“14th Deadly Sin” by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro – Wave of Hatred
Short Summary
James Patterson and Maxine Paetro are parents to one of the more recognizable and celebrated detective series with the Women's Murder Club, being over twenty books in and showing no intention of stopping. In the fourteenth installment, titled 14th Deadly Sin, they send Lindsay Boxer and the rest of the club chasing after a pair of maniacs holding San Francisco hostage through their sheer brutality. What's worse, none are above suspicion, not even the police themselves.
James Patterson and Maxine Paetro Besiege San Francisco
Millions of people live in them, thousands of policemen patrol them, and yet big cities are some of the most vulnerable places on Earth, especially when it comes to one specific societal cataclysm: widespread panic and terror. In 14th Deadly Sin, by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro, we witness San Francisco held in the firm grasp of such a terror, one the Women's Murder Club is dead-set on breaking loose.
As you might have gathered by the title, this is indeed the fourteenth entry in the Women's Murder Club series. While thankfully enough each book does work as a standalone, I would encourage you to have a look through the previous novels, especially if you're a fan of detective stories. With this being said, let's move on with the show.
This time around things are progressing fairly well in Lindsay Boxer's life, a Detective for the San Francisco Police Department. She has a handsome and devoted husband, a beautiful baby girl, and overall a relatively stress-free existence (within reasonable limits, of course). She was supposed to gather with the other members of the club to celebrate Claire's birthday (the San Francisco Medical Examiner), but a call pulls her away to a gruesome crime scene.
A murder has occurred in broad daylight, and the victim is a woman who seemingly nobody could want to actually kill. As a matter of fact, she seems to be the fifth victim of a serial killer obsessed with a specific date. Not long after beginning her investigation, a seemingly unrelated video surfaces which shows two masked assailants committing acts of unspeakable anger and cruelty. Needless to say, it takes all of a millisecond for the video to spread around the news, and for every San Franciscan to be aware of it.
Now gripped in a state of total panic, the city turns into something of a besieged fortress, at the mercy of two madmen who could literally be almost anyone. As a wave of violence keeps on sweeping through the city, Lindsay begins to have an inclination the perpetrators might somehow be related to the police force; a dangerous path for her to walk, but one she can't help herself but follow, especially since it's in the name of justice.
Lindsay's Show in 14th Deadly Sin
In the books before this one, the narrative was always split between Lindsay Boxer's investigation and the cases the other members of the Women's Murder Club might have been working on, with various overlapping connections thrown in. This time around, it felt much more like a novel centred on Lindsay Boxer than any of the other members.
While we do see Yuki working her first case from her new position at a non-profit Defense League Foundation, it doesn't take up much precious space on the novel's pages. We get to see Claire in passing more than anything, and Cindy, the up-and-coming crime reporter, was virtually nowhere to be found, only briefly mentioned here and there.
I can certainly imagine how this approach would disappoint certain people who look forward to seeing all of the ladies in action, but I thought the execution justified the premise. Lindsay Boxer was always a bit more of a main character than her friends, and being focused solely on her allowed James Patterson and Maxine Paetro to develop her plot and personal life in greater detail than before. Additionally, it led to a more straightforward narrative, a welcome change of pace fourteen books in.
Another benefit of clearing the stage in 14th Deadly Sin is the fact it made space for some other characters the chance to shine bright, namely Lindsay's husband Joe, who decides to go after the serial killer all on his own, relying on his experience as an FBI agent. This added a welcome element of danger to Lindsay's home life, and turned her husband into more than just a fixture.
Naturally, it also means we get to spend more time immersed in both of Lindsay's investigations (the serial killer and the perpetrators of the crime wave), which, personally-speaking, I enjoyed a fair bit, even if they didn't reinvent the wheel in any way. This is, after all, called the Women's Murder Club, and it makes sense for us to spend more time on the murders, rather than the various other problems afflicting the members of the group.
The Paralysis of Fear
Whether you've been reading the series from the very first novel or have just decided to drop in now, I think we're all (or at least, the vast majority of us) pulled to these books in search of the same thing: a solid and engaging murder mystery. If it could also have a genuinely unexpected yet logical resolution, that would just be the cherry on top.
As I've mentioned it just now in the previous paragraph, the mysteries in 14th Deadly Sin aren't exactly mind-shattering expeditions into the uncharted depths of the murder mystery genre. It's quite likely, if you're a fan of such stories, that you've already read something similar, or at least comparable, but I don't think it'll stop you from enjoying what this story has to offer.
For one, both of the plot lines have their fair share of twists, turns, and dastardly misdirections to make them exciting adventures, if only a little too short for my taste. Even as a veteran of the genre, I found myself surprised on more than a few occasions, and was glad to see the authors avoided taking the most obvious and beaten paths when it was possible.
Second, I found that James Patterson and Maxine Paetro did an excellent job at portraying San Francisco as a city caught in the choking grasp of terror, spread by only a couple of individuals. They show how such a terror can spread through the population, affecting each and every person by preying on their fear of sudden and preventable death, turning them paranoid against each other.
While hopefully neither you nor I will ever be forced to experience such a thing, it seemed to me Patterson and Paetro's depiction of the situation was quite realistic, based on both research and a good understanding of human psychology. In turn, this creates a tense and dangerous atmosphere constantly looming over Lindsay, her friends and loved ones, making this particular outing of hers feel more exciting than before, certainly with a welcome sense of urgency to it.
The Final Verdict
14th Deadly Sin by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro goes in a bit of a different direction from the previous entry in the Women's Murder Club, but in my opinion the authors succeeded in their experiment and made for yet another highly-engaging and memorable murder mystery.
If you've liked what the series has had to offer you so far, or are searching for a respectable and captivating mystery to spend a few afternoons with, then I believe this would be a good novel for you to add to your collection.
 | 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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