The seventeen books in this series take the reader through the personal lives of these women, even as it has us anxiously trying to solve the mysteries along with them. The authors always give us a minimum of two major events occurring and intertwines each woman's professional duties with the outcomes. In this latest novel, The 17th Suspect, prosecuting attorney Yuki is dealing with workplace rape. In this case, however, it is a man coming to her with a taped recording that shows him being raped at gunpoint by his female boss/lover.
Detective Sergeant Lindsay Boxer, meanwhile, is approached by Millie, a homeless woman who fears for her life. Homeless people are being gunned down on the streets of San Francisco, and the police don’t seem to be interested in finding the culprit. Lindsay and her partner go against police politics as they try to save Millie and find themselves being turned away from the case.
The authors do a wonderful job of interspersing the stories and bringing the main characters together. This book focused on Lindsay and Yuki however, and I would have liked to see a bit more involvement with Cindy and Claire. All of the women have interesting men in their lives who help to round out these quick reading novels.
Patterson/Paetro’s mixture of first and third person writing is a difficult style to get right, and they seem to have perfected it. Lindsay’s chapters are always in first person, while the rest of the book is written in third person. This seems to make Lindsay stand out, but she never overshadows the other three.
These books are never really original, yet they always capture the reader's attention and keep us wondering throughout. The 17th Suspect is a definite must for all James Patterson fans.
- Beverly
Publisher - Little, Brown & Company
Date of Publication - April 30, 2018