Murder, Interrupted by James Patterson

 Book Review

This true crime thriller follows Frank, a rich, cheating, and dishonest husband. He is married to Nancy, a kind woman who goes to church every day and is deeply in love with him. Despite this, Frank wants his wife dead by any means necessary. He hires someone to kill her, but in a surprising turn of events, the bullet misses Nancy. After that, things only spiral further as Frank and the killer begin to turn on each other.

Before I start, I should mention that I haven’t read the story in a while, so I might miss a few details. Also, this review contains spoilers.

There are three main things I want to focus on: Frank’s hatred for Nancy, the sense of irony in the story, the idea that Frank had no way out, and another direction for the story.

The story explores themes like betrayal, marriage, cheating, hatred, and lying. As a reader, this honestly made me uncomfortable in a very real way. It puts you in Nancy’s position. Imagine being with someone who not only cheats on you but also secretly wants you dead while acting like your loving partner. That is terrifying.

What bothered me most is that Frank’s motivation never felt convincing. The book does not clearly explain why he started or continued this plan. The idea that Nancy was “nagging” him is not strong enough to justify something this extreme. I could not fully accept that reasoning, even within a fictionalized true crime narrative.

It also felt like Frank kept going simply because he had already started. There were moments, especially when the killer delayed the plan, where he could have backed out or chosen a different path. He had money and options, and he could have left without harming Nancy. The story does not really explore those alternatives. Instead, everything continues because the crime itself already happened, and the narrative seems to be trying to catch up to it.

The second issue is the idea that Frank had no way out. The book suggests that killing Nancy was his only solution, but that did not make sense to me. He was already stealing large amounts of money from his company, enough to start a new life somewhere else. It is difficult to believe that he truly had no choice.

It almost feels like the author is trying to force a reason onto something that may not have had a clear one. The explanation, again, Nancy “nagging,” does not carry enough weight to support the severity of his actions.

Thirdly, there is the irony of the situation. The killer keeps taking money from Frank while continuously delaying the crime. Frank is desperate to go through with it, while the killer is more interested in taking advantage of him financially. There is something darkly ironic about how Frank is being manipulated while trying to control the situation himself.

However, this part of the story starts to feel repetitive. It turns into a cycle where Frank wants the murder done, the killer delays, and more money is exchanged. As a result, what should have been rising tension feels dragged out instead. It becomes less engaging over time, especially since nothing significant happens during those repeated interactions.

Eventually, when the shooting does happen, Nancy survives. Instead of a dramatic conclusion, what we are left with is emotional damage. She is heartbroken, confused, and completely unaware of why this happened to her. Honestly, who would not be?

Lastly, the story could have taken a different direction by fully embracing the unsettling nature of Frank’s actions. Instead of attempting to justify his motives, the author could have left them ambiguous, allowing readers to sit with the discomfort of not knowing why he was so determined to kill Nancy. That kind of mystery could have transformed the story into a more effective psychological horror, where fear comes from the randomness and unpredictability of human behavior.

However, the story does not fully commit to that approach. By offering weak explanations instead of true ambiguity, it falls somewhere in between, which ultimately makes the story feel less intentional. Because of this, the narrative comes across as lacking in depth and, at times, unsatisfying to read.

Personally, I went into this story hoping to understand why someone would want to kill their partner. Instead, I came out feeling frustrated. The book never gave me a satisfying or believable reason for Frank’s actions. What makes it worse is that he had other options, real and practical ones, but chose to ignore them.

The killer also feels underdeveloped. His role is mostly to take money and delay the crime without much deeper purpose. Meanwhile, Nancy is left in the dark the entire time, which makes her situation even more tragic. She did nothing to deserve what happened to her, yet she suffers the consequences of everyone else’s actions.

The End.

(If you feel as if i missed anything or you have a different opinion, please share it i would love to read your thoughts in the comments.)