Killer Instinct [Paperback]

Martina Navratilova (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1995

MENACE, ANYONE?

At Desert Springs Sports Science Clinic bad things are happening to good people. Jasmine Li, darling of the tennis circuit, receives mysterious threats. Her fiancé, an ex-NFL star dead set on a tennis Grand Slam, has a tragic accident. Champ-turned-sports-therapist Jordan Myles has terrifying brushes with death.

Who's behind these frightening incidents? As Jordan chases clues in Madison Square Garden, Palm Springs, and Hilton Head, another sort of game emerges--one so brutal it makes tennis seem like tiddlywinks. . . .


From the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Former tennis star Navratilova serves up another mystery featuring ex-jock Jordan Myles. Here, a new sports elixir may have caused a recent spate of health problems among Myles's tennis trainees at Desert Springs Sports Center. Although the series has performed dismally in the critical arena, the authors' debut (Total Zone, LJ 5/1/94) managed to crack the best sellers lists.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Kirkus Reviews

Once again, ex-tennis star Jordan Myles, now a partner and head physical therapist at California's Desert Springs Sports Science Center, a training facility for athletes, finds herself embroiled in deadly doings. Jordan's other job, as commentator on the TV program Women/Sport, takes her to a tournament at Madison Square Garden, where three-year-old Celine York becomes ill while watching the game with her mother Anna Martinez, traveling companion of trainer Artie Lutz. The child dies, and Anna becomes unhinged, making accusations of murder, sending threats by letter and phone. Once back in California, Jordan begins work with Jasmine Li, a beautiful, near-the-top player soon to be engaged to ex- basketball dynamo Malik--at the same time trying to sort out her own long-time relationship with Dr. Gus Laidlow, a founding partner of the Center. Their problems soon take a back seat to a series of disasters: Trainer Tanner Axel dies of a heart attack; clients Dieter and Klaus Schidor are hospitalized with nausea and vomiting, then recover and return to Germany; Malik, visiting Jasmine at the Center, suffers a fatal accident on a routine climbing exercise, and Artie Lutz commits suicide. The scene shifts to Hilton Head and another tournament. There, in the wake of another death, Jordan reaches the dismal end of a complex trail. An overplotted but lively look at the frenetic lives of those in the game's upper reaches and at the commercial forces behind them. Less travel and less of Jordan's soul-searching might have sharpened the focus, but this last in a trilogy (Breaking Point, 1996, etc.) is the best. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 340 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (March 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345472683
• ISBN-13: 978-0345472687
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,775,794 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars First time reader surprised., July 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Killer Instinct: A Jordan Myles Mystery (Hardcover)

Being a first time reader of Martina, I was pleasantly surprised by her book. I do want to go out and read the other two, but I understand by some reviews that this is the best. I highly recommend if you're a mystery fan and enjoy tennis.

4.0 out of 5 stars Killer Instinct, March 28, 2008

By 

Jennifer L. Oliver "ollie1976" (Youngsville, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

I was fairly impressed with this book. When some sport celebrities try to branch out into other career fields, in particular, writing, they do not always manage to do a good job. Ms. Navratilova did a good job in creating Jordan Myles who finds herself attempting to solve a mystery that affects her company directly. Enough twists and turns to keep you guessing until the last chapter. Several tennis personalities that also make it interesting, if you are a tennis fan.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the best Jordan Myles Mystery!, February 17, 2000

By 

Margarete Nell - See all my reviews

This review is from: Killer Instinct: A Jordan Myles Mystery (Hardcover)

I love Jordan Myles! She is cool, controlled, in charge, has no money problems that hinder her elegant clue-finding via the hardest accessible persons and places in the tennis world! To her this world is home and we participate. GREAT! And in addition the characters are convincing, charming and the authoresses give us the best (real good characters are sacrificed for the plot). But this third novell has a disappointing end (NO, I won't tell a thing, read it and find out yourself!). Will Jordan Myles be Florence Nightingale in the next book? Well, it just doesn't fit, that ending. There are some credibility-flaws in this one, that weren't there in the first two novells. Can you kill an alligator with 38 caliber bullets? Well, I don't know. BUT: Read all three books and then lament with me or contradict me!