“11th Hour” by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro – Garden of Puzzles
Short Summary
James Patterson and Maxine Paetro have established a partnership rarely seen in the realms of literature, having penned together over twenty books in the long-standing Women's Murder Club series. In the eleventh entry, titled 11th Hour, we see Lindsay Boxer and her crew try to solve the mystery of seven buried skulls in a famous actor's garden, all while trying to apprehend a criminal seemingly hell-bent on targeting high-time drug dealers, a streak broken when his weapon was found at the murder scene of a millionaire.
James Patterson and Maxine Paetro Tell a Tale of Skulls and Drug Dealers
Unsavory elements of society are nothing new, and our ways of dealing with them have historically progressed towards placing the responsibility on the shoulders of the police. While we do wish we were allowed to perform certain vindictive actions on various criminals, we know to show restraint, and let the law take its course. In 11th Hour by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro, our heroes come face-to-face with a most unexpected suspect possibly taking the law into his own hands: the Chief of Police himself.
With this being the eleventh book in the Women's Murder Club series, you're no doubt wondering whether you'll have to go back to the beginning to make any sense of this episode. Let me assure you, each book works as a standalone, and reading the previous novels is in no way required to enjoy this one, though they do deserve some attention if you enjoy whodunit mysteries.
In any case, the story begins with detective Lindsay Boxer being tasked with investigating the murder of Chaz Smith, a millionaire ruthlessly gunned down with a rather curious weapon. The gun in question is not linked to the murders of four of San Francisco's most infamous drug dealers, but was also stolen from the police department's evidence locker, narrowing the circle of suspects a fair bit.
Boxer and her partner inspector Rich Conklin are called into their lieutenant's office for a conference about the situation, and come to the conclusion they're dealing with a series of revenge killings. Lieutenant Jackson Bradley believes he even knows it was the current Chief of Police and Lindsay's former partner, Warren Jacobi. Needless to say, this isn't the type of suspicion Lindsay Boxer can simply let go, even if it plunges her into deadly waters.
At the same time, Boxer and Conklin are also investigating a second case on the side revolving around the famous actor Harry Chandler. Years ago he was acquitted for the murder of his wife, but recently seven skulls have been unearthed in his garden, begging plenty of reasonable questions, such as their origin and the locations of their matching bodies. With so many questions to answer and so many investigative avenues to follow, Lindsay might just find herself worked completely thin... if not for the help of her trusted friends from the Murder Club.
No Time to Chat at the 11th Hour
I'm certain many of you are already familiar with James Patterson and Maxine Paetro's writing style, at least in the context of this series, but I feel like newcomers need a bit of an introduction on what to expect here. In my opinion, 11th Hour as well as the books before are the perfect exemplifications of what a pure murder mystery thriller is in my mind.
The chapters are all quite short and the authors never dawdle about after the beginning few, not even for a moment. Conversations are snappy and straight to the point, with little time spent on the profound development of characters or thorough descriptions of seemingly inconsequential details. The plot always keeps on moving forward and by the time you manage to digest the last plot twist, a new one appears to take its place.
Down to its very core, this book is structured to be exactly what people refer to as page-turners, even if does come in at around four hundred pages in length. It's quite easy to keep on listing from one quick chapter to the next without seeing the time flying by and be done with it before you can even realize it. If there is any fat left to trim, I certainly haven't found it.
Naturally, the first aspect of a story to suffer from such an approach are the characters, and this is the only time I'll say you'd probably benefit from at least reading the previous installment. Over the course of the series we've gotten to know the main characters and seen their personalities develop bit by bit, and frankly-speaking, I thought this time around they were a bit lacklustre in comparison with what they can usually offer.
Nevertheless, we do get to spend pretty much all of our time with Lindsay, and even a few glimpses into the developments happening in her personal life, most notably her pregnancy. Additionally, the suspects and villains were well-enough crafted to give them a bit of depth, humanizing their motivations and making their actions worthy of thinking about, rather than simply classifying them as “evil”.
Travelling Two Roads at Once
As has become more or less customary for this series, there are two investigations happening at the same time, with one being obviously more impactful than the other. I'll start with the skulls in the actor's garden, largely because it felt like the least important of the two cases, being more of a detour through the countryside of classic whodunit stories.
It's the type of case taking us to the deep past to unearth long-buried secrets, and personally I've always enjoyed these sorts of stories when handled with care. In 11th Hour it wasn't handled absolutely perfectly, with some moments requiring me to suspend my disbelief, but on the whole it felt like a rewarding excursion into the fascinating mischief of others.
There are a few occasions where James Patterson and Maxine Paetro attempt to defy the reader's expectation, and they help keep this part of the book feeling fresh and engaging. On the whole, I wouldn't say there's anything groundbreaking to be found here, but rather, a modern variation on a perfected recipe.
The second investigation, the one surrounding the stolen weapon and the five murders certainly felt like the meat of the story, with the authors' attention being mostly focused on finding ways to move it along. I'm not sure how well they had it planned out, but ultimately it made for a fairly exciting ride as I felt compelled to try and sort through the suspects and reach the conclusion on my own before the protagonists got there.
Now, when any book has two distinct plot lines, juggling between them requires a lot of attention and fine-tuning, so that neither of them disrupts the other one's rhythm, and the one intended to be at the forefront stays there. While there were a few moments of confusion at the start of the book where it felt like the story was simply jumping around a little too much, once things settled down I really enjoyed the pace established by Patterson and Paetro, using each story to give welcome breaks from the other one.
The Final Verdict
11th Hour by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro is an excellent continuation of the Women's Murder Club series, taking us on a fast-paced and wild ride through two cases at once, one feeling like a more traditional whodunit, the other a chase after a serial killer who himself is part of the police force.
If you've liked what the previous books had to offer, or are looking for the kind of murder mystery book you can relax with over the course of a weekend, then I'd say you ought to give this one a shot.
 | James B. PattersonPersonal 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 PaetroShe 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. |
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