The highway from Los Angeles to the Palm Springs desert is parched, unforgiving, and deadly. In the suffocating stillness of a car trunk, a man — his mouth and hands bound with tape — awaits his fate. What possible enemy could be bitter enough to commit such a heinous crime? And when will the monster make another move?

Ali Reynolds is traveling that same blistering, lonesome highway, looking forward to putting her past behind her. But her cheating husband is in a hurry for a divorce, and the television network who wrongfully dismissed Ali for the sole sin of being over forty will face her in court as well. So Ali must return to the scene of these crimes. As she passes the site of a horrifying accident, she thanks goodness it’s no longer her job to report the news. Until she finds out the news is her own. . . . For the victim is Ali’s cheating husband, and soon she’ll find herself the prime suspect at the center of a terrifying web of evil.

A twisted and lethal drama of heart-pounding suspense, Web of Evil asks the question: If hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, just what punishment could that fury unleash?

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars A Pretty Thin Web?
Unfortunately, this was for me one of those books that you persevere with for fifty or so pages, but then, against your better judgment, feel you have to push on - assuming it can only get better. Web Of Evil doesn’t though. It meanders along with far too many coincidences of convenience plot-wise. For one example, Ali’s boyfriend(?) cop Dave Holman, from back home in Sedona, just conveniently happens to have an old friend in the LAPD, who can conveniently pull lots of strings and knows lots of law enforcement people in the big smoke. Very handy.

Our somewhat characterless protagonist, Ali Reynolds is a little too cool, calm and collected - considering some of the dire circumstances that surround her, and to me, she seems too disconnected and analytical all too often. Although, bizarrely, at other times, she seems to miss things that’re right in front of her face - and which the reader has already surmised.

Another point of weakness in this novel is the often stilted dialogue. For a story set in contemporary times, much of the language is very 1940s. I’m not suggesting that every page be littered with obscenities, but cops and assorted crims that NEVER swear? It simply doesn’t gel. The natural flow of the language in books is critical to the story’s “ambience” in my opinion - that is, it should reflect how people speak in 2008 if that’s around the time the story is set. Interestingly, several other hugely successful modern authors (such as PD James) have the same problem. Their language is too idiosyncratically “polite” all the time.

But….. the most ANNOYING single issue with this storyline was the massive overuse of Ali’s blog [...] as a plot “gap-filler”. It may’ve been okay to have it pop up half a dozen times throughout the book as an incidental, but in some cases its contents ran over more than a page at a time. Unnecessary padding - all of it, and I’m not sure why Jance used it so obviously.

Eagle-eyed readers will notice too that on page 235, Alison turns temporarily into “Alice”!

I’m thinking that by now, with a lengthy string of novels under her belt, Judith Jance is simply churning ‘em out to bolster her retirement fund. She’s lost the will for her characters to live!

4 Stars good but not great
This is teh secind book in hte series of Ali Reynolds. As usual Jance has drawn her characters really well. They are interesting and you care about them. She has some recurring charaters too.I am interested to see where they all go.

The story was too similar to the first one. I am not sure what to make of hte job as a blog reporter? Does that exist?

It took a few books for JP Beaumont to hit his stide so I am willing to give this another go.

The Joanna Brady books are the best. Not to be missed.

3 Stars From J. Kaye’s Book Blog
This is Jance’s second Ali Reynolds thriller. The first, EDGE OF EVIL, hooked me on the series. This second has ended that relationship. The blogging part of the book was cool, but the character was a bit on the side of little good two-shoes for me to enjoy. The mystery in itself was good and I didn’t figure out until halfway through.

What can’t be taken away from the book’s quality was the fact the characters were well defined. This is an art form Jance has perfected. The plot was interesting enough; but then again, all of her plots are. Also another thing to add to her credit is she knows how to end a book. What brought down the rating were two things. One was parts of the story were too far-fetched. And the second, there were way too many dry spots. So many, in fact, it has turned me off reading more in this series.

