Left for Dead (2012)

In Jance’s mystery novel, Ali Reynolds is contacted by a former Arizona Police Academy classmate regarding an incident involving another former classmate who has just been gun downed and left for dead. Initially, circumstances point to an association with one of the drug cartels. But as the scene of the crime is processed, it becomes clear there is much more to the story. With a need to pay it forward, Ali finds herself at her fallen friend’s bedside where she encounters an unidentified young woman, who had been raped and beaten. Determined to ensure that justice is served, Ali sets out on a mission to zero in on the truth regardless of the consequences.

Never a disappointment, the book starts fast and keeps going to the climax. An exceptional addition to the Ali Reynolds series. ( )

Another in the mystery/suspense series featuring Ali Reynolds and her friends. This is book seven and, while it probably doesn't really require that the reader be familiar with the earlier books, I think that reading these in order would be best.

A friend of Ali's from the Police Academy is seriously injured in a shooting and she volunteers to help his young wife. While at the hospital she also becomes involved with Sister Anselm's current case, a young girl left for dead in the Arizona desert. I did enjoy this book but I also figured out what was going on before the various cops (and our heroine) arrived at the correct answer. It was a great distraction from the aftermath of a major dental procedure and a nice change of pace from my nonfiction reading.

Recommended for Jance's fans.

Ali series, the best so far of this series ( )

This book starts off sedately enough with Ali Reynolds stuck, as usual, over which of two girls should receive the Askins Scholarship, for which Ali is responsible for awarding. The action picks up almost immediately in two side tales as a seventeen-year-old prostitute is left in the dessert to die and a sheriff's deputy is shot by an unknown assailant. The officer is a friend of Ali's, and she goes to the hospital to help his distraught wife deal with a gravely injured husband, two little girls and the impending birth of a new baby. In the meantime, Ali's good friend, Sister Anselm is the patient advocate for the critically injured prostitute. Their stories intertwine and more murder and mayhem ensue throughout the book. The book provides tense reading and is not recommended for bedtime relaxation. If suspense is to your liking, then this will be the perfect book to provide it. ( )

A young call girl is repeatedly violated, then left for dead in the Arizona desert. Meanwhile, a young deputy is badly assaulted on what he thought was a routine traffic stop, and drugs are found in his car. Ali Reynolds and her friend Sister Anselm wind up in the middle of things.

More of a mystery than this series usually is, although I identified the unknown villain fairly early on. ( )