Bibliofemme Reviews
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3rd Degree by James Patterson 
(Published by Simon & Schuster)
3rd Degree is the third of the Women's Murder Club novels which feature four professional women - detective lieutenant Lindsay, state pathologist Clare, crime reporter Cindy and Jill, the district attorney. Four intelligent women who pool their resources to fight crime.
In 3rd Degree, a small faction fighting against globalisation have mobilised and are terrorising the people of San Francisco. Calling themselves the August Spies they have taken it upon themselves to eliminate those they deem guilty of causing poverty.
Due to the nature of these crimes the Federal government also becomes quickly involved, with that involvement in part manifested by the presence of Joe Molinari, Deputy Director of the Department of Homeland Security. Lindsay and Molinari hit it off and before long the interest part of the story becomes evident.
Patterson is generally a good writer. Some of his earlier works, particularly the Alex Cross series, were thrilling and quite gripping. However, 3rd Degree is a far cry from a good book. Though set in San Francisco the reader is given very little sense of what the city is like. The main characters are superficial and again one has to wonder why a male writer would undertake to write about four female characters. It is blatantly obvious that Cross has little comprehension of the workings of a female mind.
My advice? Don't read it. If you really want to try a Patterson novel go for an earlier book. 
March 2005
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