2 Stars vacuous
Web of Evil opens from the point of view of a man bound hand and foot in the trunk of a car. What a promising start. Unfortunately, the heroine, the much maltreated Ali Reynolds, makes her entrance in the next chapter. Ali is one of those characters who is annoyingly perfect. All of the others in this cast also are “types” - parents with hearts of gold, mindless bimbos, hapless illegal immigrants, cops with the hearts of lions, avaricious lawyers. Much of the action is moved along via the device of Ali’s blog, Cutloose, in which she whines about losing her news anchorwoman position (too old), maligns her cheating, media exec husband, and ignores advice to avoid blogging about all the danger she blindly stumbles into after that husband disappears. Naturally, her blog is wildly popular, and Ali now seems to spend her life answering email from her legion of admiring fans. I guess this book qualifies as a mystery, since I had no idea who committed the murders or why. But it’s certainly not a thriller, nor is there a glimmer of suspense.

3 Stars Spider’s Web
WEB OF EVIL has Ali Reynolds witness a bad “accident” and being thankful she no longer has to report the news. Ali with problems of her own–pitched into a rush divorce while her husband’s new squeeze is planning a wedding so her baby will be born on time in wedlock is not one’s normal cup of tea. Hubby was busy because another mother and baby come to light and their son seems almost oblivious his new siblings.

The trunk of the car contained Ali’s ex and she becomes the chief suspect in a case of murder. Ali and all the other characters for some reason just don’t make it. Ali is too “good” and everyone else is the pink stuff stereotypes. Not the best of J.A. Jance’s continuing characters. These stories don’t have the depth of the Joanna Brady series.

Writing as a Small BusinessSins of the Fathers: A Brewster County Novel

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Dec

22

The Scandal Plan Or How to Win the Presidency by Cheating on Your Wife

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The Scandal Plan Or How to Win the Presidency by Cheating on Your Wife

A presidential candidate behind in the polls concocts an outrageous scandal to improve his chances in this hilarious political satire in the spirit of Primary Colors

Senator Ben Phillips is the perfect man for the presidency. If only he weren’t such a straight arrow. He’s getting battered in the polls, and with only a few months until Election Day, his staff is growing desperate. Enter Thomas Campman, political guru. On a sudden inspiration, the eccentric Campman is convinced he can revitalize the candidate’s image by creating a fake sex scandal for him. Nothing too over-the-top—just a little scandal to make Phillips seem more human. Maybe even cool.

Though it takes some convincing, Phillips gives Campman the green light. The plan is set in motion, and, right on schedule, a phony former mistress steps forward to accuse the senator of infidelity. But scandals—even the premeditated kind—rarely go as planned. Before long, Campman’s scheme snowballs into a three-ring circus complete with a linguistically challenged Mexican chauffeur who thinks he’s James Bond, a highly sexed middle-aged woman who’s convinced she’ll never land one of the really good guys, and a political cub reporter for TeenVibe magazine who’s sure he’s on the trail of the biggest story since Watergate.

For those too well acquainted with politics-as-usual, The Scandal Plan is the perfect antidote. It’s a witty political farce in the tradition of Jon Stewart and Dave Barry that will have readers—and even candidates—laughing all the way to the polls.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars The Scandal Plan
The Scandal Plan is a fast paced page turner with twists and turns that will definitely put a smile on your face! Very entertaining given the presidential political environment of today.

1 Star A Stinker. Not worth the price of admission.
For all its bravado and self delusion, The Scandal Plan falls way short of the mark. The writer doesn’t take the time to create unique or even believable characters that the reader will connect with. They just show up and say “Ta Da! I’m the Democrat Candidate who isn’t treated fair by the media!” (That in and of itself is a laugh,) or “I’m the brilliant political mind who came up with this brilliant idea!” If you must read it though, I say wait until the paperback comes out and save yourself a few dollars.

4 Stars Great First Novel from Bill Folman
If you like Christopher Buckley, check out Bill Folman’s novel The Scandal Plan. A little touch of Mark Twain (do not attempt to learn anything from this story), the absurdity of something that seems like it actually could happen, it makes for a fun read. A novel that skewers politics, politicians, and what makes for political debate, a very intelligent, quick paced, humorous read.

5 Stars Summer Breeze!
What a great beach read! Just so happens that the Edwards “Scandal” broke in the middle of my reading this witty, politacal satire - making a clever idea very on target. Although this is Folman’s first novel, his style is very readable, and I found myself rooting for the candidate. If only the present election goes as quickly.

5 Stars fun read!
Really enjoyed this story from start to finish! The opening prologue sets the stage for a cast of middle-aged characters oozing effortless egos while hiding deep-seated insecurities as they try to figure out how to be ‘cool’ enough to connect with the American People and win the US presidency. Ambition, sex, trust, love, obsession, vendetta, redemption…this book has it all!

