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279th out of 296 books
—
64 voters
Hand of Evil (Ali Reynolds #3)
by
J.A. Jance (Goodreads Author)
With his hand trapped in the door of a speeding car, a man struggles to remain upright as he's dragged along a deserted stretch of San Juan Road in Phoenix's South Mountain Preserve. It's the perfect place to drive a man to his grave � literally. Starting with a crime so gruesome even prowling coyotes keep their distance from the remains, a killer begins crisscrossing the...more
Hardcover, 384 pages
Published
December 18th 2007
by Touchstone
(first published January 1st 2007)
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This is the third book of JA Jance's Ali Reynolds series. I had forgotten about this series, but I have JA Jance marked as a favorite author at the library, and they automatically reserve all her books for me. I don't know why I forgot about this series, because I REALLY enjoyed this book! (As I tend to do with ALL her books--although I thought until I read this book that her Joanna Brady mysteries were my favorite!)
Ali Reynolds is a former news broadcaster that in the first book was fired from...more
Ali Reynolds is a former news broadcaster that in the first book was fired from...more
12/29/07
TITLE/AUTHOR: HAND OF EVIL by J. A. Jance
RATING: 5/A
GENRE/PUB DATE/# OF PGS: Mystery/2007/368 pgs
SERIES/STAND ALONE: #3 in Ali Reynolds series
TIME/PLACE: Present/Sedona, AZ
CHARACTERS: Ali Reynolds/former LA TV journalist
FIRST LINES: When the car door slammed shut on his hand, the universe came to a stop & nothing else mattered. Nothing.
COMMENTS: library book. Great suspense. Ali Reynolds gets called by an eccentric elder woman, Arabella Ashworth. Arabella and her mother Anna Lee...more
TITLE/AUTHOR: HAND OF EVIL by J. A. Jance
RATING: 5/A
GENRE/PUB DATE/# OF PGS: Mystery/2007/368 pgs
SERIES/STAND ALONE: #3 in Ali Reynolds series
TIME/PLACE: Present/Sedona, AZ
CHARACTERS: Ali Reynolds/former LA TV journalist
FIRST LINES: When the car door slammed shut on his hand, the universe came to a stop & nothing else mattered. Nothing.
COMMENTS: library book. Great suspense. Ali Reynolds gets called by an eccentric elder woman, Arabella Ashworth. Arabella and her mother Anna Lee...more
Ali Reynolds has moved to Arizona and finds herself involved with a wayward teenage runaway, a crazy old woman and various other characters. Ali got her start when she was awarded a college scholarship by the Ashcrofts, wealthy friends of her grandmother. Many years later, Ali is again invitd to tea by the daughter, Arabella Ashcroft, who asks that a diary she wrote be reviewed by Ali as the basis for a possible tell-all book. This diary plays a role in solving a series of murders.
Meanwhile, Ali...more
Meanwhile, Ali...more
This is the third book in the series featuring former L.A. TV news anchor Ali Reynolds. Ali is in a bit of a funk as she recovers from the murder of her ex-husband. She has a good support group; her parents, her son and her old high school friend, police detective Dave Holman. Out of the blue, wealthy recluse Arabella Ashcroft sent a request to Ali asking her to meet with her. Since Arabella’s mother was responsible for bestowing Ali with a much needed college scholarship, Ali felt obligated to...more
PB - Back with an Ali Reynolds book and an earlier one than the last one I read, but that's ok, no I know how she got to where the later one started. This one is before she bought the big house on the hill and began renovations. It starts with a mad getting his hand caught in a car door and getting dragged to death on closed mountain park road. Ali is called on to drive her dad to pick up his cherished Bronco which was found parked with flat at a highway rest stop. ALi's dad friend and helper Ki...more
This is #3 in the Ali Reynolds series by J. A. Jance. Murder and mayhem in Sedona and Phoenix! Then Kingman, South Mountain Park, Ahwatukee, Chandler, Tempe, Queen Creek, Oak Creek, Munds Park, Las Vegas, Scottsdale and Prescott. Needless to say, I am enjoying the geography, as it is so familiar to me.
This time Ali is helping her mom and dad, helping her friend, then her friend's daughter. Helping a lady that once gave her a scholarship to college. Helping three or four sets of police detectives...more
This time Ali is helping her mom and dad, helping her friend, then her friend's daughter. Helping a lady that once gave her a scholarship to college. Helping three or four sets of police detectives...more
We're huge J.A. Jance fans, having read every single one of her Beaumont and Brady books, as well as her non-series thriller novels. When this new series started, featuring Ali Reynolds, we immediately saw it as an attempt to feature a more "modern" leading lady, who spends much of her time on the internet, blogging and so forth, the descriptions of which we soon found tiresome. While the mysteries per se were decent enough, as one would surely expect of veteran Jance, to be blunt we just did no...more
This is the third book in the Allison Reynolds series, and in this one, she finally seems to be settling into a well defined personality - of course, that personality is Joanna Brady, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. While this was the most readable book in the series thus far, it suffered from having too many story-lines. Reading this, it almost felt as if the author, J.A.Jance, had three or four short stories in mind, but needed a novel length book, so she combined those short stories...more
In The Hand of Evil, as in all her books, J.A. Jance uses intrigue and suspense to carry the reader irresistibly from one chapter to the next. Yes, the seams show when the various subplots are all tied together at the end. And yes, some characters tend to cross the line from quirky to downright weird. But the book does its job--entertaining and transporting the reader away from the everyday--and does it well.
