14th Deadly Sin in Thoughts On...

14th Deadly Sin
James Patterson & Maxine Paetro
Women’s Murder Club series

Thoughts so far…

I am a tad over half-way through the 14th book in the WMC series and as has been the case with the last ten books, I am having a hard time with a few items.

Nine months has passed between 12th of Never & 14th Deadly Sin. 9 months. We know this because baby Julie is nine months old. In that time a lot has happened:
Baby Julie had a medical crisis but is all fine and happy now
Yuki got married, honeymooned on the cruise of horror
A serial killer escaped, terrorized the police, died & his wife/lover/baby mamma went on the run & was tracked down & killed by Lindsay
Cindy got engaged, unengaged, hooked back up with Richie, was shot
And half way through 14th Deadly Sin…
Yuki quit her job, took a new job, filed a lawsuit against the SFPD & is already in court.
A rouge group of criminals who may or may not be cops have killed a lot of people
Joe got fired from his consulting job and is now working on the sly on the CBM (Claire’s Birthday Murders), a series of unsolved murders that just happened to fall on Claire’s birthday.
Cindy wrote a book about the serial killer case and is now on a book tour.

It should be no surprise that I have issues with this book. I have had issues with several of the WMC books since Maxine Paetro began writing them. The most glaring issue I have with this book at this point is…

Yuki quit her job at the DA’s office, packed up her stuff in half a day and then immediately started a new job. In her first case with the Defense League (which sounds like a Marvel/DC mash up), she has filed suit against the SFPD, deposed two cops, and prepared a case, & got a court date and is now in court. In what I can only assume is less than two weeks. Apparently in San Francisco, you don’t give two weeks notice when you quit a job and the minute you decide to file a suit, the defense is automatically ready for trial, there are zero pre-trial motions, and a court date is set as though you are going into a walk-in barber shop.

I am almost already over the fact that Yuki’s new boss is named Zac Jordan.

I can’t understand why Claire was not called to the newest member of the Claire’s Birthday Murder Victim’s scene. Or at the very least perform or review the autopsy and make a connection. She was, after all, the one to ignite Lindsay’s interest into the string of CBMs in the first place. Plus, she was pretty bitchy when she knows exactly how the world of crime works.

Then dear old Cindy. Cindy wrote a book. A full length book about Fish & Macke Morales and their life of love & murder. And is now on a book tour because that somehow adds to the story, in what way nobody knows.

The Second Half

I have to say that in the second half, I felt more invested. I wanted to put everything on hold and finish the book to see if I had cracked the case. I felt like I had weeded through the red herrings and I hoped for BIG reveals. BIG things that would turn this series upside down & inside out.

Then it ended. Without a real conclusion. That was the BIG reveal. A BIG fat nothing.

I slogged through Yuki’s extremely rushed case that of course had a tie in to the major arc. I slogged through Cindy’s 15 minutes of glory (which thankfully only lasted fifteen pages*), I slogged through the CBMs and its somewhat ridiculous conclusion. I waited and waited for Joe to do something with that case from the first two chapters. I read every line of baby babble and junior high drama without it lending to the story at all, and I got motion sickness from “driving” through the twists and turns of the San Francisco streets and I still do not fully know what the 14th Deadly Sin is.

This is how they should get criminals to talk! Make them read this and tell them if they want to know the end, they have to give up the goods!

*not an actual count