3rd Degree
Women's Murder Club Series
By James Patterson, Andrew Gross

       3rd Degree takes arson and murder on a different level. This time it deals terrorism and politics. The murderers have announced through email and notes left at the scene that they will continue to kill every three days until their demands have been heard and appropriately dealt with. Can Lindsey, the police detective, and her friends, Claire Washburn , the medical examiner, Jill Bernhardt, Assistant D. A., and Cindy Thomas, reporter, solve the murders and the reason behind them before they lose one of their own? Patterson returns back to a great murder series in 3rd Degree. Unfortunately, as the television commercials have stated, he has done the unthinkable, killed off a major character. Many readers will probably not appreciate this move, but this reader feels that he is adding the urgency of solving these murders, which adds to the heightened suspense of the story. Patterson could probably not have killed off a major character as this story has a lot of suspense and mystery to it, but he definitely catches readers off guard when the murder happens. The characterization of the Women's Murder Club members continues to be developed and keeps the reader feeling for his characters.