As in all her books, Jance highlights real-life social issues about which she is clearly...more
As in all her books, Jance highlights real-life social issues about which she is clearly...more
J. A. Jance and her knowledge of Sedona and Phoenix make it interesting to read a book if you've lived there. I like the pacing of the story and the character development of her main characters. I've read almost all of J.A. Jance's books, and while there are minor plot developments that don't go anywhere, or are sewn up quickly as the book ends, that's not what I read a book for.
Her suspense novels are well-paced, the plot always takes a few surprising turns to keep you guessing, and the motive...more
Her suspense novels are well-paced, the plot always takes a few surprising turns to keep you guessing, and the motive...more
CD/Unabridged/Thriller: This was a pretty good story, but not a mystery like I expected. This is the third Ali Reynolds book in the series. It was entertaining how the events at the beginning of the book all came together, even though they were very coincidental. A man is dragged to death by a car. A man is beaten to death while a pedophile is having sex with a teen. Ali is asked to read a woman's diary from when she was a child.
I haven't read any of the other books, but Ali has apparently lost...more
I haven't read any of the other books, but Ali has apparently lost...more
I really like reading Jance. The plots are always well worked out and natural, not forced or unrealistic. Her characters are interesting, sometimes ideosyncratic, but always very real, and mostly (except for the very evil but realistic villains) sympathetically portrayed. The novels ARE adult. Though usually not filled with explicit sex, they usually contain amoral attitudes, some sensuality and very real, graphic violence. In this one, Ali Reynolds gets sucked into the life of an elderly woman...more
A topical novel dealing with the difficult issues of incest and pedophilia. Suspense, murder, parenting and the past all lend layers to the fabric of this tapestry. where the present is but mirroring a past so horrific, and so secreted, makes me wonder what has changed. maybe it wasn't so great back then, maybe we're just more out with it about the under belly of our society. maybe it's part of our acceptance of our dark side to speak out about these more disgusting behaviors. does it foster the...more
This is my first murder mystery by J.A. Jance. IT was my Fiesta Bowl read, as it takes place in a park by our
hotel in Phoenix. The author lives six months in Phoenix and six months in Seattle. I bet you can guess which season she spends where. The protagonist, Ali Reynolds, is an ex-television journalist with a teen
age son- In this book she becomes involved in grisly murders as she helps a friend with her runaway teenage daughter. One of her best skill is texting. Perfect light novel for my fun...more
hotel in Phoenix. The author lives six months in Phoenix and six months in Seattle. I bet you can guess which season she spends where. The protagonist, Ali Reynolds, is an ex-television journalist with a teen
age son- In this book she becomes involved in grisly murders as she helps a friend with her runaway teenage daughter. One of her best skill is texting. Perfect light novel for my fun...more
This book seemed fairly good as it went along, but then toward the end, it seemed to fall apart--became less coherent and didn't hold together as well as it had earlier. The main character, former tv personality, Ali Reynolds, seemed somewhat wishy washy at times. The premise of her friends' teenage daughter getting pulled into having sex for money--and becoming addicted to it, was a little farfetched--perhaps I am behind the times here. The relationship with Dave is quite nebulous, and the char...more
Dec 14, 2009
Rayni
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommended to Rayni by:
Series
Shelves:
2009-reads,
mystery
I jukmped into the Ali Reynolds books when I unknowingly picked up #4 in this series. I liked it & wanted to start at the beginning. I went to the library & only found this in the Ali Reynolds series.
This was a fantastic read. I was so involved in the book for once, I didn't go to the end of the book to see how it ended. Of course, since this is #3 & I had already read #4, I knew a couple of things from the get-go, but I HAD to find out. I stayed up til 4 a.m. reading & then had...more
This was a fantastic read. I was so involved in the book for once, I didn't go to the end of the book to see how it ended. Of course, since this is #3 & I had already read #4, I knew a couple of things from the get-go, but I HAD to find out. I stayed up til 4 a.m. reading & then had...more
Another mystery whodunit where the woman (an ordinary citizen) can't keep her nose out of other people's business, and plants herself right dab in the middle of not one, but 2 different murder investigations (with a total of 8 bodies ~ at least I think it was 8; I stopped counting!) plus a child molestation case. The book kept me interested right up to about 3/4 of the way through and by that time I had invested enough energy and time in the read that I wanted to finish it. I finally was ready t...more
May 27, 2009
Julie Marie
added it
Recommends it for:
maybe an idiot teenager
Recommended to Julie Marie by:
my mother
I couldn't even finish this book. The teenage girl who runs away from home irritated me to the point of me not being able to read this book. I read about half and gave it back to my mom, who read it before giving it to me.
