But this one had me glued until late at night, in the train, on breaks at work...it finally had that juice I was looking for. Hooray for Lindsay, Claire, Jill, and Cindy!

What made this work is that Patterson kept it short and easy to follow as the POVs didn't go back and forth every chapter as much. It stuck with Lindsay most of the time with the occasional POV from the other characters. This made the whole book a lot simpler and helped me focus on the story instead of figuring out what the hell is going on.

The story, too, was very intriguing. The perpetrator of the crimes could have been any one of those they suspected. At one point, I really thought they had him. It was less predictable than the first 2 books, actually, which added to what kept me reading. I know sometimes, when you've read a series of books by one author, you are able to guess or extrapolate what will happen next. There's a formula that they follow. But sometimes, you get surprised with a twist in the story.

Of course, I love a happy ending. They catch the bad guy. The boy gets the girl. No one dies.

Sadly, this one didn't have a completely happy one. Though it ended on a happy note, there is someone who will be missed for the rest of the series. Yep. Patterson killed a major character. I didn't believe it at first, but he really did kill off a major character, 3 books in the series. Oh well. From what I've read of the summary of the other books, she will be replaced by someone else.

Here's hoping that Patterson will not kill off any major character for the rest of the series. Ever.