Customer Reviews

Most Likely to Die

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Three friends from high school are forced to confront a ghost from their past when they come together for their twenty-year class reunion. For Kristen Daniels Delmonico, what happened that night in 1986 at the St. Valentine's Day dance, has haunted her life ever since. Her lost love colors her separation with her soon-to-be ex-husband, even extending to her relationship with her angst-ridden, headstrong teenage daughter. So the last thing she wants is to be put in charge of the reunion committee.

Lindsay Farrell and Rachel Alsace also remember that night filled with fear and horror. They dread revisiting the ghosts of their past. But one person is excited that there will be a twentieth-anniversary celebration. This person has been planning this day for a long time, and is eager to relive the night is all its gory glory. As alumni are murdered one by one, it's up to the three former best friends to stop the killer. First though, they have to figure out who it is.

Told in three sections by each of the three main characters, the story is beautifully and smoothly integrated. The book starts from Kristen's point of view, as written by Lisa Jackson. Lindsay's perspective is up next, written by Wendi Corsi Staub. To finish the spine-tingling tale, comes Rachel's part of the story is written by Beverly Barton. Each author has a distinctive style, and yet together they blend into a wonderfully taut, unique, and chilling voice. Beverly Barton did an outstanding job tying all the threads together, using the other two authors' sneaky placement of red herrings to optimum effect.

A frightening roller coaster of a story guaranteed to keep readers hanging on every page, Most Likely To Die tops my list of this year's "Most Likely to Be A Number One Bestseller," with just cause.

I agree with Harriet Klausner (see her review). I totally enjoyed this book. Thought it was suspenseful and I couldn't guess who the killer was until nearly the end. The authors did a wonderful job of writing this story togehter, they each have their own style but you couldn't tell that there was more than one author writing this. I hope that they decide to do another! I thought this was an enjoyable read, kept me glued to the pages. Enjoy!

Yes, these three authors got together and wrote an overly long story. Each wrote about one of the main characters, and it all blended pretty well. The wrap-up ending was from a soapy soap opera. The current, very predictable love match-ups were as much a part of the story as the mystery.

One of the teen boys was killed at the 1986 Valentines Day dance at St. Elizabeth's Catholic HS. Twenty years later, the alumni are planning a reunion and the women on the committee are dieing. It was assumed Jake's killer had resurfaced and was killing again after twenty years. The murderer's secret hideout was too far-fetched; the disguises too obvious; cleverness way too much. Overall, don't waste full price money on this one.

I enjoyed this book and agree that the writing was seamless. I do not think the murders were gratuitous; if there were no murders, then where's your story? I figured out who the killer was about halfway into the book, but I still enjoyed it.

Most women need only fret about what slimming, knockout outfits to wear to their 20-year high school class reunion. But Lindsay Ferrell, Kristen Daniels and Rachel Alsace are haunted by the ghost of Jake Marcott, adding a veil of dread to this momentous once-in-a-lifetime event. Each woman had been high school sweetheart to this class hunk and bad boy, who was brutally murdered at the St. Valentine's Day Dance at St. Elizabeth's High School their senior year.

At age 18, Jake carried the guilt of being responsible for his best friend Ian's death when he drank and drove. Jake's pain was deep, but not as deep as the pain of the person who brutally pins his body to the trunk of a gnarled oak with a thick arrow on the night of the Valentine's dance. Underneath the hunky image and stylish tuxedo lies a Jake only the killer knows. Jake's murder has never been solved, and it's his secrets that are at the heart of the murderer's identity.

Beneath the Valentine hearts and red and white helium-filled balloons that hung from the rafters of the old gym that gruesome night, the dark secrets of the members of the senior class --- including the "Cupid Killer" --- haunt the futures of this 1986 high school class. The 20-year reunion sets the stage for the murderer. The nightmare is about to begin, and members of the reunion committee are most likely to die --- one by one before the reunion.

Throughout this fast-paced suspense novel set in rainy Portland, Oregon, we are privy to the evil thoughts, plans and memories of the murderer, as well as her bloodlust as she stabs a former classmate to death: "Die, you miserable, spoiled brat. Die! Die! Die!" The murderer "had both loved and hated Jake's laugh, as she had both loved and hated him."

