The 5th Horseman

Patients are dying at an alarming rate at San Francisco's Municipal Hospital! A nightmare everyone worries about when checking in for surgery—there are always risks—but even people with minor procedures are expiring under suspicious circumstances. Unfortunately, while Lieutenant Lindsay Boxer and Yuki Castellano—Lindsay's lawyer-turned-best friend—are having lunch, Yuki's mother, Keiko, collapses and gets rushed to that same hospital.

While Keiko undergoes tests, Lindsay investigates several bizarre murders of young girls left posed in luxury cars. Bodies pile up in the hospital and out while the girls in the murder club help Yuki cope and support each other. This one is entertaining with lots of action but lacks any significant show more surprises. show less

There were two main threads to this story. In one, women are being found, murdered, in expensive cars, with nothing to go on for evidence. Whoever has been killing these women has been extremely careful. In the other one, a hospital is being sued for malpractice because a number of people have died due to errors. But there's more to this story than meets the eye. Unfortunately, the newest member of the Women's Murder Club, attorney Yuki, has just admitted her mother into that hospital.

I really liked this one. I was interested in both storylines. I hadn't really thought about it while I was reading, but I think I liked the WMC a little better with a former member, rather than the new member Yuki, as I'm thinking I liked the dynamic a show more bit better, but it's been a while since I read the others, so it might just be my memory. Either way, both storylines kept me wanting to read more. show less

The 5th Horseman
Women’s Murder Club, Book 5

I Picked Up This Book Because: Continue the series.

Media Type: Audiobook
Source: CCP Library
Dates Read: 1/2/21 - 1/4/21
Stars: 4

The Characters:

Lindsay Boxer: Police detective
Clair Washburn: Medical Examiner
Yuki Castellano: Attorney
Cindy Thomas: Crime desk reporter


The Story:

Sooo many tragedies in this book. Scams, killers, fights, twists. It was almost too much. I really thought the hospital killings would link back into the court case. However I was quite shocked at the outcome of that. I didn’t see it coming at all. It was a crazy story and I was hooked to every bit of it. I’m glad Yuki came through in the end. I was very worried about her.

The Random Thoughts:

Challenges:

Goodreads Book show more Bingo - I2 - A book with a number in the title show less

Review: The 5th Horseman by James Patterson.

This is one of James Patterson’s mystery novels to absorb from cover to cover. I like the way he entwines two stories within many of his books. It gives the reader two alternate mystery crimes to solve. The first crime starts out with the alias name of the, “car girl murders“. We have a classic Caddy, a sporty Jag, and a hotshot Ferrari, one overdressed dead girl in each car with their genitalia areas sprayed lavishly with the number one exclusive perfume, “Black Pearl”.

Then we move on to the mystery of the angel of mercy or should I say the angel of greediness. Judgment Day has come for many innocent healthy patients, young and old, at San Francisco Hospital. It’s about patients show more who are admitted at the emergency for an overnight visual visit for caution or a couple of days for something minor as an inflamed broken arm on a five year old. However something seems to be going on. They aren’t being checked out after their stay. They die and someone is sending them to the morgue….

One of James Patterson’s mysterious adventures I enjoyed which kept me reading to the last page with interest. show less

While this book wasn’t as good as the others in my opinion, it was still very good. The plot had the ability to be extremely intense and emotional pull on some people, but it just didn’t quite get there. I worked in a nursing home, so I took something away from the book that others may not. The story was about a set of murders that were happening in a hospital in San Francisco. All of the patients went in with something that probably shouldn’t kill them, so why did they end up dying? It had everything to be a great mystery and I guess it was a great novel, it just didn’t pull me in the way that all of the others in this series did.
I feel like the more the series goes on, the less they are a “Women’s Murder Club” and the show more more they are just a group of friends that talk about whatever is going on. I suppose that’s what they’ve been doing from the start, but the other three don’t really help Lindsay solve the crimes like they did in the first book. Other than that, this was a great novel and I can’t wait to start the 6th one. I hope it’s a little better than this book. show less

I really am not a fan of these books. I thought I would enjoy them because I love cop stories and mysteries, and well, James Patterson is a top selling author and this is a best selling series. I, however, do not like his writing at all, there's way more going on than is necessary. Why are there two cases going at once? Pick a story and go with it, stop adding in other things where they don't need to be. And this whole Boxer and Molinari thing...wth. They aren't in love, they're friends with benefits at best. Stop making them sound like they know anything about each other and can't live without the other one, it's just ridiculous.

All in all, just don't with these books. If you've read his books before and actually enjoy them, then sure, show more go ahead and read the entire 22 book series. I still own #6 and #9 and I'm going to read them because they're on my shelf then I am done. I can't handle the ridiculousness of these books. Instead, read Riley Sager, Tana French, Christina Dodd, Ruth Ware, or Karin Slaughter. show less

This book was merely "meh" for me. I didn't understand why there was a second, 100% unrelated storyline that is wrapped up halfway through the book. I kept waiting for something to connect the two. It's like Patterson had these two storylines he wanted to do, but couldn't get enough out of either one for a standalone book. And haven't there been enough "Angel of Death" stories? There was nothing special about this one, and there was never an explanation of why. And Yuki's announcement at the end seemed a little sudden.

Phew, maybe I disliked it a little more than I thought!