“The 9th Judgment” by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro – An Internal Strife

 

James Patterson and Maxine Paetro have put the Women's Murder Club through many ordeals, but the one they're facing in The 9th Judgment might just tear them apart. Tracking down two killers – a thief whose plans turned for the worse, and the perpetrator of a heinous shooting – Lindsay Boxer calls upon her club to help her solve cryptic cases lacking in evidence, but it seems someone on the inside is leaking information to the press.

James Patterson and Maxine Paetro Put the Club at Risk

There's a little crime solver living in each and every one of us, for what I believe are two rather simple reasons: we love puzzles, and none are more objectively important than solving the murder of a human being. I think we've all daydreamed about letting loose the citizen detective dormant within, something the Women's Murder Club has managed to make a reality, though in James Patterson and Maxine Paetro's The 9th Judgment, it comes under threat of being shattered for good.

Not being one to back away from any challenges, Detective Lindsay Boxer begins the ninth book in the series by taking on not one but two challenging cases, the kind with little evidence to go on... needless to say, they are both murders.

The first case has its crime scene at a rather intimate dinner party at the home of an A-list celebrity actor, Marcus Dowling. Some cat burglar seems to have crashed the party, and in his wake left nothing but an empty safe and the lifeless body of Marcus' wife. Though it seems like a case which could invite very few complications, Lindsay soon discovers there's much more than meets eye in this affair, and Dowling is most certainly hiding something from her.

The second case leads Lindsay to an abandoned garage where on that same night a brutal slaying took place: a woman and her infant child gunned down by a cold and calculating maniac. The only clue left behind is a cryptic and ominous message: the letters “WCF”, seemingly written in blood. With nothing else to go on, she turns to her trusted friends at the Women's Murder Club for the help they've become accustomed to giving her.

However, even this tightly-knit group of citizen detectives isn't impervious to corruption, and soon it becomes obvious one of them is leaking sensitive information to the media. Though allegations suggest Lindsay Boxer herself is the source of the leak, she obviously knows she isn't and the task of unmasking the traitor among them naturally falls on her shoulders.

Assembling the Broken Pieces in The 9th Judgment

Mystery novels come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, which come to think of it, is probably one of the genre's greatest strengths; there are few limits on what is and isn't permissible. As such, there's a whole spectrum of works ranging from profound and serious studies to more lighthearted and surface-level thrillers. Most books fall somewhere in-between, and I would say The 9th Judgment by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro is closer to the latter classification.

This is the sort of novel one should go into with the expectation of being treated to a story which focuses, more than anything else, on the action and the mystery itself (or as it happens, the three mysteries). Patterson and Paetro's style is a well-known commodity at this point, I should assume, and defines this novel as much as it did the previous works in the Women's Murder Club series.

There isn't much downtime to speak of at all, with virtually every paragraph playing a role in advancing the story in some capacity (not too surprising, considering there are three separate cases to deal with). The action almost feels non-stop during certain segments, to the point where I almost wish there were a few more moments of calm affording the reader some time to think.

Each of the three mysteries is interesting to follow for the separate challenges they all present, and right from the get-go I felt compelled to try and solve the mystery before our main characters. While I wouldn't say there's anything groundbreaking about the threads of the plot, they are nevertheless solid and enjoyable, even to a veteran of the genre like myself.

In my opinion, getting to assemble the pieces of a puzzle alongside the characters in a story is one of the greatest pleasures we can draw from murder mystery thrillers, and though in some parts I did find the answer a little too obvious, I still found myself eager to continue onward to the resolution.

Strangers in the Limelight

Those of you who are familiar with the series have probably become used to Patterson and Paetro taking a few moments to spend some time with the members of the Women's Murder Club. Over the eight previous books we've learned bits and pieces about all of them, but in my mind, they were never really elevated beyond the status of recurring secondary characters, sidekicks to our protagonist.

If you were hoping for a deeper dive into Lindsay's friends, I have both good and bad news. Starting with the latter, it felt like Cindy, Claire and Yuki had more superficial roles than in their previous outings, almost as if the authors decided it was time for them to take a little break in the background.

On the other hand, the whole plot surrounding the traitor at the Women's Murder Club does force Lindsay to reevaluate her friendships which she thought unbreakable beyond the shadow of a doubt. In other words, we do get to look at their lives, but in a different capacity than usual, using Lindsay's relation with them as our magnifying glass.

The people who do take up the spotlight, apart from Lindsay herself of course, are the various characters who will no doubt never return for future outings, including the villains themselves. The cast feels a notch more eccentric this time around, including a war veteran who turned into a serial killer, a school teacher who moonlights as a jewel thief and an aging movie star with a few skeletons in his closet.

Though the combination of these people in a single story does feel unlikely at first, they are depicted and treated with refined care, making them feel a lot more realistic and impactful than they have any right to be, considering the nature of the novel as a whole. I especially enjoyed the interplay they had with our lead character, challenging her in ways we haven't seen yet.

The Final Verdict

The 9th Judgment by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro is a solid addition to the Women's Murder Club series, having Lindsay following three separate investigative threads while also putting her inner circle in danger of shattering due to treachery.

If you're looking for a solid murder mystery thriller you can blaze through in an evening, or are a fan of the series and thinking of diving in further, then I think you'll enjoy what this book has to offer.

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James B. Patterson Personal site James Patterson is an American writer who has dedicated a large part of his literary career to writing murder-related thrillers, inventing in the process two memorable character-based series in Alex Cross and Michael Bennett. His most prominent works include Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider.

Maxine Paetro Maxine Paetro is an American author who began her published career all the way back in 1979 with How to Put Your Book Together and Get a Job in Advertising, which was revised for the fourth time in 2010. She has remained an active author, writing numerous novels since then, including Manshare, Windfall and Woman of God. Additionally, she is known for collaborating with James Patterson on numerous entries in the Women's Murder Club series.