Lindsay, Kristen and Rachel each thought they were in love with Jake; they have never gotten over him or the brutal event that marred the months before graduation. At graduation, only a few including Kristen remained in Portland, while the others fled elsewhere, not really staying in touch until the reunion. The new string of murders brings them back together --- with each other and with former lovers.

There is a recurring theme of first loves, unforgettable loves, long-lost loves and found loves threaded through MOST LIKELY TO DIE, superbly written by New York Times bestselling authors Lisa Jackson, Beverly Barton and Wendy Corsi Staub. Love, wild passions and seduction reign over bitter hatred, vengeance and murder as this romantic suspense explores the effects of love, hate, tragedy and a family betrayal.

First loves are some of the most memorable, and at 18 we are beginning to make decisions about the types of lovers we desire. Love is magic; it can make your heart skip a beat and it can surprise. When love is in the air we are alive. Lord Byron said, "There is no instinct like that of the heart." Follow your heart. After all, some loves are meant to be.

--- Reviewed by Hillary Wagy

I must admit that I guessed who the killer was within the first 100 pages and I come to the end of the book and I am exactly right. It didn't change the fact that I enjoyed this book and the storylines. I wish it really were that easy to find love years later but the way these romances were portrayed was done very well. I am going to pass this along to my friends who love mysteries as much as I do.

Not a whole lot to say here that isn't summed up in the subject line. The authors drone on about feelings and the nuances of "love" vs "infatuation" as it relates to a kid that was killed TWENTY YEARS before when all the reader wants is action of the kind the title promises. It's embarrassingly silly in spots (i.e., it's kind of hard to be terrified and/or horrified when the writers spend pages detailing the "complex emotions" a lead character has after a guy brushes up against her arm...pu-leeze!) and seems to care more about the feelings of the killer and victims than in articulating the suspense surrounding their impending meetings.

This wasn't the best nor was it the worst book of its genre. Jackson, Staub and Barton interweave a tale of intrigue surrounding several women and an up and coming 20th class reunion. The three main characters were all in love with the bad boy Jake who gets murdered. Twenty years later the murderer is after them.
My biggest issue with the three interwoven stories was how late the relationship aspect was introduced and the gratuitous use of the murders. It was hard to feel a lot of emotion towards Rachel, Kristen and Lindsay and their pairings. I realize this was suppose to be more of a fiction/mystery rather than a mystery/romance, but the mystery wasn't very tough to figure out in terms of 'whodunit.' Which left the romantic angle to focus upon. There were enough clues right at the beginning of the book to make an educated guess and although the authors added a little twist, there was no tension building up in terms of "who did it?" You knew simply through a process of elimination--and it certainly wasn't going to be a stranger. And after all, it wasn't going to be any of the main characters! The other problem I saw with it was each separate story killed off a subcharacter and I had to ask my self "WHY?" It didn't really advance the plot. It was like the publisher gave the three writers a directive--here is the main plot and each of you need to write a love story, murder and small twist to support it. These are three talented writers and it is a shame they wasted their talents and wrote this mess. The premise was good, the writing good--the development of the story just didn't do it for me!
If you want a winter beach read, this book is a great time waster! If you want anything more like a passionate romance, thrilling mystery or a solid fiction read--this isn't it.

This is yet another good book written by Lisa Jackson. It keeps you interested and wondering what is going to happen next. Highly recommend.

A classmate was killed at a Valentines party 20 yrs. ago. Now the school is going to be torn down and everyone decides they need to have a reunion in the school befor that happens. One by one the charaters are stalked, threatening messages are sent and classmates are killed befor the reunion. Can they figure out who the stalker/killer is befor they are killed?
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I have read most of Beverly Barton's other books (16 so far) I enjoyed the romantic relationships between the characters and loved seeing them evolve. I thought I had the killer picked out until she got killed, so had to figure out again who it was. Which I did about three fourths of the way through.
Would I reccomend this book? I would since I have liked every one of her others I have read.