Customer Reviews

Left for Dead: A Novel (Ali Reynolds)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Reynolds returns in this rompy adventure, drawn into investigating the brutal attacks of a 'call girl' and a local policeman, the latter of whom is being framed for being on the take.

The mystery packs quite the punch in this story, although the personal side that Jance is typically good at seems a little weaker than usual. Mayhap because the pacing is a little off; the story begins in brutal style - with the detailed attack on 'Breeze' (hint she isn't the cop) then the shooting of the cop. Meanwhile Reynolds potters around home discussing her parents approaching retirement.

Rather than the tension turning up a notch when she somes on the scene, everything seems to slow as all the minor characters get fleshed out. Also while the mystery plot has the appropriate amount of violent tension, I found myself unable to suspend my disbelief when the plot was explained.

Like all series I'm sure fans will like, if you're new to the series I wouldn't start with this one, test the waters with an earlier one like Cruel Intent..

"As far as Renteria was concerned, the story seemed pretty straightforward. Phil shoots Jose Reyes; Christine bashes Phil's head in; Christine gets shipped off to the funny farm; end of story; two cases closed. What he needed was to find solid leads that would link the two men."

And Santa Cruz Sheriff Renteria isn't the only one determined to uncover answers to the latest crime spree to hit the area south of Tucson near the Mexican border. In this latest Ali Reynolds story, LEFT FOR DEAD captures the essence of current-day Arizona and the struggles of law enforcement to separate the illegal immigrants from the drug cartels and the regular, everyday evildoers. Somehow the good guys have to figure out how a brutally beaten young woman, a critically wounded police officer, and a dead postman in southern Arizona tie into a dead pimp in Phoenix and millionaire pervert in Fountain Hills.

Series star Ali Reynolds returns, but not as the police officer she recently trained to become. Just as she graduated from the Police Academy, Arizona faced a serious budget crunch and new officers were put on hold. Luckily for Ali, she was not desperate for a job because her cheating spouse died before he could change his will, and his substantial fortune went to her. Perfect poetic justice. So, while waiting to be able to use her police training, Ali serves as organizer for several charities and often gets involved in helping people like her former academy classmate, Jose Reyes, who was shot and left to die while making a traffic stop.

When Ali leaves her home in Sedona and heads down to Mercy Medical Center in Tucson, she is hoping to be able to help Jose's pregnant wife with their two little girls and investigate the events surrounding the shooting. At the hospital Ali runs into her old friend, Sister Anselm Becker, who is there as a patient advocate for a young woman who was left for dead in the desert and is still unconscious. As each of them starts investigating the details of the two incidents, they begin to put the pieces together and discover that there may be a connection.

Without wasting time or words, J.A. Jance moves the action along to its surprising and exciting conclusion. What is it that separates a good writer from a great writer, interesting books from excellent books? Jance has found the secret. By creating and developing memorable characters, using for a backdrop the environment that is familiar to her and letting her imagination develop complex plots, she has won millions of fans who can't wait to read her next book. Whether it is the Sheriff Joanna Brady or J.P Beaumont series, or a stand-alone novel, her books never disappoint. LEFT FOR DEAD is no exception.

Reviewed by Maggie Harding

I have been a J A Jance fan since day one. Her books are well defined and this title doesn't let fans down. Her attention to the character of Breeze was similar to that of Joel M. Andre with characters in his books. You get attached to a character from the start onlyto have them die a few pages later.

I loved the growth Ali has shown since Fatal Error as well. Its nice to see the story touching on Arizona landmarks and real places, like Fountain Hills. Overall, this story kicks off with the violence and wit from Jance's Joanna Brady days. A character I continue to miss. I highly recommend this book.

J. A. Jance is one of the authors on my list of reliable and interesting mystery writers to whom I would not hesitate to return. Left for Dead is the first one in her Ali Reynolds series that I have read, and I would not hesitate to recommend it to friends. The typical way that Jance introduces many characters at the beginning and creates a storyline that may seem disconnected at first is a feature that I now recognize in her books and even enjoy. It's as if we see many peoples' lives at once and gradually find out how events change all of their lives. The setting in Arizona--small towns, large city, and the desert--comes across well, and Jance's writing is smooth and well-paced. If I had any regret, it's that the younger characters (the runaway rape victim Breeze and the two children) don't seem to be as vividly drawn as the others, but Ali is an admirable person and makes a good central character, and the suspense is there until the satisfying conclusion. This one leaves me anxious to read more from this particular series.

An Ali Reynolds story that starts with all the main characters in place and working each one through some life transforming events. Of course, shootings, beatings, rape, and general chaos quickly grab you by the throat and pull into the central story. When Ali enters the scene all is quite on the Sedona front but things begin to happen that draw her into the mayhem. The story evolves into numerous seemly unrelated ropes intertwined into a Gordian Knot. However, Jance quickly cuts through the ropes and reveals the villian(s) who were every wise in covering tracks in the Arizona sands.
The book is above some that have been written by her but this one is not her best. I missed some of the tension between the characters that remained unexplored. In addition, almost all Federal employees working the border or in Arizona appear in the story as lazy and incompetent or both, save one.

Great suspense novel - call girls, drugs, bad cops, murder, revenge. Couldn't put this book down, wanted to keep reading. One of this author's best novels.

Santa Cruz County Deputy Sheriff Jose Reyes, Ali Reynolds' classmate from the Arizona Police Academy, is shot and left to die during a routine traffic stop near the border. At first, it is assumed he's an innocent victim of the drug wars. Then the crime scene investigation puts him and his pregnant wife, Teresa, under suspicion. Reyes helped with a friend of Ali's so she feels she owes him her help now. She helps his wife and daughters out at the hospital and doesn't believe he could be involved in drugs so she investigates. Ali's good friend, Sister Anselm, is also at the hospital, helping an unidentified young woman who was seriously injured. She is believed to be an illegal border crosser who was beaten and raped. Together with Sister Anselm and a conscientious officer, they investigate and finally find the true culprits.

This is my favorite series of her series. There are always multiple stories threaded together. The multiple points of view made it hard at first to remember who was who, but once I had that figured out, the story took off at a run and never stopped. I really like Ali and the other characters in this series. The author has done a fabulous job blending them together. I always have trouble putting her books down. I need to see what's happening next so I have to turn the page. I highly recommend this series, and her other two mystery series: J. P. Beaumont and Joanna Brady.

I can't believe how the great author who wrote the J.P. Beaumont books has ended up writing
simple-minded garbage like the Ali Reynolds series. J. P. Beaumont was right up there with
Harry Bosch, Inspector Rebus, Cork O'Connor, Jack Reacher et al as far as complex, human
heroes; you were interested in them as well as the excellent mystery. Not so at all with Reynolds, and the writing too has been simplified. I wouldn't bother to comment, except because I enjoyed her books for so long, I still have a tendency to preorder anything written by her -- much to my chagrin, I will have to change my thinking as the last 3 have been a waste of money.Left for Dead