Customer Reviews

Hand of Evil (Ali Reynolds Mysteries)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm a pretty big fan of J. A. Jance. Way back in the day I read her first three books when they were alone in print, and enjoyed them considerably. I can remember being in the old murder mystery bookstore in Long Beach, named Sherlock's Home, and first having the book recommended to me there. I can also recall the day, several years later after the owner had moved the store to another location, standing in the front and looking in the back of the new book to discover that the author (until then only identified by her initials) was female. Everyone I knew who read the books tried to say they knew, but of course no one really did.

Since then, Jance has come a long way, of course. She's written a whole bunch of books with the main character she started with, J. P. Beaumont. She also launched a second series a few years ago, featuring a female Sheriff in Arizona. In addition, she's done several stand alone suspense novels. It turns out that on top of all of that she's started a third series. This book is the third entry in that series. The main character is a former LA News Anchor called Ali Reynolds.

The setting is the typical Jance Southwest that she uses in the Joanna Brady books. Ali has moved to Arizona, and gets mixed up with a series of killings involving incidents that took place as long as forty years ago. As things progress, the killer(s) and the action heat up, but the whole thing is a bit unfocused and diffuse.

I enjoyed Hand of Evil pretty well, but it's not my favorite of Jance's books. For one thing, the author has to rely on rather flimsy plot devices to involve the main character in the killings. I've always been much more a fan of the plot where the detective involved is actually somehow charged with discovering who the killer is. For one thing, having "a nose for mystery" isn't a substitute for being trained to catch bad guys, and it's also less of a stretch if the person is involved in multiple mysteries over the years. Here we have the character who's involved in what's apparently her third series of violent events in a year or so, and of course it stretches credulity. There's also the issue of Jance's penchant for building characters from book to book. This makes them rather like soap operas, but you can't miss an episode (and I didn't read the first two here). So my opinion is somewhat colored by this fact, and perhaps would be stronger in her favor if I had read them.

That being said, this is still a pretty good book, well-written and amusing. I enjoyed it, and would recommend it.

Jance does it again with the third installment of her Ali Reynolds series. Reynolds was "cut loose" from her previous job and her previous marriage in the beginning of the series. She started writing a blog on the Internet and soon she was connecting with fans and other people who were experiencing things similar to her. Being an investigative journalist positions her to investigate missing people, and a host of other things. This series is contemporary with the use of the Internet and current technology.

This installment finds Ali in a slump after dealing with the events of the previous two books. This book deals with several different plots, but Jance weaves them together well. Have you ever read a book, and after the climax thought, "I wish there was more?" This book has it. One of the plots came to a suspenseful conclusion and there were still lots of pages left in the book. There is a butler introduced in this book who I just love and I hope he will be in future books. I can't wait for the next one.

J.A. Jance has written several can't put it down books, but Hand of Evil as an addition to the new Ali Reynolds series is not in that category. I recommended it to several friends with teens who text message because of the subject matter. Hand of Evil has two parallel stories that never quite blend in a novel because the plot structure does not sustain the premise.

Jance fans will miss the sparkle of earlier characters except for the teenager Crystal Holman. Crystal is a victim, who makes terrible mistakes, her story has a familiarity for anyone who has ever know or worked with abused young women. Even the lead character seems like a spider from a cracked windshield going in many directions without a purpose.

Nash Black, author of WRITING AS A SMALL BUSINESS and SINS OF THE FATHERS.

The latest saga in the life of Ali Reynolds, the ex-TV journalist, who has moved back to Sedona, AZ, from LA following her dismissal by her media employer, divorce and the death of her husband (before the divorce became final), finds her at loose ends--but not for long. She is busy writing her blog and answering emails.

Ali got her start when she was awarded a college scholarship by the Ashcrofts, mother and daughter, after an invitation to tea at their palatial home. Many years later, Ali is again invitd to tea by the daughter, who asks that a diary she wrote be reviewed by Ali as the basis for a possible tell-all book. This diary plays a role in solving a series of murders.

Meanwhile, Ali becomes involved with the wayward daughter of her friend, Detective Dave Holman, who is the victim of sexual predators. And just to make things interesting, someone working for Ali's father is beaten to death, an event that intertwines with the background of the girl's circumstances.

Throughout, Ali plays a pivotal role in helping at least three police departments solve a whole bunch of murders, arresting the culprits and wrapping up the loose ends. The novel is the third in the series, and continues at the same high level. The author, of course, has written a dozen Joanna Brady mysteries and 21 J.P. Beaumont mysteries. She doesn't really need our recommendation, but she has it anyway.

This is the second J.A. Jance novel featuring Ali Reynolds. She is an interesting character being a 40-year old Sedona resident who lives in a life of chaos. She has much going on, dealing with the loss of her job in broadcasting, deaths of her husband and a close friend, then her own brush with danger.

Ali likes to try and solve murders so she is kept busy with the disappearance of her father's handy-man, the young daughter of her detective friend and a woman who has some ugly secrets to share with her. So the book never has a dull moment with Ali trying to solve all these mysteries and finding the answers she seeks.

Ali Reynolds has had a tough year. She's struggling with grief and depression. In the midst of this, she has to help her friend Dave Homan locate his missing teen daughter, Crystal. She assists in bringing Crystal home and finds herself babysitting more often than not. She soon learns that Crystal has been sexually active. Ali also realizes Crystal witnessed an attack and someone is after her. The person who was attacked was a good friend of Ali's dad.

