Left To Die (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: stephanie chandler, task force room, road deputy, Lisa Jackson, Jillian Rivers, Grizzly Falls (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Prolific bestseller Jackson (Deep Freeze) introduces an intriguing pair of female detectives in this intense series opener. Deep in the winter wilderness of Montana, a serial killer sets up car accidents for women driving down secluded roads, rescues and seduces them and then ties them to trees and leaves them to die. As the bodies pile up, Det. Selena Alvarez and Det. Regan Pescoli search desperately for clues. Recent divorcée Jillian Rivers, in Montana searching for her vanished first husband, looks likely to become the next corpse when her tires are shot out and mountain man Zane MacGregor rescues her. When MacGregor vanishes from the cabin where Rivers is recovering from her injuries, she starts to wonder what his real motives are. Alvarez, Pescoli and Rivers separately edge closer to identifying the killer, but Jackson keeps them and the reader in suspense all the way to the cliffhanger ending. (Aug.)
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Product Description

NOTHING'S MORE TERRIFYING...

One by one, the victims are carefully captured, toyed with, then subjected to a slow and agonizing death. Piece by piece, his exquisite plan takes shape. The police can't yet see the beauty in his work--but soon, very soon, they will...

THAN BEING LEFT ALONE...

In the lonely woods around Grizzly Falls, Montana, four bodies have been discovered. Detectives Selena Alvarez and Regan Pescoli have been hoping for a career-making case, but this is a nightmare. Even with the FBI involved, Selena and Regan have nothing to go on but a killer's cryptic notes, and the unsettling knowledge that there is much worse to come...

TO DIE...

When Jillian Rivers opens her eyes, she's trapped in a mangled car. Then a stranger, claiming to be a trail guide named Zane MacGregor, pries her free. Though she's grateful, something about him sets Jillian on edge. And if she knew what lay out there in the woods of Montana, she'd be truly terrified. Because someone is waiting...watching...poised to strike and make Jillian the next victim...

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 484 pages
• Publisher: Zebra; First Edition Thus edition (August 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1420102761
• ISBN-13: 978-1420102765
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #178,567 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't leave me hanging, August 22, 2008

By	Sis "lover of books" (Kansas) - See all my reviews

Nothing makes me angrier than to spend my free time (which I have little of) on reading a book with no ending. I refuse to buy the next book to find out who the killer is just on principle. I didn't buy the book to be hooked into a future purchase. I wanted to read a story that has a beginning, a middle, and an ending. Don't waste your hard earned free time on this book because you don't get the ending. That will come out in a year from now!!! I think an author that pulls these tricks needs to go back to school and learn that every story has 3 parts. I will only be a sucker once!!! I will never buy one of her books again!!

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Now I remember why I stopped reading Lisa Jackson's books, August 15, 2008

By	J. Beazer - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Apparently I had forgotten that she gets 500 pages by writing at least 200 pages of junk. This really only highlights the fact that her limit of good writing tops out at about 300 pages. I nearly gave up on the book several times but then just started skimming everything that wasn't in quotes so I could finish it and find out who the killer is - only to find out that I would have to buy her next book in August of 2009 if I want to know. I won't be spending another dime or wasting another minute on a Lisa Jackson book.

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars B-O-R-I-N-G and incomplete, September 9, 2008

By	Tracy Vest (Northern California) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

A serial killer is stalking the desolate snowy mountains of Montana for prey. He shoots out their tires, rescues them, nurses them to health, and then leads them barefoot and naked to their deaths where he leaves them tied to a tree, to die of exposure. Leaving a calling card that includes their initials in an elaborate cipher, he has the authorities (led by a duo of female detectives) baffled, particularly as he escalates his frequency. Jillian Rivers heads to Montana after receiving strange calls and photos indicating that her deceased first husband might be alive. When her tire is shot out, she's rescued by Zane MacGregor but can't help but wonder if he's her protector or something more sinister.

I've already given up on hardbound novels by Jackson because I'm so tired of the direction she was taking with the mental hospital/convent, so I was excited to see that she had a new paperback out and no mention of convents. The plot had all the makings of a good thriller. Unfortunately, the novel is so bogged down by unnecessary details to set up the story that my attention waned constantly. I kept wondering when some dialog would be introduced into the story. There are too many characters and too many minuscule details that'll have readers yawning. I barely could tolerate one of the detectives and the other one is so poorly developed (we just know she is a workaholic who spends little time with her family). And then as I got about ten pages from the end, and the plot was so out there, I realized there was no way that the story was going to truly conclude. Jillian might have gotten closure; the readers however, do not.

With continuity and numerous grammatical errors and an odd style of writing - third person for most of the story and then first person past tense for the killer - I just kept wondering if Jackson's editor is MIA. The author's note advises readers that they'll have to wait until 2009 for the outcome of the story, which will be devoted to Detective Pescoli because she's such an intriguing character. Huh?!? I must have read a different book. I found her to be annoying. And those ungrateful kids... heck, if I had an ex willing to take them off my hands for awhile, I'd let him and celebrate with a night of passion with Nate the drifter. Barbara Freethy dragged a storyline out over two volumes with her "Played" and "Taken" novels. But where Freethy excelled by writing an intriguing plot with fully developed characters, Jackson just droned on and on and on and on. Sometimes more is just not better; it's just more. As for buying the sequel, "Chosen to Die," I don't think so - I'll just go to Wal-Mart and read the last chapter to see how it ends.

Frankly, if I wanted to read 1,000 plus pages and be bored out of my mind, I'd blow the dust off of my high school copy of "War and Peace."

© Tracy Vest, September 2008