Author: James Patterson & Maxine Paetro

Genre: Mystery/Suspense

Publication Date: May 6, 2024

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐(3/5)

The 24th Hour is, as its title suggests, the twenty-fourth installment of the Women’s Murder Club series. Lindsay, Claire, Cindy, and Yuki are still the best of friends, still pursuing their chosen professions (homicide sergeant, medical examiner, reporter, and district attorney, respectively), and happy in their personal lives. 

The women are celebrating a birthday in a high-end San Francisco restaurant when they hear a cry for help, which leads them to find a female assault victim upstairs. Her case is complicated by the fact she has Dissociative Identity Disorder, and Yuki isn’t sure she can get the woman justice in court. As the case winds its way through the system and the front pages of several newspapers, Lindsay is investigating the murder of a high-profile man whose wife died six months before in a very similar manner. 

The cases are each discussed in turn, and the points of view of all four women are shared throughout both cases. The pacing is quick, and the chapters are short, as readers familiar with this series have become accustomed to. I have read every book in the series, and as with anything that has this many installments, there have been highs and lows throughout the series; books that stick out as exceptional, and those that seem to miss the mark. For me, The 24th Hour is one of the latter. The storylines felt very disjointed this time around, and I had a hard time focusing on everything that was going on in such a short span of time. I also figured out the killer much earlier in this book than I usually do, which takes away a bit of the interest in seeing how things end. 

I assume there will be more to come for the Women’s Murder Club in the future, and  I hope the next storyline feels a bit more coherent. I am still interested in seeing where things go for these four strong and independent, yet nurturing and caring women, and look forward to the next book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.