In the meantime, Arabella Ashcroft summons Ali to her house. Arabella and her mother provided Ali with a scholarship to college years ago, so Ali feels compelled to appear. Turns out Arabella wants Ali to read her diary from many years ago explaining about the abuse she endured by her stepbrother. His son has recently threatened to bring these acts to light in order to extort money from her. Even though Ali is reluctant to get involved, she feels obligated to help out.

In the course of the investigation, Ali also finds out that she has been out of touch with her son and needs to catch up.

Can Ali help uncover the killer and the attacker without putting herself and others in harm's way?

I really enjoy this series. I like Ali and feel the author has done a great job of creating a character that the reader cares about. I did find the subject matter of this book to be a little harder to read, being the mother

of a teenager. But I know there are so many people who have had these subjects touch their lives, that I know it needs to be discussed. I thought the author did a good job of getting the information out there without making it too graphic.

I thought Crystal was a well-written character. She came across as a stubborn teenager but when you removed the layers, you found she was just a scared and confused girl. I felt she was very believable.

I see that others have complained that Ali didn't have enough of a reason to be involved in these mysteries. I disagree. I think Dave put her in the middle of Crystal's situation, and Arabella did the same. I like how the author weaves the stories together and intertwines some of the people.

Even though I found the subject matter a little tough to read, I really enjoyed this book and HIGHLY RECOMMEND it.

Unemployed blogger Ali Reynolds can't say know when her friend's daughter vanishes. When the girl turns up, an apparent runaway, Ali takes it upon herself to straighten the girl out--taking away her phone, ordering her around, and threatening to leave her on the side of the road if she doesn't conform to Ali's rules--it's the kind of tough-love that Ali implicitly knows will get the girl behaving again. In the meantime, one of Ali's father's projects, a formerly homeless man, is beaten on the side of the road and the woman who once financed Ali's way through college demands that Ali drop everything and visit her--and then dumps a bombshell. Arabelle, she says, was repeatedly raped by her stepbrother. The stepbrother is dead, but now his son is blackmailing Arabelle and she wantes Ali's help.

A mysterious beating, long-ago incest, and present-day runaway teens (with child sexual issues) might seem like enough to keep Ali fully occupied, especially when the young man behind the beating decides to become a celebrity by going on a killing spree. Jance loads the story further, though. In addition, though, one of Ali's regular blog readers has been diagnosed with cancer and is angry that the doctor, who just might be in cahoots with the woman's son, is refusing to treat her.

Author J. A. Jance can be counted on to deliver a page-turning adventure and HAND OF EVIL is no exception. Jance's writing keeps the reader involved, wanting to find out what's going to happen to these people.

Unfortunately, HAND OF EVIL is also badly flawed. I found Ali's bossy and overconfident treatment of the wounded runaway Crystal, to be insensitive and offensive. Crystal is clearly hurting, obviously running from something horrible, but Ali doesn't bother taking the time to find out what. Sending her back into the environment that she fled without an understanding of why it didn't work the first time seems doomed--and none of Ali's bossing around and intimidation is really likely to result in a change. From a logic perspective, I had a hard time understanding why Arabelle contacted Ali in the first place. The supposed reason, to look for advice on writing a book, is clearly false but we were never given another. The whole Arabelle subplot felt like something glued on to give us an incest threat (and a bit more physical danger for poor Ali). Finally, am I the only one who thought the coincidence of Crystal being a witness to Kip's beating was a bit of a stretch.

Jance is a good enough writer to engage my interest, to make me keep reading in hopes that she'd finally pull things together--perhaps having Ali learn a lesson about being so sure she's right all the time. For me, though, this story didn't quite coalesce. Then there's the whole idea of being a full-time blogger. Are there really enough people in the world so lacking in their own lives that they'd pay to read Ali's?

J. A. Jance is a great writer. HAND OF EVIL is a very long way from the top of her game.

I can usally get tuned in pretty early reading Jance's books, but this is not the case. Half way into it and I'm still waiting for my interest to peak.

I found this to be a really fun and quick read.

The villain is a surprise in a convoluted way.

The family is still a close knit and delightful group

of supportive and quirky individuals.

She introduces a new character in the family circle

that I hope continues to be a part of this series.

I enjoyed the book a great deal.

This is the first and last book I will read by J.A. Jance. It was so slow-paced and dull and did not live up to the promise of "A Novel of Suspense" that is printed on the cover. With a title of "Hand of Evil," I expected a heck of a lot more evil. Instead, this book has a predictable ending in which the loose ends are all tied up by - surprise! - the culprit explaining all of the wrongdoings to the main character without even a showdown. There is only one gruesome killing, and it occurs within the first 2 pages. Plus, there are 3 separate and different crimes being dealt with (some involve multiple crimes). If the author had perhaps focused on one crime/culprit, she may have been better able to develop the story and create somewhat of a climatic ending. Instead, I'm left wondering why I didn't stop reading the book at page 217 of 368, as the dictionary has more twists and turns than this novel. In case you were wondering, yes, this book also incldues the annoying and intrusive mother who knows all without being told, the police officer father who can't get involved in the case because his family is involved (nevermind that it's not even within his jurisdiction), and the son who acts more like the main character's father/brother/keeper than a son. I found no upsides to this book except for the lovely picture of Jance's dogs on the back cover.