Description (from cover):'A brutal madman sprays bullets into a crowd of children leaving a San Francisco church. Miraculously--or was it intentionally?--only one person dies. Then an elderly black woman is hung. Police homicide inspector Lindsay Boxer senses a connection and together with medical examiner Claire, assistant D.A. Jill, and Chronicle reporter Cindy, finds a link that sends a chill through the entire nation. This killer's motives are unspeakable.'
My thoughts:
I like James Patterson for the suspense and the thrill ride. But I felt like this book followed some sort of formula or pattern as the first one. The stories are different, the characters and the plot are different, yet something seems so familiar in this book. I do not like to read books that are the same and I just felt like the author used a formula to write this book. It was niggling feeling the back of my head as I continued reading and yet at the end, it kind of confirmed it for me. I am not stating that James Patterson isn't a good writer because obviously he is, I just prefer a little originality and books that don't follow the norm.
Maybe it was just me as a reader, but I couldn't get past that. My mom reads this books and loves them and I brought it to her attention and she didn't understand my point. Maybe it effects different readers different ways or something, I don't know. I just got the feeling that the plot was following a predestined formula and it kind of bothered me a little. I will say that this book was an okay read. It really didn't blow me away or knock my socks off or anything. It was just alright. I know Patterson is a very popular author, but for some reason I tend to look at his books a little more analytically than the average reader I suppose.
I do love the characters and I love their flaws. Patterson does illuminate the characters' flaws and lets the reader see the real character instead of making everything peach keen all the time. These books are not for the feint of heart and can be overly depressing at times. I was telling my mom at times I felt like I shouldn't hope for the best with these books, because nine times out of ten, I will be disappointed in the outcome. But I suppose expect the unexpected and all that. I will continue with the series at a later time, I just didn't want to read another book with the same pattern right after this one.
Overall Rating: 3
Title: 2nd Chance
Author: James Patterson
Series: Women's Murder Club #2
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: May 20, 2005 (Reprint)
Pages: 400
Genre: Fiction
Get It: Amazon; Barnes & Noble
Disclaimer: This book was purchased by myself and I reviewed this book without compensation of any kind. All thoughts and opinions are solely mine.
