BOOKIN'BINGO REVIEW:THE 8th CONFESSION

MY REVIEW
THE 8th CONFESSION
by James Patterson
and Maxine Paetro

The Women’s Murder Club is back again with more of the four fierce gal pals that make THE 8^th CONFESSION another fast paced remarkable read. James Patterson teams up again with Maxine Paetro to involve Lindsay, Claire, Yuki, and Cindy in two murder cases, and a couple of romances as well. When Cindy Thomas, top notch crime reporter with the San Francisco Chronicle, finds a homeless man, known only to those in the area as “Bagman Jesus”, viciously murdered, she is relieved that her good friend Lindsay is assigned to handle the case. However, her relief will be short lived as she finds herself doing much of the investigating when progress on the case isn’t coming fast enough for her to make her deadlines, no pun intended!

San Francisco Police Department Homicide Detective Lindsay Boxer, and her partner, Rich Conklin, are immediately involved in trying to find out who this Bagman really is and just who it is that wanted him dead. At the same time, they have been assigned a very high profile case when several wealthy and well known area citizens are found dead with no cause of death being established. Claire Washburn, the medical examiner, is as perplexed as Lindsay when all the autopsy reports show nothing and the toxicology reports come back negative. Yuki Castellano, who is with the DA’s office, finds herself prosecuting the very tough case of the homeless murder so that when the four friends meet up, there is more than enough to talk about…and they haven’t even touched on all that is going on in their personal lives!

All of this spins into a story that leads amazingly into a web as one thing seems to weave into the other and all the women wind up in one way or another working on some part of the same case. On the side stories of personal lives, Lindsay is still with Joe and would seem to be satisfied with that until she finds out that her partner, Rich, is now involved with her friend Cindy. Having put off Rich’s advances over time and with her long time relationship with Joe, Lindsay has no reason to resent them this affair but it does bother her, more than she wants to admit. Perhaps her fear of commitment and liking the idea of their being another choice for her out there is what makes Lindsay not care for the twosome of Rich and Cindy. What she does about this and how the other players respond can only be found out by reading the book. And as if that isn’t enough, Yuki finds herself a doctor which should be good news until a twist at the end makes for an unusual to say the least romantic mystery of its own.

As for the two murders Lindsay is involved with, they seem to get your attention from the first chapter and don’t let go which is much the reason Patterson is as popular as he is. One more chapter, the reader will say, and before you know it, one more becomes two and three and poof! ---another Patterson novel is finished!

However, before this one does finish, the reader will find out maybe more than they wanted to know about the gritty streets of San Francisco and what happens when a seemingly good guy on the streets turns out to be the polar opposite of what they first thought. When the rich and famous are no longer safe even in their own bedrooms and die a painful death that springs from the warped mind of a second generation serial killer, then you know you have to keep reading to find out just who it is that is slithering about their homes and killing them. And as if that isn’t enough, the worst news is that this will be the only installment of the Women’s Murder Club this year. So fans better make it last, don’t read that “one more chapter” as you know where that leads and then you are done for another year with Lindsay and her crew!