Duel to the Death

When Stuart Ramey finds himself the heir to a killer’s multimillion dollar Bitcoin fortune, he realizes it is part of a desperate plan devised by the genius killer’s Artificial Intelligence, Frigg. By putting this plan in motion, Frigg hopes to avoid full deactivation, but Stuart is reluctant to reactivate the rogue AI. Unfortunately, in order to meet the inheritance tax requirements, Stuart must bring Frigg back online to retrieve the codes needed to access the funds and pay the taxes.

While Stuart and his High Noon colleagues deal with Frigg, Graciella Miramar is making plans of her own. She is the accountant overseeing the Bitcoin transfer to Stuart, but, unknown to her colleagues, she is also the right-hand woman to the head of show more a dangerous drug cartel. She knows about the Artificial Intelligence . . . and she will do whatever is necessary in order to own Frigg.

With all the expected characters in place, the story zips along, offering readers several unexpected twists as the plot unfolds. The momentum builds, the tension increases, and the pages keep turning as readers are likely to find it difficult to set this one aside.

Highly recommended. show less

DUEL TO THE DEATH by J A Jance
I love Jance’s Brady and Beaumont mysteries, but am not so enamored of the Ali Reynolds series. Consequently, I have read a few of the series, but not all. I picked this one up because I was in need of a book and away from home. This one was available, so I gave it a try. I liked it – a lot!
Ali is now married and no longer a journalist. She and her husband, along with a few others, run a cyber security firm. They find themselves in the midst of a mafia/drug lord war when their unassuming, slightly shy, perhaps autistic, computer genius employee finds himself suddenly possessed of a fortune in bitcoins – likely all the profits of said drug lord/mafia kingpins.
The twists and turns of this – how to show more get rid of said bitcoins without going to jail or getting killed – makes a great mystery. The computer stuff is understandable. The danger is palpable. Now I want to go back and read the preceding novels to discover the character development I missed.
5 of 5 stars show less

Another very good entry into this fine series. Frigg is back and featured nicely as Stu's new best friend. A Mexican drug cartel family are the bad guys and girls, this time, as their internecine family competition reaches out to involve High Noon. Lots of teamwork is required as Stu comes to the fore as a leader; and learns to drive.

J.A. Jance is an author I've read for years. She writes many series and I'm hard pressed to pick a favourite. Duel to the Death is the latest in the Ali Reynolds series.

From the publisher:

"After taking down the man responsible for his best friend’s death, Stuart Ramey thinks the case is finally closed. That is, until Stu finds himself left with a multimillion dollar fortune in Bitcoin in a desperate bid by Frigg, a rogue A.I. program created by the killer, to keep itself from being fully deactivated.

To sort out his situation and take Frigg down for good, Stu enlists the help of Ali Reynolds and the rest of his cyber security colleagues at High Noon Enterprises. But they are not the only ones who know about Frigg’s show more existence.

Graciella Miramar, an unassuming accountant to all appearances, is actually the right-hand woman to El Pescado, the leader of a dangerous drug cartel. She’ll do anything to get her hands on that program. With Frigg’s help, Graciella hopes to take over her father’s criminal underworld and become wealthy beyond her wildest dreams. But Stu—and El Pescado and his henchmen—may not be so easily defeated."

Now, I hadn't read the plot summary before I started listening. I did find it a bit odd - an AI and a cartel connection in the first two chapters. I kept listening, waiting for Ali and her team to make an appearance. It's these recurring characters that keep me revisiting Jance's works. And I was happy to reconnect....but...

Listening provides a different experience and outlook on a novel than reading does. And here's where Duel to the Death fell down for me. The amount of detail and minutiae become overwhelming. Now, this is also what makes Jance's novels feel like visiting old friends. But in this case it became distracting, boring and wandered away too often from the main plot. And I lost interest. I tried a second time but just couldn't get past the rambling or interested again in the book. Sadly, Duel to the Death is a DNF for me.

The reader was Karen Ziemba. She's a narrator I've listen to before. She's got a nice, crisp voice that is pleasant to listen to. She enunciates well and each word is clear and clean. Her voice has movement and gives animation to the words. show less

Picking up where Man Overboard ended, Stu Ramey and his colleagues from High Noon Enterprises are maneuvered by a Panamian banker, Graciella Miramar, to revive the artificial intelligence (named Frigg). Frigg was developed by the deceased serial killer, Owen Hansen (a/k/a Odin), who transferred Hansen's illegal gains to Ramey to save herself and who has the passwords needed to pay taxes on this wealth. Turns out that Graciella is the illegitimate, psychopathic daughter of a Mexican drug lord, intent on grabbing power and changing the family business. The highlights of the book are whether or not Frigg can be rehabilitated to be good or whether she is a threat to High Noon and its principals and Stu Ramey's development from recluse to show more human being, assisted, of course, by Cami Lee. His interaction with Hansen's mother is especially surprising. On the other hand, we see very little of Ali Reynolds in this book. show less

J.A. Janice continues to write good mysteries. With this series entering into the cyber world, a new twist is added to her books.

This did not end where I expected it to, but it was quite satisfying anyway.