3rd Degree (The Women's Murder Club) (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author), Andrew Gross (Author) "IT WAS A CLEAR, calm, lazy April morning, the day the worst week of my life began..." (more)
Key Phrases: August Spies, Charles Danko, San Francisco (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

From the start, Patterson's Women's Murder Club series (1st to Die; Second Chance) has felt like high-concept TV with a smart edge, featuring an appealing and reliable cast of four female crime busters (a cop, a prosecutor, a medical examiner, a reporter) who race along byzantine plot lines humming with blood and sex, romance and heartbreak. But Patterson is an author who will detonate readers' presumptions for the sake of story, and in the series' third installment, the prolific author, working with frequent collaborator Gross (The Jester, etc.), defies expectations in a shocking way. Readers will love him for it. San Francisco Homicide lieutenant Lindsay Boxer, who narrates most of the action, is jogging with assistant DA Jill Barnhardt when Lindsay notices two things: first, bruises on Jill's shoulder; then the explosion of a nearby townhouse, into which Lindsay rushes to save a child. With the juxtaposition of these two plotlines, Patterson jumpstarts this enjoyably convoluted tale. The townhouse, home to a greedy CEO and his family, was destroyed by members of a terrorist group calling itself "August Spies"; Lindsay's chase after the group, which commits further killings, brings her into close proximity to what promises to be a new series regular, Joe Molinari, deputy director of the Office of Homeland Security. Love blooms for Lindsay but, meanwhile, love has curdled at Jill's house, where Jill's husband is abusing her. Then comes the big surprise, and the story's remainder plays out at high emotion and warp speed. There's a calculated feel to all that happens, but clever manipulation of an audience serves Patterson as well as it served Hitchcock: his fans will only clamor for more.
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Review

'[James Patterson] defies expectations in a shocking way. Readers will love him for it...clever manipulation of an audience serves Patterson as well as it served Hitchcock: his fans will only clamor for more' Publishers Weekly, 23/2/04 -- Publishers Weekly 20040223 'A solid thriller' Australian Daily Telegraph, 1 Mar 04 -- Australian Daily Telegraph 20040301 'James Patterson has evolved and refined a medium of his own: the crime thriller that moves faster than a book, but not quite as fast as an hour of television!does it keep you reading? I found I couldn't stop, in an obsessive-compulsive way' Sydney Morning Herald, 1/5/04 -- Sydney Morning Herald 20040501 'Another page-turner from the masters of the very short chapter with a surprise twist. In a word: thrilling' Herald Sun, Melbourne, Australia 3/4/04 -- Herald Sun, Melbourne, Australia 20040403 'This book won't disappoint. It's no surprise that it's still at the top of the bestsellers list' Burnie Advocate, 12/4/04 -- Burnie Advocate 20040412 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; First Thus edition (January 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446614831
• ISBN-13: 978-0446614832
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (193 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #10,288 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 3 in The Women's Murder Club Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Third in Women's Murder Club series is a shocker!, April 5, 2004

By	Gerald M. Bull "Jerry Bull" (Fairview, TN United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: 3rd Degree (Hardcover)

Back from "1st To Die" and "2nd Chance", the Women's Murder Club finds terror in unexpected places in this third outing. Starring San Francisco PD Homicide Lt. Lindsay Boxer, friends newspaper reporter Cindy, Medical Examiner Claire, and Asst. District Attorney Jill have somewhat larger roles than the light supporting cast they portrayed in the two earlier books. We're also glad to see the adolescent dialogue from the last pairing of Gross and Patterson was replaced by much more meaningful interactions between the foursome. (We might quibble that it's an unlikely group from the viewpoint of a three-way conflict of interest: cop, DA, and reporter). Keeping in touch with modern times, involvement by Homeland Security personnel and a plot that featured seemingly random acts of terror gave the novel an up-to-date tone. And two subplots, involving spousal abuse of Jill, and a love interest between Boxer and Molinari, the Homeland guy, added to the torrid pace of the main and complex mystery for which Patterson is well known.

When a home is bombed and then a death by deadly chemical is followed by another bombing at a mall, it's clear that some group is out for revenge. We get to meet a few of the bad guy players from some first person dialogue of their own, but their identities are not all revealed until the somewhat surprising ending. The usual short chapters (111 in like 340 pages), plus a lot of blank pages from five Parts, make the book little more than a two hour blitz. But the shock comes from a direct attack on one of the club members, nothing new to the other novels in the set.

This series may not be quite as hard core as Patterson's more movie-oriented thrillers, but the generally likable heroine and her friends, along with a suspenseful storyline, is quite good enough for an enjoyable read. You might want to save it for the beach!

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars SEARING THRILLER!, April 18, 2004

By	Shashank Tripathi (Gadabout) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: 3rd Degree (Hardcover)

Apart from the break-neck pace, I love the way Patterson squeezes in contemporary facts and events in his thrillers.

This latest in the Women's Murder Club series is every bit as nailbiting as the first two, but with a slight twist: this time, the solution to a grisly string of bombings cannot come without the expense of having to lose someone very close to our amateur detectives.

Riveting plot twists. Bullet paced turn of events. This novel packs in just about everything you would expect from a wholesome crime thriller. If you've read the first 2 in the series, you'd probably be even better off as you could relate more easily to the fears and idiosyncrasies of our intriguing protagonists.

So feed the cat, turn on the air conditioning and slip into bed with this very, very satisfying nailbiter.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Better than 3, but not a 4, October 27, 2004

By	S. Schwartz "romonko" (alberta canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: 3rd Degree (Hardcover)

This third book in the Women's Murder Club series, is, I think, not as good as the first two. I found it hard to get personally involved in Lindsey's fight to find terrorists. Not only that, it was almost unbelievable in parts (and so senselessly graphic). How can one woman in the Police force almost singlehandedly solve a huge case like this? I kept wondering where the rest of the police force was. That's what I mean by stretching it. It also wasn't easy to know before reading the book that one of the women in the club was going to be killed. During the first part of the book, I kept wondering who it would be and didn't concentrate on the plot the way I should. Personally I think reviewers and book jacket writers expose too much of the actual story, and it's almost a good idea not to read these before reading the book (especially with a thriller like this one). I don't know - after how much I loved the first two in the series, I found this one sadly disappointing. I doubt whether I'll bother with others in this series.