Three separate cases crop up in San Francisco to keep the Women's Murder Club quite busy. The first starts off on a beautiful day. A number of commuters and tourists are enjoying a nice ferry ride on the Bay. Shortly before reaching the dock, one of the riders notices a young mother who is scolding her son. Some would say she is being a bit harsh. However you would describe it, Alfred Brinkley has no patience for it. He pulls out a gun and shoots the mother, then the son, and then a number of other people. Claire and her son are on the ferry, and she does what she can to calm him down, but he ends up shooting her as well.As you can imagine, the fact that one of her best friends is a victim in the incident, Linsdsay feels the need to get to the core of the case quickly. Little does she know it, but the murderer himself will come forward after appeals from the public for information. He quickly confesses, but the question really comes down to whether he will get off due to being insane. It will be up to Yuki, from the DA's office to try and bring the killer to justice.Cindy is finding that home is not the sanctuary everyone wants it to be. Someone living in her building seems to having a problem with how loud other people in the building are. At first it starts with minor acts of violence, but as time progresses the assailant moves on to attack pets and people.Lindsay is back on the street, and she and her new partner are assigned to a kidnapping case. A young girl named Madison and her nanny are pulled into a black van. The only witness believes she heard the sound of a gun shot as it was pulling away, with evidence of blood in one of the van's windows. At first, there is almost nothing for Lindsay to draw on, but it soon becomes clear that Madison is not the first victim of the kidnappers. She is just the next child in a series of kidnappings that include death and threats. Can Lindsay and her team find Maddy before she turns up dead.As if that wasn't enough, Lindsay is also trying to sort out what she wants to do with her long distance relationship with Joe, who works for Homeland Security, which places him in Washington, DC. There is no question that she loves him, but she is finding it difficult that they have so little time together, and that time is not always when she most needs him. She is going to have to decide whether she wants to end things with him.This is a great addition to the series. All four members of the Women's Murder Club have a role in the various cases, and the cases themselves are edgy, leaving the reader on wondering how things are going to turn out. Not everything place out as you would want it, but as usual the girls rise to the occasion and justice is ultimately served.
I'm afraid. I'm very, very afraid—"bestseller" and "well-written" are definitely not synonymous. I made it to Chapter 17, and I am sorely disappointed. I've set the book down, so no spoilers here. I watched "Women's Murder Club" on television and really enjoyed Lindsay Boxer and her adventures. I was expecting something similar in this novel, but I found that the writing was so jagged that it distracted from the storyline. It's fast-paced, but it isn't smooth. Sentences are truncated (a particular style designed to add urgency and "realism" to the narrator's voice), but the passive voice is also employed. Timelines are reversed (page 50—"It was sad to see the disappointment on the faces of McNeil and Chi, but I had to break it to them. 'Thanks, Paul. We know his name. Did you find out where he used to work?'"). "Suddenly" this happens and words are repeated in close proximity (a pet peeve of mine). Incredibly, there are poignant moments where there's absolutely no feeling inserted, just the author's assumption that if these people died then the character must be feeling something that the reader will understand (page 40) (this was particularly odd to me as a reader as the story is told from a woman's point of view, even if she is tough as nails). I don't actually expect a lot in a book I'm reading for pleasure (as long as I'm not yanked out of the story I will happily follow where it leads), but this was horrid.What did I like about this book? The tiny chapters. It's a nice way to break up the book and a great device to switch fluidly between scenes.If anyone can recommend a really great James Patterson book, I'd like to give it a try. Enough people read his stuff that there has to be one title I can finish!
What do You think about The 6th Target (2007)?
I really enjoyed it very much. So far I have read four of the books in the Women's Murder Club series by James Patterson, and they are all very good. As usual, there are several murder plots within the same book. There are four women in the Women's Murder Club: Lindsay, Yuki, Claire and Cindy, and they are all great friends and they help each other deal with the complications in their lives. I especially enjoyed the romantic complications in Lindsay's life! (She is the main character in the book as well as in all of the books in this series.) James Patterson has his own style. He writes very short chapters, usually between 2-4 pages, so it is easy to find a stopping point whenever necessary. I do intend to read all of the other books in the Women's Murder Club series.
—Patricia
James Patterson takes aim in The 6th Target and shockingly, misses the mark in this chapter of the Women’s Murder Club. Lindsay, Claire, Cindy, and Yuki are back again for more shrills and thrills in sunny San Francisco, but the women seem disconnected, and readers will find their friendship difficult to believe. So what went wrong with James Patterson, commonly known as “the man who can’t miss”- New York Times, this time around? Or was it his co-writer, Maxine Paetro, who dropped the ball? With his usual gusto, Patterson launches into the novel with Alfred Brinkley on the ferry with several hundred people. “Fred feels the wire snap. Someone has to pay” (3). Suffering from the fear of the voices that reside in his head and lingering emotions from his sister’s death, Brinkley was set off by a woman screaming at her young son. Using his training from the military, he rattles off six bullets, five of them hitting their desired targets. With four dead, Claire injured, and one bullet unaccounted for, Lindsay Boxer springs into action. However, only a day or two later, Brinkley turns himself in, therefore closing the case. Soon after, two new cases were opened; the first a kidnapping-murder case and the second a violent string of murders and attacks in an apartment buildings. Although the complicated plot and surprising twists are not uncommon in Patterson’s writings, The 6th Target’s plots failed to intertwine, as Patterson often does in his work. While readers will definitely blow through this fast-paced suspense novel, avid readers of Patterson’s will without a doubt notice the difference in his writing.
—Ssteele
I have to keep reading these because I started them...but wow are they getting bad. The latest left it wide open for the 7th book. Also, my bf - a psychatrist took one look at the "Insane" killer and noted it wasn't even described correctly. also, I was left to wonder, if this person was doped up as strongly as he was...how was he still so clever?I am tried of Lindsey's whinning. I don't buy the friendships between the women, totally falls flat. More then anything, I don't see the appeal of Lindsey's hardly-seen boyfriend Joe...why is she pinning for him again? Beats me. Apparently beats her too since she keeps breaking up with him. Am I supposed to be rooting for them? Whoops, my bad. And again this book had 3 different plots...confusing and frustrating.I will read 7 just to be done! But I don't expect to like it...
—Angeld01