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Dec

17

I Now Pronounce You Man and Wife

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I Now Pronounce You Man and Wife

This story details the abuse Shelley and her children endured at the hand of her
violent, deadbeat-dad husband and a dishonest assistant district attorney, along
with a court system that still fails women and children, making them the poorest
citizens in the United States.
This story will plunge you into suspense as Shelley Jordon blossoms into a woman
of steel to beat the ingenious Neal Jordon and his easy manipulation of a
dangerous system that abetted him most of his life.
I Now Pronounce You Man and Wife is based on a true case that was brought before
legislature and helped to change the law regarding domestic abuse.

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Dec

9

Cheating Wife

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Cheating Wife

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Dec

5

Slow Kill A Kevin Kerney Novel Unabridged

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Slow Kill A Kevin Kerney Novel Unabridged

Santa Fe Police Chief Kevin Kerney travels to a California ranch looking to buy some prime quarter horse breeding stock. Instead, he finds himself the prime suspect in a possible homicide when a guest at the ranch, Clifford Spalding, is found dead. Confronted by a determined cop unwilling to let him off the hook, Kerney decides to conduct his own investigation. As he digs into the victim’s background, he learns that Spalding’s ex-wife refuses to believe that her son, a soldier killed in Vietnam some thirty years ago, is dead.

Kerney digs deeper and soon finds himself sharing the woman’s doubts: Did Spalding’s current wife, a much younger woman, orchestrate his murder with the help of a lover? Did a California cop collude with Spalding to keep his ex-wife from learning the truth about her son?

Slow Kill races from West Coast to East Coast as Kerney attempts to find the answers to a thirty-year-old mystery and extricate himself from a situation that could ruin his career.

User Ratings and Reviews

2 Stars Slow Kill
McGarrity has disappointed the reader in his last two books, this one especially. The plot and storylines have not been up to par with his previous books, which I enjoyed immensely. His ending in Slow Kill does not wrap up the loose ends and appears hurried. His ending in his last book also seemed “hurried”.

5 Stars Who woulda’ suspected?
In the ninth novel in the Kevin Kerney series, Michael McGarrity stretches his writing ability along with the patience and stamina of his protagonist. Kevin Kerney, one of America’s favorite cops, is a suspect in a homicide and the investigator who has Kerney in her sights is not one to let go easily. But is it even a homicide? There are no marks on the body, no obvious signs of a struggle, but the deceased didn’t just die all by himself, did he? Then, there is that younger wife to consider. Could she and Kerney have conspired to kill the aging husband for his money and his land? Would Kerney’s wife be happy about the whole thing? And what is all this about a secondary mystery that goes all the way back to the Vietnam War? McGarrity weaves a dense and devious plot, but the path of discovery is well worth the time it takes.

5 Stars Joining Reality’s Black & White to the Reds, Golds, & Grays of Genius
Riding along with a Santa Fe police chief pursuing a luxury personal agenda of acquiring a few horses, gave an intriguingly relaxed pace for a crime novel start up. But, this is not, in any way, a typical crime novel.

I had been resistant to reading this book because the title and cover style had convinced me it was a hard-core crime novel, the type which grabs and chains a reader with shock, gore, speed, terror & pain. The detective usually has no personal life beyond detecting, except maybe succumbing to a femme fatale’s wiles once in a while, with mutual lust well used and excused.

Reading the book’s promo blurbs and the Amazon reviews, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this McGarrity guy had been a Santa Fe deputy sheriff writing from professional history, which is a plus in my book (as well as in many others, as reviews indicate). I appreciate “realism” backed up with on-the-ground-footprints, which is usually not hyped-up; no need for that phony push of deep, dark, action-packed edges imagined by an overcompensating author who exclusively plays observation sports.

One of the Amazon reviews mentioned that Kevin Kerney’s long distance wife and child play solid roles in his novels. “Okay, great,” I thought, “There’s the personal life interweaving I require to warm into the sometimes too chilly pages of crime novels.

Didn’t take more than a few pages to get glued to the plot and begin liking the heck out of this Santa Fe police chief. This guy Kerney has a warmth I can’t explain by analyzing the author’s technique. The personality glow and appeal is just there.

When disgusted with someone’s scattering pompous ashes, people will sometimes spit, “Get real.” Kerney does, without trying.

