Lindsay, Yuki, Claire and Cindy are back for the seventh adventure of the Women's Murder Club in James Patterson's 7th Heaven. We all know that Patterson gets his name plastered on an insane amout of books, and since he is behind so many of them, some of them are bound to be good. And guess, what, 7th Heaven is a really good book, perhaps the best in the series. The book opens with a couple (we learn they are rich and upper class) being held captive by Pidge and Hawk. The couple are pleading for their lives as Pidge and Hawk promise them they will live, and that this is only a robbery. Pidge and Hawk steal valuables from the couple, then set the house on fire with the couple still tied up inside. That is case #1. The second case is Michael Campion. He's an 18 year-old boy with heart defect that also happens to be the son of the former governor of California, Connor Campion. Lindsay Boxer and her parter Rich Conklin receive a tip that young Michael was last seen entering the house of a prostitute named Junie Young. Junie is hauled down to the police station where she denies knowing Campion before finally admitting that he died of a heart attach while with her and that all she did was dispose of the body. Governor Campion insists that this girl be tried for 2nd degree murder, and Yuki gets assigned the case. The book then proceeds to follow the case as Junie is put on trial and the exploits of the serial arsonists as killers Pidge and Hawk continue to strike. The last two novels in the series have started the disappointing trend of having several cases going on that aren't necessarily related. So it's like 3 mini-novels inside one big one. The Cross books aren't like this, and I feared 7th Heaven would suffer just like 6th Target did. You dillute the strength of the novel by having several murder cases at once. But 7th Heaven has a lot going for it. First, something isn't quite right with the Campion case. There is no evidence except for a recanted confession, yet Yuki insists on prosecuting anyway. As for the arsonists, Pidge and Hawk are truly brutal killers. Lindsay lies awake at night as fears of the case overwhelm her, and she begins to even suspect her own arson investigator, James Hanni. Also, Lindsay's relationship with Joe while also being attracted to her partner, Rich, was someone interesting. And to top it all off, both cases manage to intersect as some point and both cases have high quality endings. Fans and skeptics of Patterson will enjoy this novel. After one of the worst novels of any genre and by any author in YOU'VE BEEN WARNED, Patterson again returns to what has made him so popular. Readers should remember that just because one Patterson novel is really good, there is no guarantee that the next will be worth the pages it is printed on.
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