11th Hour by James Patterson

Pros: one of the stories was good
Cons: the other, not so much
11^th Hour is a decent addition to the numerical series by James Patterson and, in this case, Maxine Paetro. Decent, but not great.

As usual, we have The Women’s Murder Club, four women who work together to solve crimes in the San Francisco area. Leading the group is Lindsay, the detective. In this book, she’s married to Joe, and expecting their first child. Then there’s Cindy the reporter, Claire the medical examiner, and Yuki, the district attorney. As in many of the books, Lindsay gets most of the action. Cindy, this time, gets some decent play, and even gets to solve a key piece of the puzzle. But the others are basically on the back-burner.
In 11^th Hour, there are two different investigations. The more interesting one focuses on “Revenge”. That’s the name the media has given to a serial killer who targets drug dealers. Despite the fact that some people would rather look the other way and let him continue cleaning the streets, Lindsay’s on the trail, and it leads directly back to her police station. Is a cop going rogue to take out the worst scum of the earth?
The second case involves some heads that are uncovered in the gardens of a famous actor. Just the heads. No bodies. With very little to go on, Lindsay must find a way to identify the bodies, in order to figure out how they got there.

I was intrigued by the “Revenge” case. The killer, in this case, is clever, determined, and clearly motivated by something very personal. At first we have no idea who he is. But, later, we get some chapters written from his point of view, and those were very interesting, and certainly held my interest.
The “heads” case just didn’t do it for me. Sure, I wanted to know who the victims were, and find out the real story. But when we finally get a witness who knows something, the story devolves into nonsense. Why? Because we get the most unlikeable witness I’ve ever read. Frankly, if ever anyone deserved to be tossed in jail for obstruction, this is it.
As far as the ladies’ personal lives go, the biggest focus in this book is on Lindsay and Joe’s marriage. It hits a bit of a hiccup, which was definitely interesting.

In general, I enjoy this series. It’s fun to read about the four women’s lives, and follow them as they work these cases. I just wish the focus could be spread a bit more evenly. And that the cases were always fascinating and thrilling. 11^th Hour fails a bit, in both regards.
1st To Die
2nd Chance
3rd Degree
4th Of July
The 5th Horseman
The 6th Target
7th Heaven
The 8th Confession
The 9th Judgment
10th Anniversary
12th of Never
Unlucky 13
14th Deadly Sin