Monday, June 23, 2008

Jenn's Review: The 5th Horseman

Summary: The members of the Women's Murder Club face an unspeakable menace in the most suspenseful hospital drama since Coma. Lieutenant Lindsay Boxer is shopping with the newest member of the Women's Murder Club, lawyer Yuki Castellano, and Yuki's mother, Keiko, when suddenly Keiko collapses. She's rushed to San Francisco Medical Center where her condition stabilizes. Yet days later, the hospital calls Yuki with devastating news. Keiko was given the wrong medication and it brought on a fatal heart attack. Even more astonishing, this is not the first time SFMC has made this mistake. Just as patients are about to be released with a clean bill of health, their conditions take a mysterious turn for the worse. As the hospital comes under scrutiny, Lindsay and the Women's Murder Club investigate for themselves. Is there a maniac at work, playing God with peoples lives? And has Lindsay somehow made him -- or her -- even worse? ~Amazon.com



Review:
When solving a puzzle the simplest answer is usually the correct one, in this case there are two simple answers... making it... complicated. Too much was left to coincidence for my taste and neither story was fully worked out enough. There were too many holes and too many unfinished details. There was an all too brief appearance of Lindsay's boyfriend that felt like a consolation prize. This book seemed hurried and not up to the standards of the series in my opinion.

This was my least favorite of the Women's Murder Club so far (but oh boy did it make me think twice about taking my child to the hospital - ever!!!). I think the title is a little melodramatic and I'm not sure it really fits the bill. The murders actually disturbed me a little this time, although that may have had something to do with the age of the last victim. It was still a page turner though; I finished it in a day. It was a good Women's Murder Club fix especially since apparently we won't be seeing it's return to television in the fall. Too bad, I thought it was an excellent vehicle for Angie Harmon and I loved the chemistry of the cast.

Final Take: 4.0/5

1 comment:

heather (errantdreams) said...

Too bad; it's an interesting concept that's seen some play before, and it would have been nice to see another good treatment of it since it's one plot that hasn't been entirely done to death yet.