The story’s the same way. It has a warmth, and some kind of reader’s glue which I haven’t been able to satisfactorily analyze to isolate its cause from something the author’s doing right. The glue isn’t the super type usually used to force a reader to race-pace through pages at one sitting. The hold on the reader is an easy, pleasant one, which had me reading at a quiet, soothing pace, and returning to the book sooner rather than later.

Not even a quarter of the way into the book I knew I’d be reading more in this series, purely for my own entertainment, rather than for any less appealing reason like wanting to appreciate a fantastic writing technique, a literary presence, or a clearly well-done plotting accomplishment, which has me drooling in admiration as I read; yet, for whatever reason, I pick up the book later rather than sooner for each reading session, and have to apply myself to get back in.

For me, one of life’s grander pleasures is to find a novel (and a series is soooo fantastic to glom onto) which pulls me to it more often than I have time to read, with a smile on my face, with anticipation of what’s going to happen next. Sometimes I think it’s the writer’s unique personality matched to a practiced writing technique, which gives this incessant magnetic pull of a reader to a book in progress.

I have this theory that mesmerizing books are written mostly from a Right Brain focus, whatever their pacing, from super-slow-sensual to heart-attack-warning, lightning-rushes. If my theory is accurate, speed and shock aren’t the truest, most effective activators of intense interest; the activation is that the writer is tapping into the chaos of ultimate creation as he’s composing.

But, enough of the esoteric effects of storytelling on its author and audience.

The way Kearney follows leads in his investigative process is so naturally logical it defies definition, won’t submit to a precise description of technique. He often moves ahead on one of those intuitively logical threads even as his Left Brain warns that the effort might prove to be a “wild goose chase.” This guy is S M O O O T H.

I realize that one of the captures of this particular plot is likely not present in other McGarrity offerings, that of a police chief with a flawless, hard-earned reputation on his home ground being suspected of a crime which occurs outside his jurisdiction when he’s off duty on a personal pursuit. (Note that this is also a police chief who could write the most effective “how to” for using supervisory techniques which get his staff to work very willingly, and to work together.)

Loved this statement (need to check it for quote being exact; wrote it from memory):

>> I don’t mind her shining her badge. I just don’t like her doing it by tarnishing my reputation. < <

This guy is always right on target, on base, on center, yet he’s soooo appealingly S U B T L E about it.

Loved the way Kerney allowed himself to fall into a successful, spontaneous interview with an employee, as the chief arrived at a delivery gate, paused at the barrier to the victim’s quite elaborately expensive residential property.

This guy has low key honed to the ultimate; he gets in before anyone knows who he is, or that he’s been welcomed into the other person’s space as an intimate friend.

Love the way McGarrity shows Kearney detailing his changing environment and temporary bases, providing crisp responses to the lack (or luster), enabling himself to shift within the setting, as a grounding point for exploration and expansion of plot machinations.

This novel was recommended to me by Alice Baldrey-Kelley, a bookstore owner in Montrose Colorado, SAGEBRUSH BOOKS. I’d like to thank her for the recommendation, though I wasn’t initially convinced beyond my personal preference against grittier types of “cold” mysteries. I decided to explore the draws for readers of this series, realizing that, on my own, I might not have gotten beyond the title, which proved to be interestingly misleading, but perfectly descriptive of the crime in unanticipateded ways.

I’ve admitted to a fleeting concern about books set in Kearney’s home base appealing to me as actively as his vulnerability of having to defend himself in a place where he has no established friendships and his reputation from “elsewhere” is suspect. However, since I believe it’s McGarrity’s background, personality, and writing techniques which are at cause for this series to have whatever popular draw it does, I’m holding great hopes to be as enthralled by his other books.

McGarrity uses his police background very well in this novel, and in many ways beyond the obvious.

Having “been there, done that” doesn’t guarantee that the veteran will be able to translate that background into an engrossing novel. In fact, having too much knowledge can hamper the creative flow of a born storyteller, an artist who achieves a writing stride most often by a Right Brain, non verbal processes. Reporting from experience requires a focused, controlled Left Brain process (the Right Brain is usually chained in a dungeon so as to avoid the tarnish of tangents, the un-manageability of unbridled, unplanned inspiration).

