1st to Die by James Patterson

-


 

1st to Die is the first installment in the Women's Murder Club series which contains 25 books. (26 if you count book 15.5.) There's a TV series based on this series of books as well. I thought this book was very good. Easy to read, with the perfect balance of humor, romance, suspense and crime. I would be interested in continuing the series once I can thin out my TBR a bit.

1st to Die tells the story of a serial killer who has been killing newlyweds with different methods. The killings are almost always shortly after the wedding, when the bride is oftentimes still in her wedding dress. The killer uses different methods to kill, but there's still enough similarities (all the victims' wedding rings were removed) that the detectives quickly link them together. 4 groups of couples are murdered. Inspector Lindsay Boxer who was called to the scene to the first murders by her partner, Warren Jacobi, has just recently be diagnosed with a rare form of blood disease that can be potentially deadly. It makes her rather depressed. Cindy Thomas, a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicles, shows up quickly at the scene to report the deaths, and becomes friends with Lindsay. The medical examiner Claire Washburn was already good friends with Lindsay, becomes friends with Cindy as well. Assistant DA, Jill Bernhardt is also a hardworking, smart individual who becomes friends with the other ladies. This group of 4 is what becomes known as the Women's Murder Club, working together solving crimes.

Captain Chris Raleigh is sent from the mayor's office of the first killings so he works with them too. At first, Lindsay is worried that Chris wouldn't let her take the lead, but quickly she realizes Chris is super nice and they start falling for each other. When she tells Chris about her potentially fatal illness, Chris doesn't hesitate to stay by her side.

They comb through the evidence and finds a red beard hair in the second female victim. They also learn that both of the first two brides that were killed shopped at the same wedding dress store. During the investigation of the third couple, they hear about this bride's ex is a powerful, abusive individual. After much persuasion, a family member of the bride finally admits that the abusive ex-boyfriend is a famous novel writer, Nicholas Jenks. 

The detectives realize the killings are very similar to a story told in Nicholas's first book. They also learn that he had purchased a whole case of the same champagne as the one the killer brought to the murder scene for the first couple. His beard hair also came back as a match. Almost too perfect...

Nicholas gets arrested due to the evidence but he swears he's innocent and being set up. Claire admits that the killer is left handed but Nicholas is right handed. The women start looking into Joanna Wade, Nicholas's ex-wife. During prisoner transport, an earthquake happens and Nicholas escapes. 

The detectives go to Joanna's house and finds her dead. Chris who follows a person driving away from Joanna's house and got shot. He follows Nicholas to the Palace of Fine Arts. This is where Nicholas and Chessy (Nicholas' current wife) got married. Chessy confesses to the killings and presents Nicholas with all of the wedding rings she took from the couples she killed. She makes Nicholas swallow them for the abuse he's done to her. Then she tries to kill Nicholas, but Lindsay kills her first. Chris succumbs to his injuries, making Lindsay very sad. The police department has a funeral and buries Chris as a hero. Chris's ex-wife invites Lindsay to be on the side for family members, which really touches Lindsay.

Weeks later, Nicholas randomly shows up at Lindsay's apartment. Lindsay doesn't let him in but he tries to tell her she's got it all wrong. She becomes intrigued and lets him in. He tells her that he's going to publish a successful book for getting away with everything, this time the book will be nonfiction. He claims that he was the mastermind behind it all and he made Chessy do his bidding. Then he tries to kill Lindsay but Lindsay kills him first. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Just the Nicest Couple by Mary Kubica

-
Image
  I loved this book. It kept me at the edge of my seat and I didn't see the final twist coming. The story follows two couples. First is Jake and Nina. Jake is a successful neurosurgeon, and their relationship seems perfect from the outside world. But it's really been going downhill and they've been arguing more, mostly stemming from Jake complaining about Nina spending so much time with her mother due to her mother's ailing eyesight. Second couple is Christian and Lily. They are not as wealthy, and struggling to conceive. Christian seems to be the perfect husband but Lily is cheating on him with Jake. Lily and Nina work together as teachers at the same school. After a big fight with his wife, Jake goes missing. At first, Nina is concerned but doesn't think there's any foul play involved. He's been threatening about leaving her so she thinks that's what happened. She starts to worry when she learns that he's been missing work as well, and she alerts t...
Read more

Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman

-
Image
  Incidents Around the House is a horror story about a girl named Bela and her family. The author Josh Malerman has done a phenomenal job of setting up that creepy eerie feeling throughout the book.  Incidents Around the House tells the story of an 8 year old girl named Bela who is haunted by an entity she refers to as "Other Mommy". She lives in a house with her father Russ and mother Ursula. Other Mommy would appear in her room quite often and ask to enter her heart. Bela always tells her no, but Other Mommy is increasingly more demanding. Other Mommy becomes more and more omnipresent as Russ and Ursula's marriage deteriorates. They argue often and get drunk often. Ursula also cheats on Russ and often comes home late (or sometimes doesn't come home at all). Bela tells her parents about Other Mommy, and eventually gets their attention. They bring a woman, Lois Anthony, who says she can sense ghosts.  Lois tells them they need to get rid of Bela's innocence - tha...
Read more

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

-
Image
  Oof. Another one that started out pretty strong and got more and more boring as the book went on. The Last Thing He Told Me is told through the narration of Hannah Hall, a 40 year old woodturner who is looking to solve the mystery of her husband Owen's disappearance. Initially, it is believed that her husband is on the run from some illegal activities involving his company, but as thriller readers, we know that we will likely find out this isn't the case. I was quite intrigued at the beginning, but the book turned out to be more of a mystery than a thriller - I never felt like I was on the edge of my seat, I was merely curious of where the story was going to go. Another pet peeve - the book introduces a lot more characters in the final third of the book to explain the mystery, something I don't like because it comes across as a cheap device to me.  The Last Thing He Told Me tells us how Hannah Hall met Owen Michaels through her high end furniture showroom. Owen was accomp...
Read more