homicide inspector in the city’s police department, Claire, a medical examiner, Jill, an assistant D.A., and Cindy, a reporter who has just started working the crime deck of the San Francisco Chronicle. Joining forces, pooling their talents, courage, and brains, they have one goal: to find, trap, and outwit the most diabolical and terrifying killer ever imagined.
My thoughts -
I picked this book up because I’ve been having a bit of a reading slump lately, and I thought that an easy, fast-paced book like this would sort of help kick me into gear. While I can’t say that I’m completely recovered from my slump, 1st to Diewas exactly what I anticipated, and exactly what I needed. I haven’t read a Patterson book in forever – I read all of his in high school, and I especially loved the Alex Cross series – but I really haven’t been as into these types of books the last 4-5 years. Patterson writes what I typically think of as “mind candy” … books that are pretty enjoyable, you can wolf down really quickly, but don’t require much energy or thought to get through them. I haven’t really read a lot of “mind candy” books lately, but this one totally hit the spot. In fact, I enjoyed the story and these characters so much that I think I’ll continue with the rest of the series whenever I feel the need for a quick and easy read. I think that although some of these books tend to be a little cliche, the characters in this one were pretty well developed (especially for a book that is the first in a long series) and the story was a decent one, with unpredicted twists. I’m glad I picked it up and I’ll be grabbing the next one at the library sometime in the near future.
Sometimes you need mindless reading! Welcome to book blogs!
Glad to hear that you had a good experience with Patterson. I tried his Sundays at Tiffany’s and kind bombed on that one, might have to give this one a try.
I love me some mind candy. I thought I’d picked some up tonight, but turns out what I had hoped would be a thoughtless read is more intellectual than I anticipated. Dang!
I liked the Alex Cross books, too. I haven’t read much of Patterson lately, either. Maybe I’ll check him out again.
I like the term “mind candy,” and I think it’s accurate for Patterson. I think his writing has declined recently, but I still read the Women’s Murder Club books.
I tried to read this soon after the TV show came out but I found I wasn’t really in the mood to read it once I borrowed it from my library. I’ll try again someday!
I actually just finished this book myself. I haven’t quite figured out how I’m going to rate it as I didn’t love it but really liked the ending…even the sad part. And I think that I will continue on with this series as well.