By James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
Little, Brown and Company
Hardcover, Audio Cassette (Unabridged), Audio CD (Unabridged) and Large Print Editions

The fifth installment of the Women's Murder Club series really covers two stories at the same time. Lieutenant Lindsay Boxer is chasing brutal killers who murder women, dress them up in new and expensive clothes and leave them in fancy cars.

Without any ID, the victims get labels like Caddy Girl or Jag Girl. The Car Girls cases put Lindsay and her old partner Inspector Warren Jacobi back together to solve the crimes.

What they reveal is something more sick and twisted than they expected. But this particular story line doesn't go all the way to the end of the book.

5th Horseman Excerpt Tiny black specks gathered in front of Jessie's eyes as a crushing pain squeezed the air from her chest. Suddenly her vision tunneled to a pinprick of white light. "Please help me. I think I'm --" "Yes," said the figure in the shadows, "you are dying, Jessie. It's beautiful to watch you cross over." ©2006 James Patterson Published with permission from Little, Brown & Co.

The main story line that does keep the pages turning revolves around newest Women's Murder Club member Yuki Castellano. Yuki and Lindsay investigate mysterious deaths at San Francisco Hospital that are leaving people without serious health problems in the morgue with buttons on their eyes.

When someone close to the Women's Murder Club becomes a victim, Lindsay turns up the heat on the hospital and tries to bring down the person or persons playing God. A courtroom battle is also underway as several families sue the hospital for wrongful death and malpractice.

While readers do get to spend some time with the other two Women's Murder Club members, Cindy and Claire, it's really Lindsay and Yuki that take center stage. Between the courtoom drama, Lindsay's search for who's really responsible and the Car Girls cases, the 5th Horseman feels like many stories all in one.

Bookworm's Briefing
4th of July focused more on Lindsay sans the other members of the Women's Murder Club. The 5th Horseman is similar in that respect by digging deep into Yuki's life and personal struggles. Perhaps getting to know her was part of Patterson's and Paetro's plan for this novel since Yuki is the newest member of the club, being introduced in the last book.