I can usually deal with stupid children in books, but I found myself wishing with every page that she would die a slow, painful, horrible death and that we could read about it. I wanted Ali to smack her, I wanted her father to smack her, I wanted her to get kidnapped by the ki...more
I can usually deal with stupid children in books, but I found myself wishing with every page that she would die a slow, painful, horrible death and that we could read about it. I wanted Ali to smack her, I wanted her father to smack her, I wanted her to get kidnapped by the ki...more
Ali Reynolds was a journalist--an investigative reporter--and her knack of wanting to get to the root of a situation leads her life. This story involves the run-away daughter of her friend, the local detective. His ex-wife has remarried and the daughter has gotten herself involved with child endangerment behind a consultant's ministry.
A second story line involves the rich dowager in the local mansion who endowed the scholarship fund that enabled Ali to get her college education. Some strange goi...more
A second story line involves the rich dowager in the local mansion who endowed the scholarship fund that enabled Ali to get her college education. Some strange goi...more
This is the third in the Ali Reynolds series. Hand of Evil picks up pretty much where the second book left off. Ali's ex - husband's estate is being settled and Ali is still coming to terms with everything that happened. Out of the blue, Ali is contacted by an old friend that set up a scholarship fund for Ali years ago. Ali agrees to meet with her not knowing why she's been summoned.
Ali has been asked to read a diary that proves her old friend was an incest victim. But before she can pursue thos...more
Ali has been asked to read a diary that proves her old friend was an incest victim. But before she can pursue thos...more
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Typical boiler-plate mystery series. I know that I have read other books by this author but can't remember any in this series which would have made reading this one more enjoyable. It was obvious that I was missing the character development by not having read the first two books in the series. I might come back to this author because the novel was free of obligatory sex and profanity of so many detective stories.
As always, fun! Two simultaneous and unrelated story that take us all over the backwoods of northern Arizona and Las Vegas. I am not a fan of what Ali writes on her blog - it seems to trite. Otherwise, a ball! I'm looking forward to the next book. I do have to wonder if Jance has several people in her life come out while she was writing this book. Coming out seemed to be a minor theme, and one that I had expected at all.
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I read this book by mistake; I picked it up thinking it was a new Joanna Brady book, but was hooked in by the first chapter.
I found the teenager totally irritating, but I kept on to the end - when a teen is acting out, there are usually reasons.
This was an OK book, but I couldn't even remember the name of the book when I had finished, so I rate it three stars - good for passing the time on an airplane.
I found the teenager totally irritating, but I kept on to the end - when a teen is acting out, there are usually reasons.
This was an OK book, but I couldn't even remember the name of the book when I had finished, so I rate it three stars - good for passing the time on an airplane.
(Mystery 2007) Somehow I had missed this one. Jance just keeps the stories rolling in all four of her series, and I wait anxiously for the next one - it doesn't matter which series it is! This one is of the Ali Reynolds group, #3, and has some good material to fill in holes in her back story. She deals with child molestation and repercussions thereof. Dark, scary, and fascinating stories.
JA Jance certainly has a knack for hooking me in. This was a perfect things to read for pure entertainment, but a little frenetic. There were just so many bad things happening to so few people in so few days and the unlikely coincidences abound. Ali Reynolds is only OK as a new detective. I miss Joanna Brady. Still, I read the whole thing in one day, so clearly I had some fun with it.
I would've liked to have given this book a higher rating but the writing . . . ugh! The dialogue was just painfully, wretchedly, horribly bad. And the author has the annoying habit of repeating herself, saying the same thing in nearly the exact same way just a short time later as if it were a whole new thought. I sometimes wondered if she had short term memory loss!
This is a Ali Reynolds mysteries series. I really enjoyed Jance's Joanna Brady mysteries series. I have no plans to read any more of the Ali Reynolds series. The character's life is chaotic beyond belief. It's the chaotic life of Janet Evanovich's character Stephanie Plum, but without the side-splitting humor.
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Page 28
Beverly Hills -- a place where appearances always outgunned substance.
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Page 28
Beverly Hills -- a place where appearances always outgunned substance.
This one precedes Fatal Error by a couple of books. It's another Ali Reynolds. In this one Ali learns about her son Chris' girlfriend, while simultaneously trying to help coworker Dave Holman with his wayward teenage daughter. Ali really pushes the envelope in that she is not police but uses some of the authority to get what she wants. She is quite clever about it though.
Ali Reynolds, blogger and ex-TV journalist, solves several more crimes in yet another encounter with the criminally insane. These novels are all set in Sedona, which seems incongruous since it is the center of New Age businesses and other forms of mellowness, but the up side is that not all the criminals in them come from the underclasses.
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Judith Ann Jance is the top 10 New York Times bestselling author of the Joanna Brady series; the J. P. Beaumont series; three interrelated thrillers featuring the Walker family; and Edge of Evil, the first in a series featuring Ali Reynolds. Born in South Dakota and brought up in Bisbee, Arizona, Jance lives with her husband in Seattle, Washington, and Tucson, Arizona.
Series:
* J.P. Beaumont
* Joann...more
More about J.A. Jance...
Series:
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* Joann...more
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