2nd Chance reconvenes the Women's Murder Club, four friends (a detective, a reporter, an assistant district attorney, and a medical examiner) who used their networking skills, feminine intuition, and professional wiles to solve a baffling series of murders in 1st to Die. This time, the murders of two African Americans, a little girl and an old woman, bear all the signs of a serial killer for Lindsay Boxer, newly promoted to lieutenant of San Francisco's homicide squad. But there's an odd detail she finds even more disturbing: both victims were related to city cops. A symbol glimpsed at both murder scenes leads to a racist hate group, but the taunting killer strikes again and again, leaving deliberate clues and eluding the police ever more cleverly. In the meantime, each of the women has a personal stake at risk--and the killer knows who they are.

2nd Chance speeds along at a Formula One pace through many tight curves, but unlike recent entries in the Alex Cross series, it doesn't sacrifice good characters to a twisted plot. Lindsay's the star, but there's a fine esprit de corps among the four women, who are even better developed here than in the first book. What makes them both convincing and interesting as a criminal-justice juggernaut is their willingness to stick their necks out, even if they suffer for it. If you haven't picked up a James Patterson novel in a while, this is a great time to start anew. --Barrie Trinkle

2nd Chance reconvenes the Women's Murder Club, four friends (adetective, a reporter, an assistant district attorney, and a medical examiner)who used their networking skills, feminine intuition, and professional wiles tosolve a baffling series of murders in 1st to Die. This time, themurders of two African Americans, a little girl and an old woman, bear all thesigns of a serial killer for Lindsay Boxer, newly promoted to lieutenant of SanFrancisco's homicide squad. But there's an odd detail she finds even moredisturbing: both victims were related to city cops. A symbol glimpsed at bothmurder scenes leads to a racist hate group, but the taunting killer strikesagain and again, leaving deliberate clues and eluding the police ever morecleverly. In the meantime, each of the women has a personal stake at risk--andthe killer knows who they are. 2nd Chance speeds along at a Formula One pace through many tight curves,but unlike recent entries in theAlex Cross series, itdoesn't sacrifice good characters to a twisted plot. Lindsay's the star, butthere's a fine esprit de corps among the four women, who are even betterdeveloped here than in the first book. What makes them both convincing andinteresting as a criminal-justice juggernaut is their willingness to stick theirnecks out, even if they suffer for it. If you haven't picked up a JamesPatterson novel in a while, this is a great time to start anew. --BarrieTrinkle

I finished 2nd chance last night. The title.... 2nd chance for the father? poor title. The father didn't have quite enough to do with the story to win the title, yes he saved her but she forgave him just a little too quick and in the end didn't even seem to mind that he was guilty. May not have choked anyone but he was still guilty. Patterson doesnt seem to know what a female would really think about her father after all that time. He might want to stick to men.

I enjoyed the book, give it a 3 - 3 ½ maybe. Its those ladies. Its unrealistic and drives me nuts. This club is cheesy and far fetched and illegal. 3 of the 4 just met! And they relate and talk as if they are life time buds. Yes women connect fast but come on! The way they talk to each other. No way. I still read the series because it's the just of the book that carries me through, but let me tell you one more little annoying thing. In the 1st book, 1st to die, Buttercup didn't get it right the 1st time who the murder was, and had to convince everyone to go back and find the real murder, and now again in book 2 she puts her sites on a guy that turns out to be `the wrong guy'. If I was her chief she would hold no credibility after the 2nd. Hope this doesn't happen in the 3rd. I really hope Patterson would have been better than that to copy like that. Both books having the murder turn out to be guilty but not, having something to do with it but not, then having the real murder but I made a mistake sir.... No. Goes well with one book but don't keep doing it. Now that I think about it, didn't we have the same `guess who the murder is' type stuff in Mary Mary. And didn't Double Cross think the murder was one guy and it turned out to be another. Too much of that. Of course going with all these choose who the murder is we could call the book 2nd choice!

