| | |  | Amazon Kindle | Home » » » The 5th Horseman (Women's Murder Club) | | | | | | | Description: | | It is a wild race against time as Lieutenant Lindsay Boxer and the newest member of the Women's Murder Club, attorney Yuki Castellano, lead an investigation into a string of mysterious patient deaths--and reveal a hospital administration determined to shield its reputation at all costs. And while the hospital wages an explosive court battle that grips the entire nation, the Women's Murder Club hunts for a merciless killer among its esteemed medical staff. The newest addition to the top selling new mystery series takes the Women's Murder Club to the most terrifying heights of suspense they have yet to encounter. THE 5TH HORSEMAN proves once again that James Patterson is "the page-turningest author in the game right now " (San Francisco Chronicle). | | | Product Details: | | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 230 reviews |
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Average Customer Review:
 ( 230 customer reviews )
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81 of 89 found the following review helpful:
 A Great Thrill Ride, But Where's the Meat?Feb 18, 2006
By S. Rhodes
The 5th Horseman, which is the fifth book in Patterson's best-selling Women's Murder Club books. It's hair-raising. It's fast paced, it's James Pattersons's continuing to string out best-sellers faster than we write checks. Lately his books have been hit or miss. This one is no different, but I'm sorry to say the things that still bug me about Patterson continue to bug me here and they probably always will so long as he keeps pumping out four or five books a year.
At the San Francisio Muncipal Hospital, people have been receiving the wrong medication which induces a heart attack. The latest victim to this string of "accidents" is Yuki Castellano's mother Keiko, who suddenly collapses. After she's taken to the medical hospital, she's given the wrong medication and suddenly dies. Just like several others. Lindsay Boxer decides it's time to investigate. It's been happening too much to be just an accident.
It isn't such a bad book. For the most part, it'll keep you on the edge of your seat. If you like fast-paced movie-like books, The 5th Horseman is perfect. It instantly grabs your attention and takes you away.
Again, however, this book is plagued by what just about every James Patterson book is plagued with these days. Where's the meat? The substance? There's a lot of plot, but what about characters and steady pace? The book, like many of his previous books, moves much faster than it has to. And because it moves so fast, there's little time to feel for these characters.
Look at it like this, Yuki Castellano was introduced in 4th of July, the previous book (which was much better than this one). We learned very little about her. Here, her mother is introduced right after the prologue. When the mother dies, Patterson tries to make us feel sorry for Yuki Castellano. And I probably would've if I actually KNEW Yuki. The reader doesn't feel for these characters anymore. Lindsay Boxer is perhaps the only character who gets developed. But the other characters of the Women's Murder Club (who ARE major characters) receive very little. Being stuck with these characters for 400 pages calls for some kind of development for these otherwise, underdeveloped characters.
The overall plot is pretty good, at least. Like I said, you'll be on the edge of your seat, but again, it feels very movie like. Everything happens so fast that there are times when the reader is left behind.
If I were to write a letter to James Patterson, I'd tell him to slow down. Ever since he began pumping out four or five books a year he's had to call on numerous co-authors, and his books have gotten shorter, despite them being 400 pages long (as many reviewers have pointed out, the formatting makes it that way). And along with being shorter, they're moving faster. Not only do things happen unrealistically fast, but they become unbelievable, and his characters are beginning to suffer as a result.
The 5th Horseman is a good book, but it lacks substance. Put simple, there's no character development anymore, and nothing falls into place logically. It's time Patterson slow down a little. Take time to flesh out his characters and his stories. He's established his credibility as a writer, it would be a shame for him to ruin it. I don't know about you, but I like a few spices on my book... the kind of spices that make me glad to be with these characters. The kind that make me say, "I sure hope nothing bad happens to her!" It's not here.
11 of 11 found the following review helpful:
 Ghost writer: James PattersonMay 25, 2006
By Carol Weg
I found nothing in this book that would let me believe James Patterson wrote any of it. The story line is trite. The characters are flat, predictable and boring. For example, there is a chinese mother/daughter with the chinese mother trying to match (for marriage) the daughter with every available 'single' doctor, with the doctor protesting her "wonderful" old country mom. All the chapters are 2 to 3 pages in length - making it perfect to read in the loo. Many of the chapters say nothing except that the women are scared, or tearful, or worried, or ...
James Patterson should stop lending his name to books by every mystery writer that asks. I will no longer buy these books. His name only adds to the price - and they are expensive. If you want to read something by the co-author, find something where the co-author's name is the only one on the cover. Books co-authored with Patterson have come to mean poorly written and very expensive.
23 of 27 found the following review helpful:
I don't get it? This is just average?Feb 17, 2006
By Bill Pullman
"Book reviewer"
Believe it or not but this is my first Patterson novel (I did see the movie "Kiss the Girls" and thought it was OK). I found this book to be average entertainment at best. From reading this book I do not understand this authors best-selling status, Though I have figured out how he rights five novels a year. First he has a stable of co-writers who are doing the heavy lifting (Ms. Paetro in this case). Then you write very short 2 page chapters and have ridiculously wide margins. The book is 400 pages long but if it where laid out properly it would not be more than 200 pages. The book is more a comic book than a novel. This is McDonald's drive thru literature for the masses with short attention spans! Look, I am not a some literary snob, I love thriller/adventures/mystery but I want them to have some meat.
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
 Borrow Don't BuyApr 08, 2006
By DELILAH
"AVID READER"
I am huge James Patterson fan but I felt he blew it with this book. There are too many subplots that distracted from what the book purported to be about. A serial killer in a hospital but we are given plots about young female escorts being killed. What in the hell did this have to do with the hospital murders. NOTHING!! They could have further developed this story for another book and made it more interesting instead of solving it so quickly.
The story about the doctor and the lawyer was interesting but which one the two writers came up with such a lame ending. After they had wrapped up the case with the two aforementioned characters, they probably found out they forgot about letting the reader know who the person was doing the killing and gave us some crappy ending in an attempt to let us know whoduit without ever really giving us a reason why. I had to go back and reread the chapters about this person to try and get a clue. How did this person get out of jail so quickly and move on to another hospital? And how did Lindsay Boxer know she would be there? Too many holes that needed to be filled in. I expected more. Next book I just wait until I can borrow it from someone else or wait until the paperback version comes out and get it at a discount store.
11 of 12 found the following review helpful:
A waste of moneyMay 12, 2006
By Timothy J. Putney
I have read many of JP books in the past. Many of the early ones I enjoyed. Recently both in his Alex Cross books and his others he has spent so much time on the personal afflictions and love lives of his characters that the meat of the plot is getting buried. It is almost as one of the other reviewers noted, he is writing just to fill pages. In this most recent attempt, I managed to listen (audio book) to about 1/3rd of the book and just gave up. The writing was so poor, and the conversations so stilted I was convinced it had been written by some high school student for a project. I see that this was a collaboration between JP and Maxine Paetro. Judging from the quality of the writing I think (or at least hope) that Maxine did most of the writing and she is only 15 yrs old? Come on James, if you are going to put your name on the book...at least make sure it is up to your standards. The plot might be there but if the writing is so poor as to make the book intolerable to read then don't put it out until it is right. Have sworn off of all future JP books until I see some evidence that he is actually getting back to his roots.
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