Intent to Harm (Kali O'Brien Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Jonnie Jacobs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2003 | Series: Kali O'Brien Mysteries

The woman gives her name as Betty. No last name. No phone number. Just a meeting place -- a deserted, wooded park on the outskirts of Lake Tahoe. Kali O'Brien understands client confidentiality, but something about Betty's urgent request has her a little spooked. Why did the woman go to such lengths to ensure secrecy? What is so important that it's worth protecting at all costs?

Available only in Wheeler Hardcover 6.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Jacobs's sixth Kali O'Brien thriller (after Cold Justice) starts with a bang-San Francisco attorney O'Brien is shot and nearly killed in a remote park near Lake Tahoe-but rapidly loses momentum as a mountain of red herrings pile up. O'Brien meets a mysterious new client at the park, but before she can learn anything about her case, the two women are attacked and the client is killed. When O'Brien is released from the hospital with a painful shoulder wound, she sets out to investigate, despite a daunting lack of clues. Her client, Betty Arnold, was a middle-aged woman who lived a quiet life. The only interesting bit of information O'Brien can glean about her is that her niece, a young schoolteacher named Faith Foster, was kidnapped eight years before and is still missing. A newspaper clipping discovered in Arnold's knitting bag leads O'Brien to Faith, but O'Brien is being tailed by a ruthless hit man who will do anything to wipe out Faith and finish the job he botched eight years ago. The identity of the hit man is made clear from the beginning-chapters narrated from his perspective provide some comic relief-but O'Brien is unable to pinpoint his employer until the very end. In an attempt to produce a sense of urgency, Jacobs introduces some wild cards-a high-profile doctor, a young Hispanic scapegoat, a Chinese police detective-but as each subplot fizzles, the pace slows to a crawl. The hasty, underdeveloped conclusion will leave readers scratching their heads and may make them wary of following along on O'Brien's next adventure.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

San Francisco attorney Kali O'Brien, recently off a temporary stint with the D.A.'s office (Cold Justice, 2002), is summoned to Lake Tahoe by a potential client, who sets up a mysterious meeting in a public park. Kali is speaking with "Betty" for only a moment when shots ring out, wounding Kali and killing her would-be client. Having learned nothing about why Betty wanted to hire her, Kali makes it her business to find out what led to Betty's murder. At first the pieces do not seem to fit together, but then Kali realizes that two other murders occurred the same day Betty's niece disappeared. Kali finds the niece, who insists a certain crooked doctor is to blame. Kali proceeds on this assumption, but the reader knows that the real killer is following her every step, though the mastermind behind it all isn't revealed until the satisfyingly surprising conclusion. Kali is a thoroughly likable heroine whose yearly appearances are most welcome. Mary Frances Wilkens
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Kensington Books; First Printing edition (October 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1575668297
• ISBN-13: 978-1575668291
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,923,165 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jacobs does it again, December 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Intent to Harm (Kali O'Brien Mysteries) (Hardcover)

As a reader of Jonnie Jacobs' Kali books from the beginning, I really looked forward to Intent to Harm, and it lived up to my expectations. The characters were superbly realized--the hit man was so human, so understandable, but no less evil. The variouis viewpoints really engaged me.The plot kept me guessing until
the end. And the relationship between Bryce and Kali was just just right. I love where it ended and can't wait for the next one.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Was I even reading the same book?......I totally disagree., November 13, 2004

By 

E Bob (Lakeville, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Intent to Harm (Kali O'Brien Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

This has to be the lamest book I've read in a very long time. I thought the premise sounded great, but it was put into an empty story. I wanted to care about the characters, but they had little depth. I almost stopped reading it all together when at least some action started up, but that only led to a very dissapointing ending. There was no real workup to a climax. It got to a certian point of the story when it just threw all the characters in the same room and ended it. Maybe Jonnie Jacobs was getting bored with it too and wanted to get it over with. Do yourself a favor....skip this one.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Every bit as good as "Cold Justice"!, January 27, 2004

By 

L. Quido "quidrock" (Tampa, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Intent to Harm (Kali O'Brien Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Gotta hand it to writer Jonnie Jacobs. Her 5th novel in the Kali O'Brien series, "Cold Justice", was such a winner, I went back in time and read the first four. In this 6th outing, Kali's still running her own small legal firm in San Francisco, but much of the action takes place around Lake Tahoe, where Kali has a mysterious new client, and in Las Vegas. (Some minor plot details, below, no big spoilers!)

The plot opens with a bang as Kali never gets to find out what her new client, Betty Arnold, needed her to do, and why she was maintaining such secrecy. Kali and Betty become targets at their meeting place, and Betty is killed. Over time, Kali's vague memories of the shooting and Betty's words lead her to continue to probe what her client was hiding, and why she was a target. O'Brien shows the mettle and instincts we've seen her develop over the series to chase down people from Betty's past, and to follow it home, despite the danger that might await her.

An active second subplot that seems well-written and true to life involves sheriff's deputy Kim Wong, who is assigned to the case, helps to wrap up a plausible suspect, and then follows her own instincts (with help from Kali), to undermine the "false case" and focus on the real killer. Jacobs goes out of her way to present a fair synopsis of how the police feel pressured to lock down a case for trial, even though loose ends are bothersome. If Jacobs' interest in O'Brien is waning, she's certainly set an interesting new character to follow in Deputy Wong, who feels a fish out of water as the highest ranking woman in the department, a transfer from LA and an outsider..."not only was there a glass ceiling, but glass walls, too"....let's hope Kim Wong returns to Jacob's dance card in the future.

By page 130, you are wondering how a contract kill "arranger", Sid Mertz, and a Las Vegas waitress, Irene Thompson, will tie in to the plot. Jacobs admits excerpts from both their storylines, and although you are making a connection, your suspicions don't start to crystallize until around that time. The rest of the book is a fast-paced roller coaster, with more surprising twists at the end.

Bryce, the SFPD offier that Kali became interested in, in "Cold Justice" is back, and the relationship between the two of them stays interesting...Kali "doubted she'd affected his heart so much as assaulted his ego". Jacobs gives us the right mix of professional and personal, and the right stuff with her heroine, Kali O'Brien.

There's intensity in the plot of "Intent to Harm", and you'll want to get to the bottom of it, as soon as possible.

Highly recommended....best if you've read the books in series, though.