Oh, and does a cop follow such a hard core criminal without a phone, vest or anyone knowing? Who is known to be with the most vicious gang there is, and such a ruthless sharp shooter? And then get caught doing it! Unrealistic.

For some reason I enjoyed the book. I could put it down, I could get sleep, It did annoy me but I still enjoyed it for the most part. Recommend it.... Ah yeah I suppose. We'll see after I read the 3rd one.

Enjoy,
Heidi avid reader everything from Dickens to Deaver
iwannabaduck@yahoo.com

Recommend in this genre: Jeffery Deaver, Iris Johansen, Thomas Laird, Dan Brown, Jonathan Kellerman, Karen Rose, Maggie Shayne,

I enjoy reading James Patterson, so I'm not inclined to pan his work. 2nd Chance is a fast read. It's light. It doesn't require the reader to do much thinking. The only disappointment I had was that Lindsay Boxer, for just one brief but fairly important moment, appears to go brain dead - which is the exact opposite of what you would expect from this character. But this "brain dead" moment sets the stage for a good portion of the book. This "moment" happens about 70% through the story. The killer has been identified and located but there is not enough tangible evidence to arrest him. Rather than establish 24/7 surveillance of the suspect (which would dramatically increase the odds of catching the bad guy in the act and thus produce evidence), Lindsay decides to "rattle the guy" and "turn his life upside down." She thus confronts the killer and in essence notifies him that they are on to him. This is not what a super-smart, going to show up all the men in the world, highly decorated, recently promoted, female detective would do. It's something Jacobi (her ex-partner) would do, but not Lindsay. This brain dead moment tended to spoil the rest of the story for me. You would think that Patterson, after so many years of writing these kind of stories, would not let such an odd, illogical twist occur within his main character.

I was not too sure that I would like any new detective series that was not an Alex Cross novel, but when I was half way through the book on the first day, I decided that I was hooked. This was a great, fast-paced detective novel that is just what I was looking for and keeps me incredibly entertained.

If you've listened to book one, then you're familiar with the rich, versatile voice of that narrator. For some reason, there's a different narrator for this book, and she gives everyone strong Brooklyn-esque accents, and higher-pitched voices. I'm aware of where the book is located, but even if you have a story based in the deep south, I'd hope the narrator would have sense enough not to make everyone so ridiculously twangy that it detracted from the story. Claire is no longer the strong, smart, older lady, but she's this Godawful squeaky mess. The main character's voice is aggravatingly juvenile, and it just gets worse from there. Now, regarding the story itself, I liked this novel, and felt that it flowed easily from book one to this book. It's a great book - but this narrator is wretched.

I love a good mystery, but this isn't it. I didn't like the first book in this series, 1st to Die, but thought I'd give 2nd Chance a chance and Patterson still can't get it right. I love the premise of the "women's murder club" and I actually think it could be a good television series for all of us who love mysteries and strong female characters (how can you miss with Angie Harmon as Lt. Boxer) - however, I'd give the books a pass. Patterson tries to characterize his women as strong, caring and intelligent, but they come across as emotional, cheesy and blind.

In this book, the new chief of police tries to shut down Lt. Boxer's further investigations into the killings when she becomes convinced that they've got the wrong guy - I'm sorry, but if a Chief would blindly tell his homocide lieutenant to shut down an investigation when there are still significant questions, I just don't believe it - any politically astute or just CYA guy would want to make sure the case is really closed because the fallout of being wrong would be disasatrous. Maybe I'm being a female chauvinist but Patterson can't get his female characters remotely right. Boxer gets shot twice in the space of a few days and just keeps on hitting - Patterson isn't the only author who tries to give his hero or heroine superpowers, but this just isn't believable. We get detailed descriptions of food and clothing but no one ever bothers to explain how a prosecutor or police detective can afford an Armani suit with matching Ferragamo pumps OR why you'd be wearing them when you go out to apprehend a criminal. Also, what police lieutenant is stupid enough to chase down a criminal and approach a whole "nest" of them without back-up and without a cellphone or radio - a dead one. Too many loose ends in this novel, too many stretches of the imagination and too much bull.