Unlucky 13 (Women's Murder Club, 13)

Unlucky Thirteen is the thirteenth book in the popular Women's Murder Club series by American author, James Patterson. When Claire Washburn summons Lindsay Boxer and Rich Conklin to a traffic accident on The Bridge, it quickly becomes apparent that this is much more. The explosion that caused the accident turns out to be from two belly bombs, ingested by two innocent motorists shortly before. The FBI decides to get involved, much to the SFPD's disgust.

Meanwhile, Chronicle journalist, Cindy Thomas, gets a lead on what she believes will be the story that makes her career: Lindsay lets slip to her that Mackie Morales, the deranged killer posing as a police intern just months earlier (see Twelfth of Never), has been caught on camera recently. Cindy is determined to track her down to get an exclusive interview. And Yuki Castellano drops the bombshell that she and Jackson Brady (Lindsay's boss), are getting married, pronto!

The Women's Murder Club as such doesn't get a lot of action in this book. Claire remains very much in the background after the first crime scene. Yuki is busy being a cruise-ship honeymooner with new hubby, Jackson while Cindy and Lindsay are each concentrating separately on their own cases. As for the action on the cruise ship, that seems to be pretty much the Jackson Brady show with Yuki showing a bit of her mettle at the end.

Cindy shows her smarts in this instalment: she's so clever, in fact, that she figures out stuff the FBI and the SFPD with all their resources haven't been able to. She's like a dog with a bone when it comes to Mackie Morales. Lindsay's case is not conclusively resolved, but she and Rich are convinced they have the guilty in custody. There is plenty of action and excitement: Patterson's trademark short chapters and a few heart-thumping climaxes make this instalment another page-turner.

3.5 stars