James Patterson and Maxine Paetro's 10th Anniversary (Women's Murder Club)

The Madir always holds a special place for crime and thriller stories, highly influenced, I guess, in part by my lolo's (her dad's) love for the same genre.  Although she has her favorite authors, she still continues to search for writers (old and new) that can spin an interesting yarn.  In fact, one of her recent discoveries is the Women's Murder Club series written by James Patterson (with the help of a slew of other co-authors).


Feeling the need to read a new title, I came across the Madir's copy of James Patterson's (co-written by Maxine Paetro) 10th Anniversary, which she left during her last July visit here in Singapore.

James Patterson and Maxine Paetro's 10th Anniversary

The Women's Murder Club series is about a group of friends (all women, of course), engaged in various occupations (there's a lawyer, a psychologist, a detective, etc.), who solves crimes in San Francisco while trying to live their ordinary lives.   

10th Anniversary is the uhmm... 10th book in the series.  In this title, Detective Lindsay Boxer is investigating the case of a teenage girl and her missing new born.  Problems arise when it seems the alleged victim herself is harboring secrets of her own.

Then there's her friend, Assistant District Attorney Yuki Castello, who find herself prosecuting a murderess.  Her belief is shattered when Lindsay finds new evidence proving the defendant's innocence (read the full summary here on Amazon.com).


James Patterson is the Guinness World Record holder for the most number of bestselling hardcover fiction titles by a single author.  I've always wondered why and how this is possible.  Doing a little research, I found out that he actually churns out, on average, a single title every 2 months, 6 in a year.

How is this possible?  Is he simply a fast writer/worker?  Does he have a whole closet full of ideas and is that adept at words? 

According to an online article by writer Tim Kane, James Patterson has admitted that, for most of his novels, he just makes an outline, gets someone else to write them, and then he "polishes" the final product.  Now, this should have made me do a double take.  But I gave 10th Anniversary the benefit of the doubt and trudged on.

I'm not really saying I regretted that decision, but the novel was a little disappointing.  Plot was a little weak and predictable.  Characters just as well.  There just seemed to be too many coincidences and not enough depth.

I'm not saying that James Patterson is not a good writer, he did after all write Kiss the Girls, but me thinks his desire to accomplish, and publish, as many novels as he can, has eventually lessened the quality of his work.

Hmm... hope he can change this soon enough.