BOOK REVIEW: 4th of July by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro 

Book Review

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4th of July novel

Spoiler alert: This review has a few spoilers, but you should still check it out. I mean, a little heads-up on what to really expect wouldn’t hurt. Take risk and succeed.

Now, I think the mystery or crime genre is one of the best (just to be modest) there is. Romance, on its own, is too sweet; horror too scary; but mystery or crime? Just perfect. This book was a recommendation from a friend who ironically, is yet to read the book. This is why they say to never trust men.

The book starts off really slowly with Officer Lindsay (who’s telling the book in first person) and Officer Jacobi at a murder scene – a young man had just been electrocuted and whipped to death. However, despite rigorous investigations, the police are unable to identify the “John Doe” and the case remains unsolved for over 2 decades.

Fast-forward to the present. Officer Lindsay and her partner, Jacobi, are in a hot car chase which ends with her getting arraigned for the death of one teen and incapacitation of the other. To escape scrutiny from the press and protesters during trial, she retreats to Half Moon Bay, a town with a charming façade. All seems well until “random” couples with seemingly no connection keep winding up dead and with their butts whipped. Chaotic and oddly interesting right? This detail is however important because of the connection to the unsolved case from her early years.

With lots of free time on her hands, Officer Lindsay gets involved in solving the murders against the advice of her lawyer and to the detriment of her safety. Tackling the judge and the jury on one hand and the killer(s) on the other, it’s a race against time as she fights to defend her honour as a cop and find out the truth about the murder as an attempt is made on her life.

The book had short chapters, coupled with all the action and chaos going on, which made it easy to breeze through. However, for all the hype, I found the end to be rather underwhelming because the author failed to shock me with whom the murderers were. On the plus side, Officer Lindsay makes it out alive and even wins her case, living to fight the “bad guys” on another day.

Overall, the book is an easy read and a good way to pass time so I’ll give it a final rating of 6 out of 10. No, I will not be recommending it to others. You’re welcome.

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