Duel to the Death (13) (Ali Reynolds Series)

I have loved all of J.A. Jance's books but this was my least favorite.

I'm a fan of J.A. Jance and have read all her books. The Ali Reynolds books are favorites. This seemed to be an extension of book 12 in this series, Man Overboard. Many of the same issues and the same people. I wasn't hooked until midway through the book, but knowing how Ms. Jance weaves her stories, I persevered!

Not my favorite, and it seemed the ending was sudden, with not a lot of WOW, but lots of loose ends tied. The bad guys got caught and I'm sure we'll see Frigg being featured again in another Ali Reynolds work. It was good but not great.

Disappointed to “Sci Fi” for my taste.

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 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

all her series are great to read and just keep you reading

I didn't feel that this was up to the level of Jance's previous suspense novels. Ali Reynolds was relegated to the sidelines. Stuart Ramey became the highlighted character, but the main protaganist is the artificial intelligence software. So, instead of a good detective book, I got to read a light fluffy book that was very predictable because the ai had all the answers. Not one of Jance's best attempts.

Jance is one of my favorite hometown writers, and so I was pleased to see this title offered on Net Galley. Thanks go to that site and Touchstone for the free review copy. It’s for sale now.

This is the 13th entry in the Ali Reynolds series, and its constant readers will likely want to read this one also. New readers may be a harder sell. Although the novel has some bright spots, it’s slow to wake up and burdened with a number of issues, some of which are deal-breakers.

The opening is slow, and there is a great deal of back story that slows down the inner narrative. If I hadn’t taken a review copy from Simon and Schuster, I would have tossed the book on my giveaway pile and called it quits. But staying with it has its rewards. Though Reynolds is featured in this story and it is set in her home and within the cybersecurity firm she and her husband own, the important characters here are Stuart, her technical wizard, and the surprisingly charming Artificial Intelligence entity named Frigg that bonds to him. Gabriella Miramar, a talented Panamanian hacker and the daughter of a drug lord, is determined to hack into Frigg in order to get the password that serves as the key to a vast fortune in Bitcoins.

I am nearly halfway into the book before I am engaged, but once I am hooked I am in it for keeps.

The immense amount of money Reynolds and her husband toss around prevents me from empathizing with them. A large amount of independent wealth solves a lot of logistical problems for the novelist, just as it does for the affluent in real life, but Jance is a seasoned writer, and I am disappointed that she takes the easy way out. In addition, the denouement—not given here lest you decide to read it anyway—strains credibility.

All of the bad guys—we have one female villain, Gabriella, and a whole list of her family members and associates—are Latino, either from Panama or Mexico. All Latinos, apart from the Reynolds’ domestic employee, are bad. All the good guys are Caucasian except for Cami, who is Asian-American. I am disquieted by the portrayal of at least a dozen immigrant characters as “gangbangers”, thieves, rapists, arsonists, and murderers. Particularly given current events and attacks on immigrants’ rights by the U.S. government, this is disturbing.

So if you are a reader who is heartily sick of fiction that wants to appear politically correct, congratulations. Here’s your book; knock yourself out. Everyone else is forewarned.

Another JA Jance thriller with mystery murder cases from years ago solved in the process. Lots of fun and intrigue with the added spice of an artificial intelligence entity giving just that extra that Jance always provides. Great fun.

I have read all of the Joanna Brady books,all of the Ali Reynolds books, and a number of the JP Beaumont books...so I am a big fan of Ms Jance! I enjoyed this book very much but felt a bit let down at the way the two major antagonists ended up. I was totally prepared for Graciella to show up at High Noon Enterprises and cause a knock down drag out fight. So her suicide in a hotel room alone felt anti-climactic. Other than this it was a fun ride, especially watching how Frigg got instant results when Stu assigned her very difficult if not impossible tasks. Five Stars.

My order was everything it said it would be and more.