McGarrity appears to have no problem using the heck out of both sides of his honed brain, achieving a naturally shifting balance of blazing intuition and crisp reason, which shows in the interviewing, investigating, and personal living skills of Kerney and his people. In fact this easy brain balance shows through all of the skills a true novelist applies. It shows in flowing, realistic dialogue; in laying out various types of scenes and sidetracks; in dramatizing the amount of paperwork and process involved in reality police-work; in describing setting and environment with the abandon and abundance of a more literary type novelist; in developing and driving characters the reader never thinks of as characters-in-a-novel. I particularly like the way McGarrity dramatizes the decision making processes of his characters, exposing the fluky, brilliant, stream-of-consciousness, split-second-choices which can solidify an irreversible fork-in-the-road, leading to goal success, or dead-ending in a forever lost cause.

There’s a lot at stake in a stake-out. No steak intended.

My two favorite scenes involved Joe Valdez, in which a cultural graciousness was exposed so beautifully I’d like to gilt-frame each of those scenes, with the caption, “Here we see how honorable and honored people relate to each other.” History of a neighborhood and family endures when it uses change without rushing or losing time. A stone wall is not a stone wall unless it’s built right.

The ending scenes, in stride with McGarrity’s backed-up, smooth style of a storyteller who’s “been there,” did not slide into an ungrounded author’s insecurity, overcompensating as mentioned above. The scenes fit like a treasured glove collection, snugly seated within the ambiance of the rest of the novel, though Chief Kerney might shoot me for mentioning gloves, given his condition at the end of the story. Curious? Get the details. Read the book.

McGarrity has an unusual but highly successful blend of the necessary dryness of a true scribe accurately documenting the daily routine, living reality of police procedure in investigation; and the surging spark of genius in a born storyteller constantly cajoling readers into his tale.

I see why he has so many. Readers. That he does. (Have.) Hungry and willing, readers.

“You have the right to remain silent…”

That I have. Not. Done. Who could, with Kerney asking the questions?

Linda G. Shelnutt

2 Stars A Disappointing Entry
I have read McGarrity’s other Kevin Kerney mysteries, so I was looking forward to this one. The book has McGarrity’s easy-going style that brings in a lot of the New Mexico atmosphere. That style was the strongest thing about the book. The plot (you can get summaries of the plot in other reviews) is convoluted. That is not necessarily a bad thing in a mystery novel. But it is a horrendous thing in a novel that seemed to be operating under limited space requirements, as if the author were under pressure to keep the book under 280 pages (it’s 278 pages in hardback). The ending was rushed. Not all of the loose ends got tied up, at least not to the satisfaction of this reader. Perhaps McGarrity will revisit some of these plot elements in a later work. But the result was a book not up to the level of the rest of the series.

3 Stars Slow Plot
Michael McGarrity is a retired policeman, like his alter ego, Kevin Kerney. You get the idea that the character is closely based on the writer, right down to the double initials in their names (M.M. and K.K.). Kerney has graduated in the series to the point that he’s the police chief of Santa Fe, New Mexico, but since there are so few murders there, for this to be a murder mystery, McGarrity has to have Kerney go to California, shopping for horses, and stumble on a dead body.

The victim turns out to be a wealthy socialite, and at first the local authorities suspect Kerney of being involved, and investigate him. Once that dries up, the investigation turns towards the guys wife, an attractive younger woman who has a wandering eye. As the book moves slowly along, the killer becomes apparent rather early and easily.

There’s a second plot in the later part of the book, involving Kerney’s wife (an Army officer) and her investigation of alleged cover-ups involving Army personnel involved in sexual assault cases, some including actual rapes. This plot thread doesn’t finish at the end of the book, leaving us to wonder if he’s going to continue it in the next entry in the series.

I enjoyed this book, but only to a certain extent. This is by far the slowest of the Kevin Kerney novels, with virtually no suspense and no real mystery. The author has a good command of characters and dialog, and some of the interchanges between Kerney and the other characters were fun, but the plot is very slow and predictable. I definitely think that you’d be better off starting this series out with one of his other books.

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Dec

5

A Smart Mans Guide to Cheating on His Wife

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A Smart Mans Guide to Cheating on His Wife

A Smart Man’s Guide to Cheating on His Wife is a psychological and practical tour of infidelity, from thought, through action, to success or failure. It lays out the formula for long term successful philandering and requires the reader to accept his character in the project, as well as in society and his marriage.

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