Showing posts with label Women police officers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Women police officers. Show all posts

Friday, March 27, 2009

Damage Control by J.A. Jance

It's been awhile since I've posted here. I have been busy creating an ebook for a client and have gotten behind in a lot of things, including my reading and blog posting.

J.A. Jance is one of my favorite authors. She is prolific, but her stories never get old. She has a unique way of telling them just like they happened in real time to her characters. Her last book may have taken place just hours before the new one, or sometimes years. While one story does not depend on having read the last, everything is connected by the details in the life design of her characters.

This particular series is from the Joanna Brady series. She has a new hurdle in life as the mother of a newborn. She has a stay-at-home spouse who takes care of things at home, but he is chomping at the bit to get out and publicize his new book. They test out the grandparents to determine it they can cope with babysitting and settle on a family that has lost its trailer home to a fire.

As usual, Jance weaves two or three murders and other suspicious acts into the plot. Resolving things is just all in a day's work on the part of Brady and her sheriff's deputies.

This is must read for any Jance fan.

Liz Nichols

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

James Patterson's "3rd Degree"

I'm catching up on some mysteries I've had on my bookshelf for a few years.

The latest read was James Patterson's "3rd Degree," one of the books in the Women's Murder Club series. I got mildly interested in this series when a version appeared on TV this past year. The TV show, as usual, does not do the book justice. The characters are far more complex and interesting when explored in book form because there is so much more time to go over details in a book than in a television script.

In this particular title Lieutenant Lindsey Boxer of the San Francisco PD Homicide Squad literally runs into a bombing while on her Sunday jog around the neighborhood and uncovers a terrorist plot that is over 40 years in the making. She partners with a charming executive from Homeland Security, solves the serial killings with him and begins a long distance romance.

In addition to domestic terrorism we explore domestic abuse and the importance of developing strong friendship bonds to maintaining a satisfying life.

Patterson's books are particularly good for the ADD reader, and the reader who can only slip a few minutes of reading into the day. Each chapter covers one short scene or train of thought and is only two or three pages long. This way one can read for 5 minutes at a time and still feel as if something is accomplished.

Patterson is not my favorite mystery writer by a long stretch, but he does get the job done in an entertaining way that leaves one glued to the book. There are twists and turns that keep the plot from being predictable. Recommended

Liz Nichols