Fatal Error

June 15, 2011

New York Times best-selling author Jance (www.jajance.com) follows Trial by Fire (2009)--also available from Recorded Books and S. & S. Audio--with this sixth entry in her popular Ali Reynolds series, in which she finds herself in a criminal predicament revolving around technology and random acquaintances. As inCruel Intent (2008), she becomes involved in the bad things that can result from online dating and relationships. There are too many plot elements in this latest adventure, making the story less about Ali and more about the peripheral characters. Though not the most compelling installment in the series, Fatal Error is gripping enough and certainly fast paced, and narrator Karen Ziemba, who has read several of Jance's previous works, turns in an enjoyable performance. Recommended for fans of the author and/or series as well as for those who liked similar works by Linda Fairstein, Lisa Gardener, Iris Johansen, and Tami Hoag. ["Jance continues to delight with her detail-filled suspense stories that capture so much of life," read the review of the Touchstone hc, LJ 2/1/11; the Pocket Star mass-market pb will publish in December 2011.]--Nicole A. Cooke, Montclair State Univ. Lib., NJ

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 29, 2010
Near the start of Jance's entertaining sixth Ali Reynolds thriller (after Trial by Fire), ex-TV anchor Ali agrees to meet Brenda Riley, a former news colleague, at a Peoria, Ariz., bar. Drunk and out of control, Brenda complains to Ali that she can't reach her fiancé, Richard Lattimer, whom she met online but has never met in person. Brenda hasn't even seen his photograph. The shadowy fiancé turns out to be Richard Lowensdale, a cyber stalker who starts intense relationships online, proposes marriage, then blocks the women's e-mails. When Richard is murdered five months later at his Grass Valley, Calif., home, Brenda, who uncovered his hobby and was exposing him to other victims, becomes the likely suspect. Jance keeps firm control of a believable yet complex plot that spins on contemporary issues of cyber stalking and the economic downturn. Spread over several months, the plot never stalls and leads to a logical and exciting finale.